The Monkees Story: The 2000s

In the year 2000, there was unexpected focus on The Monkees when VH1 aired an episode of their "Behind The Music" series based on The Monkees and the E! Channel aired a special Monkees episode of their "E! True Hollywood Story" series. Also, VH1 aired a made-for-TV movie called, "Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story" with new actors re-living The Monkees' experiences. As a result of this extra exposure, record sales went up and their latest greatest hits album went gold. In the later half of 2000, David Fishof (concert promoter responsible for 80s reunion) who had recently become Davy Jones' personal manager approached Micky & Peter about a short spring 2001 tour. They accepted and in late November of 2000, announced a short 15-city US tour in March. In conjunction with the tour, Rhino released a brand new box set of Monkees music from 1966-1996 called, "The Music Box." The tour, which was originally supposed to be a 15 city trek, grew in size & popularity and sold out most, if not all dates on the spring March-April 2001 tour. During the tour, The Monkees' special guests were a new up & coming band, Natural, who was discovered by Lou Pearlman (Backstreet Boys, 'NSync, etc.). Before the tour started, in February, Tork, Dolenz, Jones, & Natural headed into the studio to re-record new versions of "Daydream Believer," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," and "Valleri." Unfortunately, these recordings have never seen the light of day. Due the surprising popularity of the spring tour, The Monkees (minus Nesmith) continued touring the US from May - August. A new live CD, "2001: Live In Las Vegas" which was recorded in early April 2001 was sold at summer concerts. But, as with every previous Monkees reunion, things didn't go smoothly. In mid-July, Peter Tork announced to his bandmates that he was resigning from The Monkees due to rising tensions & prior committments with his band Shoe Suede Blues. He would, however, honor his contractual agreements and finish the summer US tour. But, once again, things didn't go according to their plans.

On September 2, Peter received a phone call from David Fishof explaining that Micky & Davy were so hurt by Peter's resignition that they didn't want him to show up at the tour's last two dates because projects like a new album, movie, etc. had to be either postponed or cancelled. Peter's last concert with Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones was on August 31, 2001 at The Sun Theatre in Anaheim, CA. This just happened to be the concert that was filmed and recorded by King Biscuit Entertainment for an upcoming live DVD & CD. Though Dolenz & Jones would continue as a duo, they were forced to cancel their October 2001 UK tour due to Sept. 11. Through September '01-January '02 as well as Arpil '02, the two participating Monkees played scattered dates in North America. In March 2002, they traveled to the UK for their re-scheduled tour that was supposed to take place in October '01. This tour saw the debut of a new live CD, "Monkee Mania 2002 Live In Toronto" that was released & sold only at concerts throughout 2002. In June, a new greatest hits CD was released as well as the start of Dolenz & Jones' "Monkee Mania 2002" North American tour from May-September. Originally, the tour was supposed to be a package tour with the Osmond Brothers & Barry Williams (Greg Brady from "The Brady Bunch"). But, before it started, The Osmond Brothers dropped out of the tour and Willams ended up leaving mid-tour to continue his own projects. Dolenz & Jones spent the rest of the year pursuing their solo careers. On November 12, 2002, the live DVD that was filmed in August 2001, called "Monkees - Live Summer Tour" saw release after over a year, while the CD version hit stores on January 28, 2003. Although they remained willing to work together in the future, it was discovered in late-2002 that Dolenz & Jones would end The Monkees 2001/2002 reunion after Jones refused to continue into 2003. With the duo still on good terms, they continued working on their solo careers.