Watch The Monkees Perform ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ at Farewell Tour Launch
The Monkees kicked off their farewell tour over the weekend with a trio of Pacific Northwest shows in Spokane, Washington, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. The setlist was similar to their Mick and Micky Show tour of 2019, but did feature the live debuts of their 1969 Instant Party deep cut “While I Cry” and “Love Is Only Sleeping” from 1967’s Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. Here is fan-shot video of “Pleasant Valley Sunday” from the Seattle show.
The Monkees have toured in a number of incarnations over the past decade. In 2011, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork reassembled after a decade of inactivity. Jones died from a sudden heart attack in early 2012, but founding member Michael Nesmith returned to the band later that year and the surviving three members toured regularly over the next few years. Nesmith sat out the band’s 50th anniversary tour in 2016, leaving Dolenz and Tork to carry on as a duo. But Nesmith returned in 2018 when health problems forced Tork off the road. Dolenz and Nesmith launched an American in 2019, shortly after Tork died following a long battle with cancer.
They had a tour on the books for last year, but were forced to postpone it because of the pandemic. During the downtime, they decided it would be their final outing. “I’m not looking forward to the touring and the hotels and travel,” Dolenz told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “I’m like a fine wine. I don’t travel well. I’m good when I’m lying on my side in a cellar in the dark. But the shows, of course, especially these ones with Nez, are just wonderful. The audience reaction has always been so phenomenal. And that helps, to be honest.”
The show features all of the Monkees big hits (“Daydream Believer,” “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville”) along with fan favorites like “Circle Sky,” “Porpoise Sky (Theme From Head), “Tapioca Tundra,” and Sunny Girlfriend along with selections like their 2016 comeback LP Good Times!, including the Ben Gibbard-penned “Me & Magdelena.”
The tour wraps up November 14th at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. After that, Dolenz says he’ll continue playing Monkees songs at his solo shows. “I will always be Micky, the wacky drummer on that classic old television show, just like Leonard Nimoy was always Mr. Spock,” Dolenz told Rolling Stone. “You got typecast from these things. Most people spend the years trying to be successful enough to be typecast, and then they fight it the rest of their lives. Well, I never fought it.”
