The Monkees Tour: 1960’s Band Hitting The Road Again In 2013

The Monkees Tour: 1960’s Band Hitting The Road Again In 2013

Here we come
Walking down the street
We get the funniest looks from
All the whippersnappers we meet!

Hey, hey they’re the Monkees and they are touring again.

No, really.  The “Pre-fab” is hitting the road this summer to play 24 concerts routed all over the United States.

I feel like I need to snap a picture of today’s newspaper and post it in this blog.  That way you’ll be sure this isn’t a story from a year or a decade gone-by.

Don’t worry.  You’re internet is working fine.  No one has hacked your computer.  The Monkees are indeed touring in the summer of 2013.

The Monkees Tour
Their upcoming trek is called “A Midsummer’s Night with the Monkees.”  It launches July 15 in Port Chester, New York and ends Aug. 18 in Portland, Oregon.

They band has routed major cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and Denver but they are playing small to midsized arenas like The Mann Center, Ryman Auditorium, and Benaroya Hall.

The Monkees Songs
“A Midsummer’s Night with the Monkees” will present their catalog of hits in a rather unique way.  They are planning to perform their songs in chronological order.  That means “Last Train to Clarksville” (August, 1966) and “I’m a Believer” (November, 1966) will be their first two songs right out of the gate.

Don’t get up leave.  There are still a bunch of great songs to come including “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Mary Mary,” “Randy Scouse Git,” and “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round?”  If they’re true to their word, and who has ever known a Monkee to lie, they should finish on “That was Then, This Is Now” their last top 20 single.

The Monkees Daydream Believer
The 2012 Monkees tour was a tribute to Davy Jones.  He passed away in February of that year.  While that tour inspired their upcoming jaunt, the band has already said they will acknowledge Jones but “possibly not as much as on [their previous] tour.”

Don’t worry, The Monkees—Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith—will still perform Jones’ section of the band’s tome.  That means fans with Monkees tickets should expect to hear classic cuts like “Daydream Believer,” “Valleri,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” and “Cuddly Toy.” 

Billie Joe Armstrong Calls Psy ‘Herpes of Music’

Billie Joe Armstrong Calls Psy ‘Herpes of Music’

Maybe he needs to go back to rehab.

Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day, recently posted this on his Instagram account:

“This dude is the herpes of music. Once you think it’s gone, it comes back.”

The “dude” in the above quotation is K-pop star Psy.

BJA’s comment garnered 20,000 likes and 2,000 comments. Now, hold on to your hats, this may surprise you, but most of the comments agreed with Armstrong.

BJA recently got out of rehab. He and his band are currently touring Europe. What preceded his trip to the clinic was a rant about Justin Bieber at a concert in Las Vegas. After he finished chewing out the Biebs, the “American Idiot” singer checked himself into rehab.

So maybe BJA is back on the sauce, or the pills, or whatever was his addiction of choice (recording derivative music perhaps?). Not to state the obvious, but a urine test wouldn’t hurt.

Psy (and Bieber for that matter) aren’t the most musical of musical acts. Everyone knows that. No one seriously thinks Psy is the Korean Justin Timberlake or Justin Bieber the Canadian Justin Timberlake.

Psy and Bieber make fun, disposal, light songs. What’s wrong with that?
Nothing.

Best of all, no one forces anyone to listen to Psy or Justin Bieber or, thankfully, Green Day.

BJA should keep his negative opinions to himself. Calling out other artists, even those as vapid as
Psy, makes him appear bitter, petty, and trite.

“Hey, Bill. Your musical was nominated for a frickin’ Tony Award. You’re a legitimate musician. You don’t need to knock anyone to prove it.”

I always thought BJA was better than this. Well, I never thought that. This actually seems quite typical of the man but you know what I mean.