The final lyric the opening song 'Good Clean Fun' is "I told you I'd come back and here I am". It has been forty-two long years to finally see Mike Nesmith perform with The Monkees on this very same stage....The Palais Theatre in St Kilda. The last time Mike was here it was 1977 and he was playing country rock and touring on his local chart success with his whimsical 'Rio' single, that received major airplay on ABC's Countdown show. Nesmith would release a recording of that 1977 show the following year with his live album, 'Live At The Palais'. An album which he made fun of in his Elephant Parts video.

The last time The Monkees toured it was Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork back in December 2016. This time last year, Mike Nesmith was having major heart surgery and early this year Peter Tork sadly passed away. Davy Jones left us in 2012 but it still lovely to hear his song performed tonight.

So this bring us to the current Mike and Micky Show and also the sad news that this will the final tour by The Monkees. Two glorious set highlighting the hits of The Monkees extensive back catalogue with some unexpected surprises from Nesmith's solo career thrown into the mix.

My personal highlights was witnessing Mike Nesmith let completely loose on 'Circle Sky'. WOW! Also performing 'Rio' and the totally unexpected 'Grand Ennui', which was the opening song from his 'Live At The Palais' album. Other highlights include The Monkees loving ode to their dearly missed Peter Tork with 'For Pete's Sake' and Micky cutting loose with "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" while wearing his #FU socks. He's still such a lovable larrikin.

LONG LIVE THE MONKEES!

Photography by CarbieWarbie 

Setlist photo credit: Facebook