Did you ever see the Monkees or the First National Band in person back in the day?

Let's see -

Monkees Reunion -Universal Ampitheatre with Mike joining in at the end.

Nesmith - Ohio University, Athens, Ohio (Nevada Figther period) (solo
performances; spoke with Mike quite a bit; let me play his Gibson
Hummingbird - the one he said he built the neck for)

Palomino (late 70s) (got to talk to Mike for awhile)

Whiskey A Go Go (Infinite Dogma period)

Huntington Beach (Golden Bear?) (Tropical Campfires period)
(Mickey and Bobby Sherman were there)

Wadsworth Theatre with The Hellecasters (my son was taking
lessons from Will Ray at the time)

Steve - were you there the day he came in to MCA Records to meet with Neil Hartley over Pacific Arts distribtuion? Basically, I just said hello.

 

No, but I grew up down the street from Peter Torkelsen. One day my mom was driving me home from shopping and we picked him up hitchhiking on Wormwood Hill Rd. He told us that he had an audition for a TV series about a rock group.

You know how it turned out.

His brother Chris used to babysit me, too. Anyway, I've seen one Monkee live.

-s

 

Never got to see The Monkees or Mike (although there's good odds that I might just get to someday) but I have seen Mickey Dolenz in concert... he's still got it.

 

Mark Yandle -- there's a name out of the past. He wrote a book (mimeographed or something such) on how to be a rock star, as I recall. Nice kid.

I saw the FNB -- actually, the SNB, as Johnny Meeks was there -- at the Troubadour, so they did play live.

 

I didn't see the Monkees live till the Reunion Show at the Greek Theater.

But in "68 in front of my house on 29th St. and Arlington in Los Angeles, a gray and blue mini cooper, pull up to ask for direction to the freeway (Santa Monica).
The driver was one Davy Jones!! I gave him directions, we shook hands, and off he went. Not bad for an 8 year old!

 

The Monkees were my first real concert in 1967. I saw a portion of the tour
with the Fifth Dimension opening but I don't remember anything of the the show. I know there are many Monkees fans here, but listening to some of their stuff recently I am not certain it has held its appeal.

 

As a 7 year old, I remember having the Monkees bubblegum cards (series C, I believe) that had the dates for the 1967 tour on them. I was so disappointed at seeing the date for Boston Gardens on the card had already gone by (and not by too much either).

 

I saw The 3kees live only once in th Summer of 1987.

Darryl

 

I saw Peter Tork (and band) in a small club in the fall of 1977. They opened with Clarksville. Peter played banjo most of the night and they covered "Randy Scouse Git".
Peter was also very friendly to the (small) crowd after the show.

 

Wow!! I wish I were there!! Or at least had video/audio. The little I've heard of FNB's live stuff sounds pretty cool.

You got that right!! I've never heard anyone before or since produce the magic that Red produced. Great, great player, IMO.


Fantastic story! Thanks!

I saw Micky, Peter & Davy about 10 years ago.. honestly, it was the worst concert I've ever been to. Sound system wasn't set up properly and the little I could hear didnt sound good. Of course, Nesmith is my main man when it comes to the Monkees--wish I could see him in person. Have to stick with Live at the Britt DVD in the meantime.

 

That Cubby Bear show was GREAT!....I saw the 86 3kees thing but Nez was always my fave.....and at that time I lived about a block away from there so the stumble home was mercifully short!

 

I saw the Monkees in 1966 when I was 11 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. My first rock show. Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart opened. I had a choice to go see The Monkees or The Beatles and I chose The Monkees because The Beatles were going to be around forever and I could go see them another time. The Monkees were the flavor of the month at that time and I thought it would be more fun. As it turned out The Beatles gave there last concert ever the next month in San Francisco. One of the biggest regrets of my life - I'm still haunted.

 

Steve,

Great story! I missed this thread somehow first time around.

I'd also love to hear stories by someone who saw The Monkees in 1969. Anybody attend that year???

 

I saw them here in Baltimore in 67. I still have the ticket stub - but lost the souvenier program book somewhere along the way (along with my program from the 64 Beatles show ). I honestly can't recall who opened the show - but I think I'd remember if it was Jimi!

Dexter

 

That would have been his short stint with a combo called Cottonmouth! They had some music on RCA (without Pete). Terribly appropriate for Pete to have a band called Cottonmouth considering the stoner he was at one time.

Randy Scouse Git? Weird. Musta been the weed.

 

...and I was 5 in 1970, so I missed seeing them perform live.

I haven't heard the FNB records for probably 30 years and I was amazed when I spun them last week at how much I enjoyed them (when I was younger buying them in the delete bins at Woolco's in the mid 70's). Thanks for sharing the story Steve! Do you have your copy of Rhino's The Birds The Bees and the Monkees? It is truly one of the better deluxe reissues I have seen in the last few years.

 

I was playing in one of the shows at Disneyland in the summer of 1976 ( at the "It's a Small World" stage) and one of our performances was opening for Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart - I more or less started playing drums because of the Monkees, so it was pretty wild to have Micky watching us play our show from the side of the stage ( I remember he had a cast on his arm at the time - didn't matter as far as the gig because there was a backing band behind the four of them...)

Got to meet all of them after the show ... I wore headphones during our show which was timed to a click track - Micky asked if I was actually playing all the drum parts( I was) - I remember thinking it was strange he wasn't sure about that, when he was only about 25 feet away from the drums...
great to meet them though - all very nice.....

Cnath

 

Back in the day? No.

I did get to see Davy perform at Magic Mountain in California in about 1978. (You know, the theater where Spinal Tap Mark II played bottom bill to a puppet show.) The show was taped for a television special on one of those early pay-TV channels and was called Davy Jones and the Monkees' Greatest Hits. Stu Rosen of "Dusty's Treehouse" was the emcee.

It was a decent oldies concert, and Davy sang several of the old hits and some new songs. I specifically remember he did "Can She Do it Like She Dances" and "Nice Legs, Shame About Her Face". His backing band was called Toast.

After the show, Davy spoke with us outside the theater and signed autographs. He was pleasant and congenial.

 

I was very lucky to see The Monkees at Wembley Empire Poll in 1967. I had a front row seat because one of my school chum's father was promoting the gig. I was too young to attend the show by myself and had to be accompanied by my mother! From what I remember there were a few support bands, but I can't remember their names. I do remember Lulu's set which was amazing. I could actually hear her. Unfortunately, as soon as the Monkees hit the stage is was pandemonium and even though I was in the front row I could not hear them because of the constant screaming from fans. They looked pretty cool though. Still have an album sized program from the show somewhere. Great memories.

 

I remember about 10 years ago the local oldies station in San Francisco, KFRC, had a caller talk about when she went to see the Monkees at the Cow Palace in '67. They weren't Monkees fans at the time and thought they kinda sucked, but went to the concert just to laugh at them. She recalled that she and her friend were surprised and impressed by how entertaining they were, and ended up respecting the Monkees after that.

 

One of my big regrets was never seeing the Monkees or Beatles in concert during their heyday. I saw Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart in 1976 at the Riverboat in NYC and a year later Micky & Davy with Micky's sister Coco at the same venue.

I saw Peter for the first time in 1980 and met him on the set of the Uncle Floyd show and saw him in many shows during the early 80's, and he always appreciated that I was one of the fans who supported him during this period in his career.

I formerly met Davy in 1983 when he did a small NY media tour which included the Today Show, Regis & Kathy Lee and Uncle Floyd, and before he and his family returned to England on the QE2, I gave them a family gift. In 1991 I did some research work on his 'Mutant Monkees' book in which I got an acknowledgement credit and suggested some photos from his private collection, including one with him and Pete Townshend, that he used for his book. I was at his house in Pennsylvania and he pulled out this trunk that was full of photos and other personal memorabilia for me to sift through and see what I could find that could be used for the book. I felt like I just died and went to Monkee heaven! Later that evening he did a rehearsal with his band in the living room. I had my camera, but I didn't think it was proper for me to take a picture.



Nesmith I met at the launch party for 'Elephant Parts' at the Tavern on the Green in 1981, and saw him again during the media tour for 'Time Rider' when he appeared on the Letterman show and some friends and myself got to meet him again. I also saw and met Nesmith when he played the Lone Star Cafe on Times Square in 1992, and later on when he did a book tour for his novel 'The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora'.

I was in the crowd at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC when the 1986 Reunion Tour was announced. Peter saw me and said, "You should have been inside, Fred!". I attended many concerts during the reunion tours, and was on the MTV set when the Christmas video was shot with Nesmith. I was able to get the autographs of all four Monkees at this event. I practically had to chase Micky all over the place, the guy was so full of energy! A funny incident happened between me and Micky's daughter Ami when we were both at the cloak room getting our coats and the hook of her coat hanger snagged on my coat and she almost dragged me down the hall before I called it her attention, and we both had a laugh about it.

In 1989 I was involved in the Hollywood Monkees Convention that culminated with the reunion with Nesmith at the Universal Ampitheater, followed the next day with the Monkees receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in which I participated as part of the convention security. The ceremony was held at the theater that 'Head' premiered in 1968 and prior to the Monkees being introduced for the ceremony they had a small press conference in the theater. The Monkees were having photos taken and Peter saw me and introduced me to Nesmith and we were having a conversation where Peter mentioned meeting me on the Uncle Floyd show, when the photographer Michael Bush told me, "Er Fred, you're in the picture". I apologized and was about to move to the side when Peter grabbed me by the arm, pulled me back in, and said, "Fred, you STAY in the picture!". As you can imagine, that was one of the greatest moments I ever had as a fan and I'll always thank Peter for being so kind. (And for the record, I LIKE his singing voice!)

 

Steve,
Boy, do I envy you! At the show you attended of the First National Band, you likely witnessed Mike performing "Lady of the Valley". That song has always been absolutely huge to me. The emotion Mike puts into the words is just beautiful to listen to.