Features
Monkees And Friends
Concert producer David Fishof – the man behind Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band, the British Rock Symphony, and other special tour packages – likes to cook up new summer tours. His offering for 2002 combines two elements all baby boomers can relate to: teen heart throbs and TV.
Well known for keeping TV pop stars The Monkees in the touring spotlight, Fishof is taking the group a step further with a new tour.
“This summer, I felt I wanted to add something more for the audience, which is 70-75 percent women,” he said. “So we’re adding The Osmonds and Barry Williams – who, of course, is Greg Brady.”
The names are certainly familiar to anyone above a certain age who has ever owned a television.
“I think we’ll cover the childhood of everyone from a certain generation,” Fishof said. “The guys are all going to go out and market and promote the tour. These performers have remained in the public eye for all these years. They have never lost the connection with their fans.”
It doesn’t take a marketing genius to understand why Nickelodeon and TV Land may get involved in the tour, while Nabisco is being courted as a corporate sponsor.
The package is being billed as Monkee Mania and is designed for fairs and amphitheatres. “You can charge a low ticket price and sell a lot of soda and popcorn and let a lot of people relive their childhood,” Fishof said.
He’s looking to do 100 shows between mid-May and Labor Day.
“The groups will do things together; they’re going to interact. Davy [Jones] is looking forward to doing the famous scene he did on “The Brady Bunch” with Barry. We’re going to try to pick up some special guests along the way. There’s a lot of potential there.”
Fishof said he isn’t trying to turn three acts whose fans are mostly middle-aged women and their kids into the hottest commodity on the road; he just wants to put on a good show.
“If you see this in your lineup of summer shows, it’s not Backstreet Boys or Janet Jackson, but it’s a show that’s one of a kind, offers great value for the dollar, and lets people revisit a great time in their lives. To me, that’s what entertainment is – forgetting about all your problems for those two-and-a-half hours. It’s good, clean fun and I think we need that right now.”
The artists will perform “nothing but the hits” as well as a couple of patriotic numbers.
The Monkees warm up for the busy summer with a spring tour of major U.K. arenas. After headlining at Wembley, the U.S. dates could seem like a step down, but Fishof insists Jones and Mickey Dolenz don’t see it that way.
“These guys love to work. The love the show. They love to make the fans happy and give them their money’s worth. That’s why the tour works.”