Monkees 1989 European Tour

The Monkees at London's Hard Rock Cafe

1989

EUROPEAN

TOUR

Dolenz, Jones & Tork
(March - April 1989)

THE SET LIST

Doing the 'Monkeewalk' for the UK press (Photo by Michael G. Bush)

Last Train to Clarksville
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
Pleasant Valley Sunday
Cuddly Toy
No Time
Your Auntie Grizelda
I’ll Be True to You
Goin’ Down
Shades of Gray
Zilch / Randy Scouse Git
I Wanna Be Free
That Was Then, This Is Now
Valleri
Bach’s Two-Part Invention in F Major (Peter's keyboard solo)
Through the Looking Glass
MGBGT
Every Step of the Way
Cripple Creek
Acoustic Set:
-When Love Comes Knockin’ (Davy)
-Sometime in the Morning (Micky)
-Take a Giant Step (Peter)
-Good Clean Fun (Davy)
-Papa Gene's Blues (Peter)
-What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round? (Micky)
She
It’s Nice To Be With You
For Pete’s Sake
(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
Daydream Believer
Encore:
Ditty Diego (Monkees rap)
Listen to the Band
I’m a Believer
Davy’s solo song “Manchester Boy” was played during the acoustic set on 4/8/89 in Manchester, England. At the 4/24/89 Reading, England show, “You and I” (Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart version) was performed.

THE TOUR SCHEDULE

March 17: Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate, England
March 18: Liverpool Empire, Liverpool, England
March 19: Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
March 20: Aberdeen Capitol Theatre, Aberdeen, Scotland
March 21: Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, England
March 23: Gloucester Leisure Centre, Gloucester, England
March 24: Newport Leisure Centre, Newport, Wales
March 25: Royal Albert Hall, London, England (2 shows)
March 26: Oxford Apollo, Oxford, England
March 27: Brighton Dome, Brighton, England
March 28: Exeter Plaza Centre, Exeter, England
March 29: Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England
March 31: Fairfield Halls, Croydon, England
April 1: Colston Hall, Bristol, England
April 2: Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth, England
April 3: Corn Exchange, Cambridge, England
April 5: Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, England
April 6: Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield, England
April 7: Hull City Hall, Hull, England
April 8: Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England
April 9: The Hippodrome, Birmingham, England
April 10: DeMontfort Hall, Leicester, England
April 12: Crawley Leisure Centre, Crawley, England
April 13: The Wintergardens, Margate, England
April 14: The Opera House, Blackpool, England
April 15: Carlisle Sands Centre, Carlisle, England
April 17: Glasgow Pavillion Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland
April 20: Hammersmith Odeon, London, England
April 21: Amsterdam, Holland
April 22: International Leisure Centre, Brentwood, England
April 23: Theatre Royal, Hanley, England
April 24: Rivermead Centre, Reading, England

The Monkees rehearsing in the UK (Photo by Michael G. Bush)

The Monkees’ first visit to Europe since 1967 brought a sell-out crowd to nearly every venue along with a huge wave of publicity surrounding their return. Most of the shows centered around the United Kingdom with dates in England, Scotland and Wales. A concert was also held in Amsterdam, Holland on April 21, portions of which were broadcasted live on European radio. (The Amsterdam show was also filmed and later screened on Holland television in May.) Demand for tickets was so high that extra cities were added to the schedule and matinee performances were tacked onto several venues, including the Royal Albert Hall in London. There were offers and subsequent discussions of extending the tour into Ireland and other parts of Europe during May, but the band decided to take a break before the planned summer tour of North America and Japan.

Sold out in Manchester (Photo by Michael G. Bush)

The tour kicked off with a press conference at London's Hard Rock Cafe on March 8. The Monkees undertook an exhaustive publicity campaign prior to and during the tour, making appearances on several British talk shows. Amongst other things, UK record label K-Tel released the album Hey, Hey, It's The Monkees Greatest Hits which jumped to #12 on the British charts and sold over 100,000 copies, spurred by a massive TV and radio campaign. The album went gold, and The Monkees were presented with a gold record at the final show in Reading, England on April 24, 1989.

The shows in Europe combined some of the elements from the 1986 and 1987 North American tours along with some fresh additions. A very well received acoustic set was added, featuring Peter playing acoustic guitar. Micky played the drums often, Peter switched back and forth between rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards and banjo, and Davy played the tambourine and maracas. A new band was chosen to support the trio and consisted of Doug Trevor (rhythm guitar), Glynn Evans (bass), Frankie Hepburn (guitar), Martin Wilde (drums), Mark Hayley (keyboards), Lawrie Hayley (backing vocals), Mike Smith (saxophone), Noel Langley (trumpet) and Andy Bush (trumpet). British band Seven opened for The Monkees at most dates.

The Nesmith tribute songs in the acoustic set ("Good Clean Fun," "Papa Gene's Blues" and "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?") were played at select concerts only. "MGBGT" and "Every Step of the Way" were added to or deleted from the set on any given night as well.

For articles, audio and more from the 1989 World Tour, scroll through blog posts here.