It took me 35 years to accomplish this dream, but I'm happy to say that I can finally cross off 'meeting The Monkees' off my bucket list! :-)
In 2001, I attended a Monkees concert in San Francisco in which the 3 remaining members--Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork--were headlining (original member Michael "Mike" Nesmith no longer tours with the band). Then the following year, Davy and Micky returned to perform at the same venue. Needless to say that when I attended the second show, my new Monkees friend, a family friend and I were waiting in line for the show and noticed Davy and Micky had just finished rehearsals and walked out of the venue separately. Well, my new Monkees friend told me to go run down & get their autographs. Me being the shy person that I was really wanted to, but didn't. :-( To this day I could KICK myself for not catching up to Davy and Micky & asking them for an autograph or photo.
Fast forward to last night when my friend "M," her boyfriend "N" and I drove to Mountain Winery, in Saratoga, to see The Monkees perform, who are celebrating their 45th Anniversary this year. It was there that I was going to meet up with my friend "A" because she--just like I--are huge fans! "M," "N" & I arrived at about 5:30pm and while I waited for "A" to arrive, "M" and "N" entered into the venue while I stood in line for our VIP passes. While waiting, I could hear the band's soundcheck! I was getting so excited to see the show!
While still waiting for "A" to arrive, I finally made it inside the venue and met up with "M & N" at one of the restaurants at the winery. Compared to the dinner reservations you could make--which we opted not to because it was too expensive--the cafe we decided to have dinner at was a bit crowded and pricey, but we were hungry, so we stayed put. Shortly thereafter, "A" arrived about an hour before the show started.
After we finished eating, "A" & I parted ways with "M & N" so we could find our seats. When we found our them, I told "A," "Good job!" It turns out our seats were in the 3rd row...just a few feet away from the stage! YAY! Anyway, I remember reading that The Monkees weren't going to have an opening act. At 7:30 p.m. and much to our surprise, local personality & comedian Mark Pitta came out and did his schtick, which was really funny, for about 45 minutes. We were all waiting in anticipation for the show to start!
During the entire time that we waited for the show to start, we could hear excerpts of actual '60s radio shows where DJ's played original versions of some famous Monkees' tunes. At about 8:30, the lights got just a tad darker and we were prompted to look at the large TV screen on the stage. We instantly see images being displayed of the Monkees in different variations...from their TV show to TV specials, from magazines to their albums. As these images play on the screen, the band played different instrumental melodies of all the famous Monkees songs. About 4-5 minutes later, we look towards the right of the stage and see three familiar men walk out towards the front of the stage. It's The Monkees! :-) The audience cheered & got very loud!
Throughout the entire show, I literally sang the lyrics to every song--well, with the exception of two songs, which I hadn't heard in ages! I also fiddled around with my camera because we weren't supposed to use flash photography. The songs came one right after another and the guys were as animated as they were on their show! From singing "Saturday's Child," "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Sometime in the Morning" and "Words" (four of my favorites) to "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "Last Train to Clarksville," "Daydream Believer" and "I'm a Believer," they performed ALL their hits, including a few from their 1968 psychedelic film, "Head." And what was so cool about the show was that as the guys sang their songs, certain videos of the same exact song or other images projected on to the TV screen.
The concert lasted 2 1/2 hours and the guys returned & did an encore of three songs. Immediately after the show ended, "A" & I hurried towards the Vineyard Deck room, where the VIP was taking place. When we arrived, "A" & I were the 3rd and 4th people in line! YES!! I really thought there was going to be some kind of order in VIP (apparently there were 148 other VIPers in line with us), but there wasn't.
About fifteen minutes or so later, Micky walks in! Micky smiled and then asked "A" & I our names, and asked if we wanted anything autographed. I had a few things in my purse, but opted to pass on the autograph. I really wanted a pic with him! By this time I found myself feeling starstruck! Seriously?! When I met NKOTB, I psyched myself NOT to be nervous. Well, I didn't know what else to say other than, "Hi Micky!" However, Micky then quickly moved on to the next line of people and eventually made his way outside.
Then about 5-10 minutes later, Peter walks in! At this point, VIP was chaotic and Peter tried getting his assistant to place some order in to the VIP line. At that moment, Peter makes an announcement stating that he doesn't want to leave anyone out of receiving a pic or autograph, so he'd like for people to courteously wait until he comes to you. At that point, the chaos was still in effect, but we each asked Peter if we could take a photo with him & he obliged.
And finally, about 10 minutes later, Davy came out & someone who worked at the venue brought over a stool for him to sit on. I let "A" take a pic with him first & then it was my turn. "A" was holding onto a piece of a paper in the shape of The Monkees logo, which she had made many years ago, which she just had the guys autograph. As "A" was getting ready to take my photo with my camera, Davy noticed that the paper was sort of in the way of my camera's lense, so we both tell "A" to move the piece of paper down so it wouldn't block her view. Well, "A" ended up taking two photos of me with Davy and I was so happy! Ok, so we got our time with two of The Monkees and the only person we had left to take a photo with was with Micky. When "A" & I approached him (he was already outside with other fans by now), Micky happily obliged. After meeting each of The Monkees, I told them, "Thank you." About 35 minutes went by and we met up with "M & N," who were waiting outside the building we were in, and we walked together to the parking lot.
All in all, I had a great night and the concert was AWESOME! I'm crossing my fingers that The Monkees will return in 5 years to commemorate their 50th Anniversary and that Michael Nesmith will join them!
Photo courtesy of jobhuntdaily.com
