Early during his concert Thursday night, March 5, at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, while singing the Monkees’ “Take a Giant Step,” Micky Dolenz advised those listening to “come with me, leave yesterday behind.”
The intent was just the opposite, however.
Dolenz and his crack six-member band, including sister Coco on vocals, were there to steer a “Last Train to Clarksville” down a proverbial memory lane. The show celebrated 60 years since the debut of “The Monkees” TV show and the cast-turned-band’s first hits, and over the course of 32 songs and nearly two hours (plus intermission) Dolenz and company took the Royal Oak crowd on a magical mystery tour that melted away the years for all concerned.
As the last Monkee standing since Michael Nesmith’s death in 2021 (shortly after the two performed at Detroit’s Masonic Cathedral Theatre), the 80-year-old Dolenz takes his job of preserving the band’s heritage seriously — but has a lot of fun doing that. Thursday’s show blended music, archival footage (primarily from the show) and storytelling. Dolenz peeled through anecdotes about Monkees auditions, the quartet’s struggle for creative input, meeting the Beatles, attending the Monterey Pop festival and having Jimi Hendrix as an opening act. Dolenz also recounted the notable artists who wrote songs for the Monkees, including Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil…