First off, the reason I missed the second half of the concert is because Mohegan Sun is 3 hours away from where we live & we'd found a bus tour was going down that way. We were under the impression the show would go until a little after 5pm. Back in '96 when we saw The Monkees (aka the boys from here on out) at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, CT (which was just as far away, but we drove ourselves), the show was about 2 hours & 10 minutes with an approximately 15 minute intermission. We didn't drive because my mom would've & she didn't want to & because we had no idea what the weather was gonna be like.
      Well, we had seats in section 15 Row K Seats 9, 10, & 11. Now, I bet those probably sound like awful seats considering there were 18 sections, right? Well, the seats were almost dead center & a little more than 50 yards away from the stage. Thank God for the new camera I bought a week before! I ended up buying a camera with a 78mm zoom lense, which I hadn't even figured out how to use before using it at the concert (about half way through, I realized if I held down the zoom button that the lense would go out even farther *slaps forehead*). So, there are pictures coming!
      Now, remember I said this was at Mohegan Sun Casino? (Yes, the same place Colin Mochrie did 2 commercials for *g* I saw the spot where they had the spinning car he was sitting in for one of the ads!). Well, since I'm 20 & 5 months, I couldn't go through the casino, which was an easier way to get to the food! *Grrr* They didn't even give me a $10 coupon that everyone else got! But, we found the buffet & since my parents had their coupons, lunch was quite reasonable *g* We ended up having to get a shuttle to get to the buffet, which took us an hour to get through before we were seated & got to eat. While eating, my mom spotted a guy wearing the exact same Monkees cap I was wearing (from their 30th reunion tour 5 years ago).
      We had to catch another shuttle to get to the Pavillion where the concert was held. We got there & had no clue which door to go in. Finally, we got in, went over & stared at the souveniers for more than a half an hour! At 2pm, they started taking tickets & that's when we could buy souveniers. They had 2 shirts with the cities they were visitng on back with the boys pics on the white one & the guitar logo on the black one, 2 stuffed monkeys (a light brown one & a dark brown one), a mouse pad with the guitar logo on it (the same pic as on the black shirt), & an 8x10 of the boys. Let's just say, I bought everything except the light brown stuffed monkey & spent a *ton* of money! All my own money, of course *g* We also bought a t-shirt that said "Mohegan Sun" on it. I took note that in '96 they had *alot* more souveniers to buy... I'm wondering if this was what was left of their shipment (there had been a concert Friday & Saturday before this one). By the way, I named my stuffed monkey Micky *g*

      This is the general set list for all the concerts this month (I doubt the order was ever exactly the same):

      I've heard that there were a few other songs that were thrown in & looking over the list, one that was added to Mohegan Sun's show was "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" which is cool 'cause I love that song!
      Something else I noticed, for Mohegan Sun, the first half had all the non-Monkees songs, leaving the second half for just their stuff. Very interesting.

Show Review:

      The backing band opened with an instrumental medley of the band's biggest hits (I have this list, but I've yet to decipher it). I will have some pics up as soon as I get the roll developed & can get on a computer to scan them. The funniest thing is that the audience didn't quiet down during this. Something I noticed, there were video cameras, but I don't think they were used just for the screens on either side of the stage...
      The first song was Last Train To Clarksville and Micky was on fire!!! A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You was next & the audience was clapping during the first verse... then it seemed like I was the only one left clapping! Also, what's a live version of "Little Bit Me" without Micky saying "Tequilla" at the end! *g* Then Peter's composition ("written by Paul McCartney" as Pete put it) Long Title... from "Head" was great. Next, was Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) which is one of my absolute favorite songs. Again, I felt I was the only one clapping after the first verse & again I stopped. This time, it was Davy's turn to be on fire *g* Davy ended the song with "Sandra loves Mary" and Micky started picking on him. Then, THE song, Randy Scouse Git & Micky was pounding that kettle drum! All he was missing was the table cloth he wore in the video for the song. Before the song, Micky mentioned his meeting with The Beatles & that he was told he had a good time... yeah. This song was a definite highlight just to see Micky playing the tympani again *sigh* Of course, when everyone else stopped, he kept singing & playing, then added "Micky needs Prozac"... hilarious! Peter then led into another song, Your Auntie Grizelda & the crowd started yelling for him, so he told us that he's not going to answer so "nyah nyah nyah nyah". He did his schpiel about not singing the lead on alot of the songs & led himself to "I did not come here to be insulted" to which Micky asked "Where do you usually go?" & Peter answered the "Insultitorium". LoL! The "insulted" joke was used in the '87 tour (they put out a Live CD from the concerts that year, that's how I knew about that joke *g*). Mary, Mary was next & at the end, Micky sounded like he was starting to rap it (ever hear Run DMC's version? Anyone have a copy of it for me?). This is another favorite song of mine. Davy started talking about visiting other countries & segued to the height of Japanese people... "We got a standing ovation & we didn't even know it". All of this led to Girl, the song Davy sang on the Brady Bunch. I wish they'd have let us sing the Brady Bunch Theme. I've got a tape of a live concert where they let the audience do that. Goin' Down was next... how does Micky sing so fast!? I know all the words to it & can only keep up if I mumble some of them! Amazing. And the strobe effect they had going on Micky during this song was very reminiscent of the video. Excellent horn section here! Next was Peter doing Little Richard's Lucille & did an excellent rendition! Very high energy, definitely Peter's "on fire" song! After the song, I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but Micky said "Mr. Rock'n'Roll: Little Peter!" & Peter caught it... "Works for me". You cannot have a Monkees concert without Peter getting to play the banjo atleast once & that's just what he did for his version of Higher & Higher. What a wonderful rendition he did! Before the next song, Davy called himself a "layabout", comparing himself to Micky (who's done alot of directing recently) & Peter (who's been touring with his band "Shoe Suede Blues"). Davy then sang an "Oliver" Medley of Consider Yourself and Anything For You, which really got the crowd going! Micky then went into the "Jimi Hendrix was our opening act" bit & set the place ablaze with a short rendition of Purple Haze to show what it was like when Hendrix came out to perform (a highlight for myself here was when Micky did his "little joke... 'bout that big"). This quick version of Purple Haze was a little bit longer than the version of the live concert cassette I have. Quite the wonderful segue into "Since I Fell For You", before which Micky mentioned his PMS (Pre-Monkee Singing), then belted out the song, which I've heard him do (on that live cassette). He does a *fabulous* job on this song. Lenny Welch, eat your heart out! Davy then went into listing some of the band's song writers (like Boyce & Hart, et al) & rolled into Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?. Wonderful version... then again, I can't think of any version of this off the top of my head (if the original is anything like Davy's version, I wanna hear it!). I couldn't figure out what was on Davy's shirt, but Micky asked if he could wrap up his left over turkey in it. LoL! Somehow they got onto chest hair & Micky did like he had a defibulator(sp?): "Clear!" (I forget why, though). Next was Shades Of Gray... I love this song! This was the "closest thing to a protest song" they could do (or so Micky said). Peter played piano (via a keyboard) on this, as he did on the original recording *g* This was the perfect segue for Peter's Bach piece, but before he did the piece, Micky asked a backstage hand for Peter's "illustrious garment" (a shiny purple shirt *sigh*) & they had to wait for the crew member to get it! Micky even called Peter by his full name: Peter H. Thorkelson. The keyboard Peter was playing had a setting that sounded just like a harpsichord on it. It sounded fantastic! Next, they rolled right into Valleri, another of my absolute favorite songs *g* Davy even pulled off a couple of his *pattented* screams during it. I loved it! The last song before intermission & when I had to leave, but not before hearing it was... I'm A Believer! I must admit, I was surprised they played this before Stepping Stone (which must've been during the second half *snaps fingers* Darn!) My camera also ran out during this song, so I actually did reload it. However, during intermission, after we sat there for about 10 minutes, we decided to leave because we would've only have been able to stay for another 10 minutes after intermission, then we would've only seen the "opening act" Natural. I would've liked to have seen & heard them, but I'm glad that they actually didn't open. I would've heard less of the boys *g*
      Overall, the half a concert I did see was fabulous. We were told after we left & got on a shuttle to get to our bus that the show ran until 6pm, which means we missed over an hour of the show. *sigh* But, if we'd have missed the bus, my backpack would've made it home, but then my parents & I wouldn't have had a way home ourselves. Hopefully, these concerts will go well enough that the boys add more tour dates for the summer & maybe THEN I'll get to see their whole show!