The Monkees - March 18, 2001 - Mohegan Sun Casino

My first Monkees concert was an amazing experience! It opened with the eight piece backup band playing snippets of Monkees tunes. Then over speakers everyone heard "Micky, Davy, and Peter... THE MONKEES!!" By the corner of the stage they "Monkee Walked" center-stage. They immediately rushed into "Last Train To Clarksville" and in not even a minute, a third of the 5,000 seat venue was singing and dancing along. After "Last Train," they jumped into other Monkees songs like, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," "Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?" & "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)." Throughout the whole show they kept expressing how happy they were to be together as "The Monkees" again and it was noticable with their actions and dialogue. After Micky sang "Randy Scouse Git" on his kettle drum and went back to the regular drum set, Peter went into his story of how he wasn't the lead singer on practically any of the songs and the audience let out a big "Aww." Then Peter shoots a look at Davy. He said not to look at him...it was Micky's fault. Then on with the show... singing "Your Auntie Grizelda," "Mary, Mary," "Goin' Down," "Girl," "Lucille," "Since I Fell For You," "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" & a personal favorite, "Shades of Gray." After other great hits like "Valleri" & "I'm A Believer," a half-hour intermission took place. When intermission was over, the "new, up and coming band," Natural, played three or four of their songs. As they finished their set, Micky, Davy, and Peter appeared onstage. All alone, just the three of them played an "unplugged" acoustic version of Monkees classics. But before they did, Davy had to point out that these songs were for "absent friends" (hinting Mike Nesmith's non-participation in the tour). During the acoustic set, they played some Nesmith songs such as "Papa Gene's Blues" and "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round," as well as "Take A Giant Step" and "You & I,"(Justus version). Right after they finished, the band snook onstage as they continued with "That Was Then, This Is Now," "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," & "She Hangs Out." Before the mesmerizing lighting effects of "The Porpoise Song" & "Listen to the Band," the played "Can You Dig It?" with Peter on lead vocals, "Circle Sky," & "Higher And Higher." For their last song before the encore they sang "Daydream Believer" where Natural came back out to sing the end along with the guys. They all bowed and left the stage as the pumped-up crowd screamed crazily. Soon, Micky, Davy, & Peter ran back onstage to sing "For Pete's Sake," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," & the show closer "Pleasant Valley Sunday." All three came together, center-stage, to bow and "Monkee Walk" offstage as the band played The Monkees Theme Song. It was a great performance, well worth it, and by far the best concert I've ever attended. They were great entertainers together, mixing great comedy and classic Monkees hits to re-live Monkee Mania.