An Evening with the Monkees.

***CaptHayfever*** · 07-01-2011, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by People of the AMS

Go ahead man, you'll love it and they'll probably never tour again.

Best advice ever.

The venue: Star Plaza Theater (attached to the Star Plaza Hotel), Merrillville, IN (about an hour east of Chicago).

The trip: On the way up from StL (departing from my house at exactly 11AM), my buddy Ben & I lost about an hour in construction on I-55. Fortunately, (A) there were no standard traffic delays, & (B) I had budgeted an extra hour into our travel time in case of standard traffic delays, so we still got there with a comfortable lead time for burger & potty breaks.

The concert: was awesome. Peter & Micky can still actually play their instruments (there was also a drummer in the backup band, but you could hear that the two were playing different parts), & Davy seems to finally have learned how to share a spotlight! Lots of Monkee-ish hijinks happened onstage! They did a Headley! (Not Lamarr) The setlist was AMAZING (bar one song).

It was really great seeing Peter Tork dance around like he was, too; not 2 years ago, YouTube videos of his still-sick performances showed him never getting out from behind his keyboard, never even picking up a guitar or banjo, & sound utterly exhausted after just a couple songs.

Not quite in order, but pretty close, I think:
"(Theme From) The Monkees"
"I'm a Believer"
"Mary, Mary"*
"The Girl I Knew Somewhere"*
"She Hangs Out"
"Someday Man"
"I Wanna Be Free"
"Saturday's Child"
"Randy Scouse Git"**
"I Don't Think You Know Me"
"Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"
"Papa Gene's Blues"*
"That Was Then, This Is Now"
"All of Your Toys"
"Hard To Believe"
"What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"
"Sometime in the Morning"
"Valleri"
Head medley: "Can You Dig It"***, "As We Go Along", "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?"***, "Daddy's Song", "Porpoise Song"
"Cuddly Toy"
"Words"
"When Love Comes Knockin' (at Your Door)"
"For Pete's Sake"***
"She"
"A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You"
"Shades of Gray"
"Goin' Down"****
"Your Auntie Grizelda"
"It's Nice to Be with You" (worst song of the night)
"Last Train to Clarksville"
"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"
"Daydream Believer"

Encore:
"Listen to the Band"*
"Pleasant Valley Sunday"

"I'm a Believer" reprise
(Typically, Mike's leads were covered by Peter, except on "Listen to the Band", which was sung in unison.)

Not played, though they were on the official tour setlist: "No T ime"*****, "Circle Sky"*, "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky"***

*written by Michael Nesmith
**written by Micky Dolenz
***written by Peter Tork
****written collectively by the Monkees
*****written by Mike & Micky

Afterwards: My traveling companion & I joined a handful of other people waiting between the stage door & the tour buses for autographs. After nearly 2 hours, an understandably-exhausted Davy Jones finally came out & signed things:

We in the line then learned that the guys had been in a VIP-upcharge meet-&-greet the whole time, which was why they were so tired, & that we'd only gotten to see Davy because he'd decided to go straight to the bus instead of taking the inside bridge back to his hotel room as Micky & Peter had. Stupid VIP things.

Then we split a Chicago-style pizza at around midnight & took turns sleeping in the car on the way home. No construction delays on southbound 55 (at least not in the middle of the night), so I ended up parking in front of my house just in time to wave to my sister as she left at 6AM. I woke up again at 2PM today & hurried down here to see if I beat Val to the VGF Risk update.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Redshirt · 07-01-2011, 11:33 PM

Sounds like it was a blast.

Dizzy · 07-02-2011, 12:11 AM

I'd make a Monkees reference, but I'm fresh out.

Glad you had fun.

Dylan · 07-02-2011, 12:48 AM

Where on I55 did you hit construction? I usually hit it whenever I get around Collinsville -- never fails. Last time I was in Chicago, though, there really weren't any problems.

***CaptHayfever*** · 07-02-2011, 04:15 AM

It was all down towards Collinsville, yeah. There's a roughly 10-mile stretch on the northbound where a lane is being repaved. Very slowly. Common sense says that's the last part of the project, though, since the other lane, the approach to the construction, the departure from the construction, & the southbound are all perfect.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

07-01-2011, 11:33 PM	#2
Redshirt Wiggidy Wack Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: A place with things Gender: Posts: 16,699 Thanks: 703 Thanked 1,006 Times in 695 Posts Blog Entries: 50	Sounds like it was a blast.

07-02-2011, 12:11 AM	#3
Dizzy Podiaphobe Join Date: Oct 2007 Gender: Posts: 19,359 Thanks: 1,764 Thanked 1,161 Times in 804 Posts Blog Entries: 116	I'd make a Monkees reference, but I'm fresh out. Glad you had fun.

07-02-2011, 12:48 AM	#4
Dylan Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Teenage Wasteland Gender: Posts: 7,790 Thanks: 1,632 Thanked 1,816 Times in 773 Posts	Where on I55 did you hit construction? I usually hit it whenever I get around Collinsville -- never fails. Last time I was in Chicago, though, there really weren't any problems.

07-02-2011, 04:15 AM	#5
*CaptHayfever* Smash SuperMod Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: (n) - the place where I am Gender: Posts: 27,659 Thanks: 1,991 Thanked 2,486 Times in 1,513 Posts	It was all down towards Collinsville, yeah. There's a roughly 10-mile stretch on the northbound where a lane is being repaved. Very slowly. Common sense says that's the last part of the project, though, since the other lane, the approach to the construction, the departure from the construction, & the southbound are all perfect. And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"