MICKY DOLENZ AT THE ROYAL OAK THEATRE
It wasn’t originally supposed to happen this way.
Back in October 2021, I had tickets to see the Monkees’ Farewell Tour. My first ever concert ever! But alas, 3 days before said concert me and my family were stricken with COVID. It was a depressing experience to say the least. 2 months later, Michael Nesmith passed away to the shock of many. It was also a depressing experience, to say the least. When Micky announced his solo tour, I used the refund money from the unused tickets to pay for the new ones.
Fast forward to Saturday, April 22nd 2023. Having properly stayed away from as many people as possible for the past week (which is relatively easy considering my shut-in status, but nonetheless) me and my parents have now travelled up to Detroit to come and watch Micky Dolenz sing and play.
After much waiting (the line stretched the entire block), we got in and only minutes later Micky was on stage. During his performance of Clarksville he seemed a little stiff, mostly unenthused. This demeanor changed a few songs in and he was moving around, emphasising important lyrics and holding his tambourine up with style.
The tributes to Davy, Peter, and Mike were nothing short of heartbreaking. Micky truly cared about his bandmates a lot, they were his brothers in life and their loss can’t be filled by a mere tribute, although it is lovely to see their faces.
Shades Of Gray’s meaning has been completely transformed with the accompanying videos & pictures on the giant screen behind the band. Images of the Monkees as kids appear, then images of their youth as teenagers before the rise of superstardom.
Speaking of the giant screen, lemme tell ya! It’s an essential part of the concert. Images from the Headquarters photo session are used as backdrops, or in the case of Band 6 as frontdrops to the music. It’s an amazing pairing. Footage from the TV show is used as well, and some snippets of film from Micky’s personal film archive. My favorite clip is of Davy on the diving board. He dove off of it while doing a headstand!
An intimate reading of Daily Nightly was a surprise to me during Mike’s tribute segment. He follows this up with a comical jab at how Mike didn’t even know what his own lyrics meant due to being high when he wrote it (a pot-fueled genius!)
Coco is such a wonderful singer. Her performance of Different Drum is FANTASTIC!!
As good as a time as all of this was, unbeknownst to me a few girls in the front row were apparently having TOO good of a time. One of them had attempted to climb onto the stage, having been dancing for the past hour (likely at the annoyance of a few behind them) and security was brought down to whisk the girls away. They danced while being dragged out. Hey, might as well go out in style! I hope they had a good time at least.
Towards the end of Early Morning Blues And Greens, a kettle drum is slowly rolled out onto the stage. Everyone there knew what was coming next, except………
As soon as the line “it’s not easy trying to tell her” is sung, all vocals are suddenly cut out. An unfortunate technical issue, in the middle of a performance! Fans in the audience tried to remedy this by singing loudly. Micky’s vocals were blipping in and out through the rest of the song, and during the scatting section he was unable to be heard by anyone despite his lips clearly moving. A real life example of the scene with Goin’ Down in The Monkee’s Paw!
Because of this unfortunate accident, the intermission was shown rather quickly. All of the technical bugs were fixed and Micky came back stronger than ever with an intimate performance of Porpoise Song with only a piano and his voice. What followed was hit after hit. Pleasant Valley Sunday! Daydream Believer! It was all a blur, i was so enraptured by the music.
The glaring omission of I’m A Believer was remedied for the encore, after Micky teased the audience with Stairway To Heaven. By this point, everyone was up and clapping and singing, it was a wonderful time. The spirit of The Monkees carries on through Micky & his energetic performances, as well as his wonderful backing band. I’m sure Davy Mike & Peter would’ve loved to watch.
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