The Monkees at Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA - 6-15-11

The Monkees put on a phenomenal show tonight in Lowell. This is the fourth time i've seen them, and it was probably the best show of the four. They did a lot of songs that surprised me, and they played my favorite Monkees song - "As We Go Along."

The band took the stage at 8:13 p.m. After "I'm A Believer," Micky said, "Thank you, Los Angeles." (At the end of the show, after "I'm A Believer (Reprise)" he said, "Thank you, Chicago.")

All three members (Mike Nesmith is not performing on this tour) joked around quite a bit on stage, as was expected. Before "When Love Comes Knockin' At Your Door," Davy said, "I used to be a heartthrob." And though Mike Nesmith wasn't present, the set list included some of his songs, including "Papa Gene's Blues," "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" and "Listen To The Band."

The set also included a fantastic section of songs from the band's 1968 film Head (which was recently released on Criterion as part of the BBS box set). They started that section with Peter Tork's psychedelic gem, "Can You Dig It," and then went right into "As We Go Along," which is a personal favorite of mine. And then, perhaps even more surprisingly, they played "Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again," Peter Tork's other contribution to the film's soundtrack. After that, they did "Porpoise Song," and then wrapped up the Head tunes with "Daddy's Song," the only tune from this section that I'd seen the band perform before. Really, all that was missing was "Ditty Diego" and Nesmith's "Circle Sky."

The set contained some other pleasant surprises, including "All Of Your Toys" and "Someday Man."

By now everyone knows the whole controversy regarding whether The Monkees played instruments on their original recordings. (On some songs they did; on others, they didn't.) At this concert, Peter played guitar, keyboards and even French horn. Micky played drums, tambourine and acoustic guitar. Davy played tambourine, drums and acoustic guitar. But on some songs, one or more members of the band just did vocals, letting the backing band play the instruments.

Here is the set list:

The Monkees - Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA - June 15, 2011
1. Theme From The Monkees
2. I'm A Believer
3. Mary, Mary
4. Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow
5. The Girl I Knew Somewhere
6. When Love Comes Knockin' At Your Door
7. Randy Scouse Git
8. Valleri
9. Papa Gene's Blues
10. Saturday's Child
11. I Wanna Be Free
12. That Was Then, This Is Now
13. I Don't Think You Know Me At All
14. All Of Your Toys
15. What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?
16. She Hangs Out
17. Sometime In The Morning
18. Someday Man
19. Can You Dig It? >
20. As We Go Along
21. Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again
22. Porpoise Song
23. Daddy's Song
24. For Pete's Sake
25. Cuddly Toy
26. Words
27. She
28. Shades Of Grey
29. Goin' Down
30. It's Nice To Be With You
31. Auntie Grizelda
32. Last Train To Clarkesville
33. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
34. I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone
35. Daydream Believer
36. I'm A Believer (Outro)
Encore
1. Listen To The Band
2. Pleasant Valley Sunday
3. I'm A Believer (Reprise)
4. Theme From The Monkees (Outro)