The Monkees Return To The UK
A bustling Eventim Apollo was full of excited fans, as they eagerly awaiting The Monkees’ arrival on stage after a four year absence from the UK.
Moments before The Monkees’ Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz walked on to the stage, a clip from comedian Whoopi Goldberg’s panel show The View was played which delivered the following message: “Before there was Bieber, there were The Monkees, baby.”
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The Monkees began their career as a made-for-TV boy band in the States to rival The Beatles. Their scripted narrative soon became a reality, and the band are still going strong. Following some video highlights of the band’s career where played to the crowd which spanned a number of generations.
The Monkees, now performing as a duo, backed by a five-piece touring band which include Dolenz’s sister, Coco, delved deep into their back catalogue against a backdrop of footage from their glory days as they performed two 40 minute sets.
Generally, the band were tight and Tork and Dolenz put on an entertaining show, unfortunately, there was a long and awkward acoustic segment that had one Carole King cover too many.
Porpoise Song was a surprising but popular song to be included in the band’s set list, the song which is lifted from the soundtrack of Head, a film realised in hope of killing The Monkees squeaky clean image, whilst the film was a flop, Porpoise Song was a hit amongst the live crowd and their rendition of it sounded particular potent.
I’m A Believer; the song Dolenz sang long before Shrek and Daydream Believer received the strongest crowd reactions of the evening, as everyone sang along and most of the room raised from their seats to have a little boogie. These two songs are pop rock standard, they are much loved and treasured hits which appeal to the young and old.
Another highlight came in the form of TV personality Iain Lee dancing in the front row with his sun, before Dolenz held out his mic for Iain to sing a verse of Goin’ Down/
In all the group has shifted 75 million records and at their peak outsold both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined, whilst they are no where near reliving their heyday, The Monkees proved themselves to be true entertainers who were well composed when things went wrong.
The Monkees’ live show was a testament to why their music has outlived their TV show. These boys had some great tracks, written by some great song writers, they have a great stage presence and were truly entertaining to watch.
To view all photos taken during this set click here. There are 1 available.