THE MONKEES  ANNOUNCE FAREWELL TOUR DATES

THE MONKEES  ANNOUNCE FAREWELL TOUR DATES

Micky Dolenz And Michael Nesmith Will Commemorate 55 Years Of Monkeemania With Fall Tour Concluding At The Greek Theater In Los Angeles On November 14

Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees will embark on their farewell tour in September 2021. Commemorating 55 years of Monkeemania, the tour will embrace major markets in North America through the fall, launching on September 11 in Seattle and ending back where it all began in Los Angeles at The Greek Theater on November 14. Their critically acclaimed concerts feature the voice of Dolenz (who sang The Monkees’ biggest hits: “I’m A Believer,” “Last Train To Clarksville,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”) and the group’s primary songwriter, Nesmith (who wrote such classics as “Mary, Mary,” “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “You Just May Be The One” and “Listen To The Band,” to name but a few).

Tickets and VIP packages for some dates of “The Monkees Farewell Tour” are on sale now, with more going on sale later this week. More dates are expected to be announced soon.

“The Monkees Farewell Tour” will feature songs that span the band’s entire career – from their 1966 self-titled debut album to 2016’s Good Times! Their most recent release, The Monkees – The Mike & Micky Show Live, was issued in April 2020 and became their 17th Billboard charting album release. In addition to their hits, their farewell shows will spotlight songs featured on their Emmy-winning TV series (“The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “You Told Me,” “Randy Scouse Git,” “Goin’ Down” and “For Pete’s Sake”) as well as music from their feature film Head (“Circle Sky” and “As We Go Along”). Plus some rarely performed deep cuts (such as “Auntie’s Municipal Court”) and tracks from their most-recent studio album, 2016’s Good Times! (“Me & Magdelena” and “Birth Of An Accidental Hipster”).

This farewell tour will mark the end of a unique project that began in 1965 when four young men were cast in a television show about a struggling rock band that was inspired by the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Few could have predicted the impact The Monkees would have on music and pop culture at large, one that still reverberates more than 50 years later.

Formed in Los Angeles for the eponymous television series, the quartet of Dolenz, Nesmith, the late Peter Tork and the late Davy Jones brought a singular mix of pop, rock, psychedelia, Broadway and country to their music. The Monkees’ first single, “Last Train To Clarksville,” was released in August 1966 and quickly headed for the top spot of the Billboard charts in tandem with the band's self-titled debut album, which held the top slot for 13 of the 78 weeks it remained in the Top 200. (Two decades later, in the midst of a new burst of Monkeemania, The Monkees popped back onto the charts, bringing the total number of weeks to 102.)

By the time the series aired its final new episode on March 25, 1968, The Monkees had seen three further albums top the charts —More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. All were released in 1967, staggeringly enough, racking up several more hit singles, with “I’m A Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Words,” “Daydream Believer,” “Valleri,” and “Tapioca Tundra” all finding their way into the Billboard Top 40. The final tally: 16 million albums and 7.5 million singles sold in a mere 2 1/2 years.

After the series’ two-season run, the group went on to star in the cult feature film, Head (co-written by Jack Nicholson) and a TV special (33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee) while also continuing to record new material. But as the ’60s gave way to the ’70s, the members of The Monkees eventually gave in to their individual musical interests and went their separate ways.

In February 1986, after MTV broadcast a marathon of The Monkees series, Dolenz, Jones, and Tork reunited for a 20th anniversary tour, with Nesmith joining them onstage for the Los Angeles date of the tour. In 1996, all four members of the group reunited for a new album (Justus) and TV special (Hey, Hey, It’s The Monkees). In the wake of Jones’s death on February 12, 2012, the surviving members of the Monkees reunited and performed a series of concerts. The shows were received so triumphantly that Dolenz, Nesmith, and Tork returned the following summer for a tour dubbed, “A Midsummer’s Night With the Monkees.”

To celebrate the Monkees’ 50th anniversary in 2016, the surviving members of the band recorded the critically acclaimed album Good Times! (produced by the late Adam Schlesinger). Much like the Monkees’ early albums, it featured tracks written for the band by a group of gifted songwriters, including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Andy Partridge (XTC) and more. Following the passings of Davy Jones and Peter Tork (who succumbed to cancer in 2019), Michael & Micky have honored the music and the memory of The Monkees onstage.

THE MONKEES FAREWELL TOUR

Tour Dates

September

10    Spokane, WA                      First Interstate Center for the Arts
https://bit.ly/3eyKgS8
11    Seattle, WA                            Moore Theatre
https://bit.ly/34T5JO1
14    Sacramento, CA                     The Crest Theatre
https://bit.ly/2ylB4OG
15    San Jose, CA                          San Jose Civic
https://bit.ly/36TeWaR
17   Riverside, CA                         Fox Performing Arts Center
https://bit.ly/2rzLIh8
18   El Cajon, CA                          The Magnolia
https://bit.ly/2NCEf9D
19   Phoenix, AZ                         Celebrity Theatre
https://bit.ly/33ghQGe
24   Dallas, TX                            The Majestic Theatre
https://bit.ly/3ehR46D
25   San Antonio, TX                   The Tobin Center For Performing Arts
https://bit.ly/3xER4oK
 

October

2     Chattanooga, TN                   Trivoli Theatre
https://bit.ly/33cxnXs
6    Birmingham, AL                    Iron City
https://bit.ly/32EgXV3
7     Knoxville, TN                       Tennessee Theatre
https://bit.ly/33f6hii
8     Atlanta, GA                          Atlanta Symphony Hall
https://bit.ly/2RqABDS
10   Orlando, FL                          Hard Rock Live
https://bit.ly/33pR8Lr
12   Fort Lauderdale, FL               Parker Playhouse
https://bit.ly/2RkYmxh
13   Clearwater, FL                      Ruth Eckerd Hall
https://bit.ly/3b1osfL
16   Jacksonville, FL                    Florida Theatre
https://bit.ly/2Se7x2X
19   Red Bank, NJ                        Count Basie Center
https://bit.ly/3aX5s28
20   Tarrytown, NY                     Tarrytown Music Hall
https://bit.ly/3gVyyCN
22   Bethlehem, PA                      The Wind Creek Event Center
https://bit.ly/3thsOWc
23   Atlantic City, NJ                   Ocean Casino Resort – Ovation Hall
Link coming 5/14
24   New York, NY                      Town Hall
https://bit.ly/33cxUZs
26   Burlington, VT                      Flynn Center For The Performing Arts
https://bit.ly/3ti1kzM
28   Huntington, NY                    The Paramount
https://bit.ly/2Rr9Csc
29   Uncasville, CT                      Mohegan Sun
https://bit.ly/3aZUl8o
30   Medford, MA                       Chevalier Theatre
https://bit.ly/3aUYJ8P

November

1     Greensburg, PA                    The Palace Theatre
https://sforce.co/3edH5za
2     Detroit, MI                           Masonic Cathedral Theatre
https://bit.ly/3vFIvs1
3     Northfield, OH                      MGM Northfield Park - Center Stage
https://bit.ly/33t0TZ4
6     Milwaukee, WI                     Riverside Theater
https://bit.ly/3vymPxU
7     Minneapolis, MN                   State Theater
https://bit.ly/3ezsA8T
9     Saint Charles, MO                 Family Arena
https://bit.ly/2PMTnVR
10   Kansas City, MO                  Uptown Theater
https://bit.ly/3utCn5O
14   Los Angeles, CA                   The Greek Theatre
https://bit.ly/3tgCLn0