(Photo by Henry Diltz)
1969
NORTH AMERICAN
TOUR
Dolenz, Jones and Nesmith
(March - December 1969)
"In the first Peter Tork-less tour, The Monkees are evolving rapidly into a young adult act. The Monkees are carefully bridging two images. They performed enough of their hits to avoid alienating the vast teen market, while adding enough new material to stake out a claim on a more mature market."
-Billboard magazine review of The Monkees' concert at the Civic Center Arena in West Virginia, 4/12/69
Photograph from the 1969 tour program
- I'm A Believer
- Pleasant Valley Sunday
- Tapioca Tundra
- I Wanna Be Free
- Show Me (Micky lead vocal)
- A Man Without A Dream
- Daydream Believer
- Goin' Down
- Someday Man
- Listen To The Band
- Don't Wait For Me
- Get On Up (or) Summertime (Micky solo)
- For Once In My Life (Davy solo)
- Johnny B. Goode (Mike solo)
- I'm A Believer (reprise / R&B version with Micky and Davy trading verses)
- “Last Train To Clarksville” was played on different nights. "Salesman" was reportedly performed in Honolulu, Hawaii in April 1969. “Mommy and Daddy” was reportedly performed in Salt Lake City, Utah in December 1969.
In December 1968, during the filming of what would become the band's April 1969 NBC television special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, Peter Tork informed the rest of the band that he was leaving The Monkees. Unhappy that the group dynamic that had surrounded the Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd. recording sessions had dissipated, Tork completed his final Monkees project as the year closed, leaving Micky, Davy and Michael to carry on as The Monkees.
Billboard magazine reported in February 1969 that a tour of the United States in the spring was being planned to aggressively promote the band's new single, "Teardrop City," and album, Instant Replay. The seven-piece rhythm and blues band Sam & The Goodtimers (who had formerly supported Ike and Tina Turner) was selected as the opening act on the 1969 tour and also provided instrumental backup for the three Monkees. (Other bands along with The Goodtimers were also featured on the bill throughout the tour as opening acts.) Mike had been in the audience for a performance by The Goodtimers at the Red Velvet club on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood and came away impressed. Rehearsals began in March with their first joint performance occurring in Vancouver, Canada on March 29, 1969. Mike played guitar throughout the show, while Micky and Davy shared center stage, adding tambourine or maracas on select songs. Micky played the drums only during his solo number and Davy occasionally played guitar.
Billboard magazine reported in February 1969 that a tour of the United States in the spring was being planned to aggressively promote the band's new single, "Teardrop City," and album, Instant Replay. The seven-piece rhythm and blues band Sam & The Goodtimers (who had formerly supported Ike and Tina Turner) was selected as the opening act on the 1969 tour and also provided instrumental backup for the three Monkees. (Other bands along with The Goodtimers were also featured on the bill throughout the tour as opening acts.) Mike had been in the audience for a performance by The Goodtimers at the Red Velvet club on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood and came away impressed. Rehearsals began in March with their first joint performance occurring in Vancouver, Canada on March 29, 1969. Mike played guitar throughout the show, while Micky and Davy shared center stage, adding tambourine or maracas on select songs. Micky played the drums only during his solo number and Davy occasionally played guitar.
(From the collection of Kevin Schmid)
The combination of The Monkees' pop/rock sound with the R&B flavor of the Goodtimers made for a unique sounding and diverse presentation. The concerts were staged to be more like a revue, and featured cover songs like the Esquires' "Get on Up," Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," the jazz standard "Summertime," Stevie Wonder's “For Once In My Life” and Joe Tex's "Show Me." Sam & The Goodtimers consisted of Sam Rhodes (lead vocals), Willie Webb (guitar), Tony Burrell (bass), Clifford Solomon (sax), McKinley Johnson (trumpet), Thomas Norwood (drums) and Ernest Lane (keyboards). The 1969 concerts featured new film footage shot by Mike and Micky projected on a screen behind the band, mixed in with comedy bits and the solo spots. This would be the last Monkees tour until 1986.
The Monkees with Johnny Cash
With their own television series finished, it was the goal of The Monkees in 1969 to maintain a high profile on the road and on television to promote the band's latest musical offerings. However, their popularity had cooled considerably and their ability to sell concert tickets and records had suddenly diminished. Even though the trio made promotional appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (audio of this appearance can be heard below in a YouTube video), Laugh-In, The Joey Bishop Show (YouTube audio available below), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and The Johnny Cash Show (also seen below singing a stately version of "Nine Times Blue"), the tour was poorly attended at most dates, though several stops did indeed play to a packed house. A proposed British tour was scheduled, then postponed, and later canceled altogether. Although Billboard Magazine praised The Monkees' new concert show as a gutsy and daring adventure, other critics came away confused by the mixing of The Monkees' pop sensibilities with the heavy R&B lounge flavor of The Goodtimers. "We all had a good time on the tour," Nesmith told Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval in the liner notes for the Instant Replay compact disc release in 1995, but "it was tough out there." Despite their heavy touring schedule and multiple high-profile TV appearances, no Monkees single entered the Top 40 in 1969 (though the Instant Replay album managed to climb to #32). Years later, Dolenz expressed fond recollections of working with the Goodtimers but surmised that the audience must have been confused by the pairing of such different musical styles. The 1969 tour, Dolenz said, "was like kicking a dead horse. The phenomenon had peaked."
Picture sleeve for the "Listen to the Band" single
As the tour continued across North America through the end of the year, some shows, including a concert at Forest Hills Stadium, site of triumph for The Monkees in 1967, were canceled, most likely due to poor ticket sales. Two more singles, "Listen to the Band"/"Someday Man" and "Good Clean Fun"/"Mommy and Daddy" stalled on the charts. The Monkees Present album followed in October 1969 but barely cracked the Top 100, despite a heavy cross promotion with Kool-Aid. In November, Michael began to make it known that he would be departing The Monkees over the next several months to form a new group, which would become The First National Band. Dolenz, Jones and Nesmith performed their last concert together on December 6, 1969 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. Micky and Davy confirmed that they would continue as The Monkees for any remaining projects. The duo released the album Changes in May 1970. The Monkees were officially disbanded by the end of 1970.
With the Goodtimers on the Joey Bishop Show
One concert from this tour (thought to be the May 10, 1969 performance in Wichita, Kansas at the Century II Convention Center) does exist as bootleg, but it’s an absolutely horrible recording (audio available below) usually sought after for historical purposes only. For years there have been rumors that the band recorded a show on this tour, but no tapes have ever turned up. Amazingly, silent footage of the band performing on August 25, 1969 at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto surfaced on YouTube (and can be seen below). However, in an online interview with Micky in 2005, he said no audio tapes exist of the '69 shows. "No, we never recorded that," Dolenz recalled. "I recorded Sam & The Goodtimers as an act, and was trying to sell them to a record company. But we never recorded - I wish we had, it was funny, it was really great having that band, they were a great band."
Filming a Kool-Aid commercial in February 1970 (Photo by Henry Diltz)
Brendan Cahill, who along with longtime Monkees associate David Pearl managed the group during 1969, told Andrew Sandoval in 1991 that a short American club tour was conducted by Dolenz and Jones in 1970 to promote the Changes album. Sandoval writes in the liner notes of the 1991 Listen to the Band box set that such a club tour took place, but later could not completely confirm the idea in an internet interview conducted in 2006, as Cahill is now deceased. In his book, Sandoval does report on a performance that took place on November 21, 1970 at the Valley REC Center in Van Nuys, California with Micky, Davy and Peter. The show was billed as "Freaky, Foxy, Funky Revival." No setlist or further details are available for this concert.
A special thank you to Joe Alterio for some of the information found in the 1969 North American Tour summary, and to Andrew Sandoval, whose book researched and detailed this year in Monkees history like never before. The pictures of Sam & The Goodtimers that appear below are from Joe's personal collection, as are the rare pictures of The Monkees performing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 22, 1969 (click all images to enlarge). Joe interviewed Goodtimer Sam Rhodes in 1998 and parts of that interview were also referenced for this section.
A special thank you to Joe Alterio for some of the information found in the 1969 North American Tour summary, and to Andrew Sandoval, whose book researched and detailed this year in Monkees history like never before. The pictures of Sam & The Goodtimers that appear below are from Joe's personal collection, as are the rare pictures of The Monkees performing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 22, 1969 (click all images to enlarge). Joe interviewed Goodtimer Sam Rhodes in 1998 and parts of that interview were also referenced for this section.
The rare 1969 Monkees tour program
The Monkees on The Johnny Cash Show, July 19, 1969
Few examples of The Monkees performing live with Sam & the Goodtimers in 1969 have survived. Below are three rare audio files of their appearance on The Joey Bishop Show on April 24, 1969. Included in their performance that evening were "I'm a Believer," and both sides of their latest single,
"Someday Man" and "Listen to the Band."
"Someday Man" and "Listen to the Band."
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Then and Now: Sam & The Goodtimers (click to enlarge)
This is silent footage of The Monkees performing on August 25, 1969 in Toronto at the
Canadian National Exhibition.
Canadian National Exhibition.
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The Monkees perform in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 22, 1969 (click to enlarge)
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The audio file above (press play to listen)
is a commercial on radio station KYA promoting a concert at the Oakland Coliseum on November 30 (the second to last date of the 1969 tour). Note the mention of the concert being recorded. |
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The YouTube video above is a rare radio spot featuring The Monkees from 1969. This clip features the trio on radio station KLEO promoting their concert at the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on May 10.
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Davy and Mike backstage at the Jackson Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi on May 3, 1969 (click to enlarge)
These photos were taken in Virginia Beach, Virginia at The Dome on June 13, 1969.
(Photos by Dick Boushell and courtesy of the Virginian-Pilot. Click each to enlarge.)
(Photos by Dick Boushell and courtesy of the Virginian-Pilot. Click each to enlarge.)
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(Above) The Monkees appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on June 17, 1969. They sang two songs, "Daydream Believer" and "Goin' Down," and were later interviewed by Carson. The trio was backed by their 1969 touring band, Sam and The Goodtimers. No video of this appearance exists.
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(Above) This audio comes from the only known bootleg recording of The Monkees' 1969 tour, thought to be the May 10, 1969 performance in Wichita, Kansas. Spliced together here are some of the best audible fragments of the bootleg. (Be sure to turn up the volume on your speakers.)
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