Edit: Here's a bunch of live videos from the show.
Thanks to Shayla (on Facebook) aka "MichaelNesmith4Ever" on Youtube, for filming these and sharing them.
4/6/13 12:34PM
Here's the setlist, which seems to be the standard for this tour. He tells the stories before most of the songs, which honestly is very cool and adds much to the perspective of each song. Although having heard a bootleg from last Fall, obviously the stories were told more or less the same way.
Papa Gene's Blues
(The Monkees song)
Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care)
Tomorrow and Me
Different Drum
Joanne
Silver Moon
Some of Shelly's Blues
Rio
Casablanca Moonlight
Grand Ennui
Cruisin'
Rays
Life the Unsuspecting Captive/Marie's Theme/Lamppost (Closing Theme from The Prison)
Laugh Kills Lonesome
Encore:
Thanx for the Ride
Okay, well to rehash/reiterate, Michael Nesmith is my girlfriend's all-time favorite musician, and she, much like many other long time fans, has been waiting for decades to see the man live. Last Fall it happened finally with The Monkees outside of Southern California, sans for the 1 reunion tour that for Mike ended in Europe in 1997.
But last Fall was THE MONKEES, and this was MIKE himself, which for the most part, his music is a fair amount different.
I did like how involved his backing band was. His guitarist, Chris Scruggs really worked well especially, playing some of the pedal steel and slide guitar that many of Mike's tunes feature. I suppose highlight-wise for me, seeing Rio of course and the suite from The Prison probably stood out the most. But I didn't find any tune he played boring. I suppose had Mike taken my suggestion of "Wax Minute" it might have been even more special, but I also didn't expect him to play that.
And of course my girlfriend, had many tunes, probably from the First National Band LPs, she might have gone even more crazy for, but she was so strung up about seeing and Meeting Mike, that wasn't on her mind much.
I must say, hearing "Crusin'" I believe it was, Kevin Gilbert very easily could have been listening to that tune when he wrote the 1st phrase of "Imagemaker." The cadence and phrasing, and tempo are very similar. And of course Kevin was a big Monkees fan, and Mike's son Christian is a Kevin Gilbert and progressive rock fan (cites Dug Pinnick of King's X as a friend as well). So, it would hardly be surprising if Kevin knew, liked and was influenced by Mike's solo music as well.
A couple of points to bring up, that should not be forgotten:
1) The "Conversations" that Mike announced via Facebook a few weeks ago. Only 25 TOTAL were available for each concert, and they went on sale, unannounced, at 3AM. I unfortunately woke up at 2AM, got an email about them but they were not for sale yet. I went back to sleep, and woke up to my alarms around 5:30AM, and tried to purchase 2 "Conversations" passes via his Videoranch.com Unfortunately, it said they were SOLD OUT (and I should try again), My girlfriend then tried to purchase 1 "Conversation"
and she got 1! So I then tried to get 1 and I kept getting the "Sold Out" over and over again, to the point it eventually just said "Sold Out. No more passes are available for your concert."
It sucked, as I wanted to be there WITH HER when she got to meet the guy she's dreamed of meeting and revered for over 26 years. But when Mike talked about these "Conversations" he wanted them to more like chats, casual, etc, NOT "VIP Meet and Greets" that a lot artists do sometimes before (preferably, to be honest), or after shows.
This was to my guess, to be like the special After show chats for the VIP and the BLACK CARD holders for the Ours shows I should have the ability to see for the next 4 years or so.The 1 time I have used my Black Card, we got in a line and went upstairs into a room and sat in chairs and hung with the band, for mostly an unlimited amount of time.
Well The Fitzgerald Theater did nothing of this sort. The email my girlfriend got said TO WAIT BY OUR SEAT after the show, after more or less all the crowd cleared. Well, instead, she ended up to having to wait in the Fitz's rather small and limited space hallway with the other 24 people. Mike HIMSELF was wondering how or why there wasn't some kind of table for him to sit on.
And of course many of the staff would not let myself and some friends wait in the corridor for my girlfriend. No, they more or less kicked us out. And while it wasn't Siberian-cold weather out last night, it also wasn't all that warm. Maybe 30 degrees (although it had been lightly sleeting earlier in the evening, thankfully it had stopped at the point we were outside).
2) Lack of Promotion: Not surprisingly, but still pathetically, CITYPAGES had absolutely NOTHING about it in their weekly printed edition. They found Shirley Mansion and Garbage were more interesting to write about I guess. Which I don't mind Shirley, maybe more for her work on the TERMINATOR show, than her band, but whatevah. It's not like people have waited DECADES to see her.
All in All, this was about as eventful as any concert this year (or ever for my girlfriend especially). And now, our little battle finally shifts into MY CORNER for BUCKET LIST acts to see live, as she has now seen both Michael Nesmith with The Monkees and SOLO. Her all-time favorite musician. And she MET HIM as well. So, I can finally say, I've waited the longest, as I have never seen LED ZEPPELIN which I have waited nearly 23 years..although she doesn't like to count that since "yeah, but one of the member's be DEAD."
But, I have others as well. Maybe more on that later.
She now has 3 of the 4 Monkees (including Davy) signed to her 7" inch single of "Daydream Believer" only needing Micky now!
Also, a note, since Mike could be back with The Monkees this Summer and/or another Solo leg, if this current tour goes well. I may have more Michael Nesmith concerts to talk about in here soon.
