Micky Dolenz will honor his late-Monkees bandmates on tour this spring. The shows will mark Dolenz' first proper tour dates since the Mike Nesmith's death last December at age 78. The trek, which is billed as “Micky Dolenz Celebrates The Monkees” will play eight dates throughout April, making stops in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Dolenz already has dates on the books and will play the Beach Boys cruise next month, with a string of spring shows with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals.
Dolenz, who will spotlight the contributions of Mike Nesmith — as well as those of Davy Jones and Peter Tork — during the upcoming shows, said in a statement, “I felt it was important to gather the fans and properly celebrate the lives of Davy, Mike, and Peter. People have been contacting me, requesting that I honor them in a way where the extraordinary impact of the Monkees can be properly acknowledged. We spent such a great deal of time together; they were like my brothers, and I want to share some of the great joy we had together.”
Dolenz told us that he's always considered his career from The Monkees' TV shows to their reunion tours as “musical theatre”: “If you understand the history of the Monkees, if you understand and appreciate how the original show was put together and everything, it's not like a band having a reunion. It's more like the revival of a Broadway musical, if you will. It's like Yul Brynner doing The King And I again. That's the way I've always looked at it, 'cause that's the way The Monkees was originally produced and constructed. It was a television show first, about this imaginary rock n' roll group — this fictitious group called 'The Monkees.'”
UPDATED: Micky Dolenz Celebrates The Monkees tour dates (subject to change):
March 25, 26, 27 – Miami, FL to Nassau, Bahamas – The Beach Boys Good Vibrations Cruise
April 5 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
April 6 – Richmond, KY – EKU Center For The Arts
April 8 – Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center
April 9 – Cincinnati, OH – The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center
April 12 – Akron, OH – Goodyear Theater
April 13 – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre
April 16 – Madison, WI – Overture Center For The Arts
April 23 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theater (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)
April 24 – Glenside. PA – Keswick Theatre (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)
May 12 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Center (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)
May 14 – Patchogue, NY – Patchogue Theatre For The Performing Arts (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)
June 3 – New York, NY – Palladium Times Square (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)
June 4 – Lynn, MA – Lynn Auditorium (with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals)