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Sorry it's taken me so long to write and post this review, but after almost 2 months, here it is - and it's a loooong one!

Review: Davy Jones In Concert at B.B. King's in New York City (Photo by B. Bank from wireimages.com)

Well, I got to the concert sometime between 7:30 & 8 PM, I guess, towards the end of the opening act's performance. I didn't realize that the opening act was actually Eric Biondo's band, so I have to admit I wasn't paying much attention as I was just working on getting seated and trying to see if I could contact the friends I'd planned to meet at the concert. I wasn't able to meet up with them until after the show, but I got seated at a table on the upper platform closer to "stage right" and had a pretty decent view. It was kind of strange to be there by myself among six other people who were all paired up, but I eventually got up the nerve to chitchat a bit with some of the other people at my table. For the most part, I wanted to be quiet to listen to and watch the show and scribble my review notes anyway. It seemed like the couple on my left were committed Monkees fans who had been to a few other Monkees and solo Monkees concerts before and were very familiar with Monkees music, and the rest of the people at the table may have been more casual fans.

At last came the introduction of Davy and his band, which, as Davy noted in his opening joke, must have been "the longest introduction ever!" It was pretty cute, though, with each band member (Aviva Maloney, Dave Robicheau, Jim Riccitelli, Felipe Torres, Johnny Blair, and Eric Biondo) coming out and doing a little bow, if I recall correctly. I think they were playing "Listen To The Band" (not "The Monkees' Theme"). Davy talked to the audience for quite a while before doing his first song. He did a few jokes about the cruise he'd recently performed on (some of which were in rather questionable taste, IMO), and he did his standard joke about the policeman pulling him over with a bit of a New York City twist. ("Sorry I'm late, but I got pulled over by a policeman because I didn't realize I couldn't make a right turn on red.") I may not have the quote exactly verbatim, but it was something like that. (For those who don't know, it is illegal to make a right turn at a red light in NYC.) Another joke he told which I appreciated was about meeting his girlfriend's father. He mentioned that his girlfriend is much younger than he is and said that her father didn't like the idea of her going out with a musician. As a father himself of "four daughters -- all girls," Davy said he understood how he felt and agreed he wouldn't want any of his own daughters to go out with musicians either (turning towards the band for a moment to say "No offense to you guys there" or "Sorry fellas" or something like that.). Still, he pleaded with his girlfriend's father to give him a chance and to come to see his show. After seeing the show, the father had a change of heart and told Davy he could see his daughter after all. "What made you change your mind?" Davy asked. Said the father, "You're not a musician!"

After a lot of banter, Davy launched into "I'm A Believer" as his opening number. Here is the full set list.

1) I'm A Believer

2) Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)

3) Valleri

4) I Love You Like I Love New York City (which he dedicated to Tommy Boyce, who I guess had written the song)

5) The Greatest Story Ever Told (I had never heard this song before, and it really moved me. He introduced it by talking about the "wrecking crew" of studio musicians who had worked with The Monkees and saying that this song told the true story of The Monkees.)

6) Papa Gene's Blues

7) What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?

8) The Girl I Knew Somewhere

9) Secret Love

10) She Hangs Out

11) Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby (which he dedicated to all moms, including his. On one line of the song he did a surprisingly decent Satchmo [i.e., Louis Armstrong] impression! I got a big kick out of that! J)

12) Last Train To Clarksville

13) Girl

14) Pleasant Valley Sunday (As an introduction to this song, which he said was his favorite of the songs Micky Dolenz sang, Davy talked very respectfully about Micky and his many achievements, including directing a young Catherine Zeta-Jones ["no relation"] in a stage production of Bugsy Malone. Since it was March 8^th, I shouted out, "It's his birthday!!!!" as loud as I could, but Davy didn't hear me. Oh well…. can't say I didn't try! )

15) I Wanna Be Free (Davy played an acoustic guitar for this one. While putting it on he reminisced, "I remember the first time I heard this when Tommy sang it for me…. Vietnam War era…. got letters from soldiers asking 'what are these things called Monkees?'")

16) I'll Love You Forever

17) (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone

18) It's Nice To Be With You

19) No Time

20) Daydream Believer (dedicated to songwriter John Stewart, who'd recently passed away.)

21) I'm A Believer encore (At this point I turned to the woman on my left and asked, "Didn't he open with this song?" She agreed he had. I guess he did it on purpose after all, because he only did a partial rendition of the song as the encore, instead of repeating the full version he'd done earlier. After Davy went offstage, the band played a little "Star Collector" riff to end the song, which I thought was interesting.)

There are so many little details that I scribbled down in my memo pad about jokes he told and things that happened during the show, but it's hard to put them all together into a cohesive chronological narrative. He told a lot of his standard jokes, but there were some that were new to me. (Some I could have done without, to tell the truth, but there were quite a few good ones, too. When he saw that he wasn't getting a good reception for some of his more tasteless jokes, he kept making comments like, "You Americans are so sensitive!") This was the first time that I saw him do a full solo show in a large venue, and it was a very different experience than the last time I saw him in 2006, which was as one act out of several as part of a kind of "oldies revue." At the 2006 show I saw he did about a 45-minute set, and although he was all over the stage and did try to interact with the audience when possible (and even sang part of "Valleri" to me! ), there was not nearly the level of audience interaction and participation at that show as at this show! This show was about twice as long (an hour and a half or so), included a lot more jokes and banter, and what really amazed and impressed me the most was how much he made the audience feel that they were part of the show and how much he included and interacted with the people in the audience! Of course, I wasn't nearly close enough to the stage to be part of that interaction this time, but I was still awed by it!

For example, throughout the show he kept accepting and reading notes from people in the audience and responding to them, and he would often shake hands with the people sending up the notes. People sent him notes with song requests (some of which he was able to honor, some not), notes asking him to say happy birthday to their friends or relatives, and a variety of other things. He did all those "Happy Birthday" messages and even got into some chitchat with some of the folks who sent the notes, including a young man from England whose mother was celebrating her 50^th birthday. Someone asked for his tambourine in a note (he didn't give it, but when he was trying to read the note, he commented, "I can't read without my glasses,") someone sent up the postcard picture from his website, someone named Stephanie (or maybe her friends?) apparently sent a note with money attached asking him to say "I love you, Stephanie," and he gladly complied but then said, "Don't give me any more money, please." He also did his bit with her about "Did you keep my picture on your wall?" and then went into his standard "I used to be a heartthrob; now I'm a coronary" joke. (Later, when he was introducing "I'll Love You Forever," he said, "This is dedicated to lovers everywhere and to Stef." I thought it was amazingly sweet of him to remember her and wondered whether she was really someone he knew or not.) I think that some of the same people kept sending notes to him too until he finally said, "They're gonna think we're goin' steady" and shook the person's hand and then later said, "Will you stop giving me notes?" but it was all in good fun, and to my amazement he actually didn't seem to mind the notes at all and really got into interacting with the people who sent them!

He mentioned that he saw some familiar faces in the audience, including some "friends I saw at Mohegan Sun." (He had played at the Mohegan Sun the night before.) He had also mentioned earlier that he had seen Peter Tork at the Mohegan Sun. I got excited when he mentioned that, because it was the first I'd heard of it! After that, of course he told the "old actors' home" joke about the other Monkees, and at another point in the show he commented that he still talks to Micky, Mike and Peter from time to time, then added "I have to cuz they owe me money!" After he did "No Time," his shoelace came untied, and someone in the front row reached up and tied it for him! He seemed appreciative of not having to bend over to tie it and quipped, "I can't even put my socks on in the morning!" and then added jokingly, "You're supposed to tie it, not take it off!" Soon after, when someone handed him a bobblehead doll of himself, he exclaimed "Wow! A bobblehead! I finally made it!" When he was introducing "Secret Love," he mentioned a couple that he had seen dancing to it when he sang it at Mohegan Sun a few years ago and how they reminded him of his mum and dad. I got the impression that the husband from that couple must have since passed away when Davy then said "the kids are here with Mom, and Dad will always be with us when you hear this song." I'm not sure if that family had also sent him a note, or if he'd spoken to them earlier, or if he just noticed them in the audience during the show and remembered them, but I was really struck by his ability to connect with them like that.

Another great audience interaction he had towards the end of the show was with a 10-year-old boy named Dylan from Mattawan, NJ. Davy started chatting with him and then actually called him up to stand next to him onstage and did a whole little bit with him, including putting on the little cap Dylan had been wearing and strutting around with it on, singing "I'm Henry The 8^th, I am….," asking him questions and joking around with him. He asked him about sports and joked about how "football is a thugs' game played by gentlemen and baseball is a gentleman's game played by thugs." When he pointed out (both visually and audibly) how baseball players are "always doin' that - spittin'!" it so reminded me of when he did and said something almost identical in one of the episodes of The Monkees back in the day! He also thanked Dylan for "bringing his mom and dad out" and commented, "in about 10 years you'll be able to help me on and off the stage." (I had the pleasure of meeting Dylan and his dad after the show when we were both upstairs waiting to buy some Davy Jones merchandise. His dad said that Dylan had been to other concerts with him before and liked a lot of 60s groups. He said that Dylan had really started getting into The Monkees one week when he was sick and started watching the DVDs of The Monkees TV show. J)

But I guess my favorite bit of reaction to audience participation came in between "Clarksville" and "Girl" when somebody (who turned out to be my good friend and fellow Monkeelander, edithsidebottom!) brought up two album covers to show him. One was the classic David Jones Colpix album, and the other was a Japanese version of the same album with a very sexy cover picture of Davy with his shirt unbuttoned. Now I know from pictures I've seen and comments I've read in the past that Davy often opens his shirt and shows off his "man-b**bs" at his shows, but it was looking at these albums that edith handed him that sparked exactly that activity at this show! (I'd never seen that particular picture before, but later that night I got to look at that album cover up close too! ) He was clearly planning to do this bit anyway, because Aviva actually had some kind of card with a support bra (or an ad for one?) on it that she handed to him while he was doing it! Still, I was so excited when I found out later that it was edithsidebottom who'd brought up the albums which were the catalyst for the bit at this particular show!

After he did "Steppin' Stone," he laughed when he got a request for "Rainy Jane" along with some others. "Rainy Jane? [laughs] That's a blast from the past!" Reviewing the requests: "… Shades of Gray… Rainy Jane…. You are a bloody old lot, aren't you?!" "O.K. They wanted "Nice To Be With You," which he then did. He had some microphone problems during the song but handled them like the pro he is, and it all got back on track.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought that Davy was in terrific form and sounded great! After it ended, I went looking for edithsidebottom and Jen (Pickwickian). I recognized Jen right away from the pictures of herself that she's posted here on Monkeeland, and I went up and introduced myself. I also met her friend Chelsea (who has since joined Monkeeland under the username, imthedummy ) and Chelsea's mom, Sue, and was especially excited when I finally got to meet edithsidebottom, with whom I'd been corresponding since even before we both joined Monkeeland! We all hung around for a while waiting for Davy to come out and do a meet-and-greet, but in the end the B.B.King's staff announced that Davy wouldn't be doing a meet-and-greet after all. L I was bummed about that, but I did get to meet Dave Robicheau, and I almost got to talk to Aviva. (I was standing right near her and was just about to say something to her when she saw someone she knew and started talking to him, and then she left the public area right afterwards.) After we left the theater and were standing outside, we saw Eric Biondo, and we were all talking to him for a while and even got some pictures taken with him!

We hung out in Times Square for a little while, checking out just a couple of sights on the same block as B.B. King's and then headed to the subway and uptown to our hotel on NYC's Upper West Side. I had a blast staying up most of the night talking to everybody and looking at Jen's artwork and edith's record, CD, and picture collection, and it's hard to say which was more exciting for me - getting to see Davy Jones in concert or getting to meet some fellow Monkeelanders and other Monkees fans in person and to have that kind of a "girls' night out!" I couldn't spend much of Sunday with the others, because I had a wedding to go to that day, but I had a lot of fun during the time we spent together. In my day-to-day life I'm kind of a homebody and usually don't get out at night or on my own much at all, so this was a very special occasion for me, and I had a wonderful time!

I know everybody always loves to see pictures, and I wish I had some good ones from the concert to share. At the beginning of the concert I tried to take a couple of shots with my digital camera, but they came out so dark that I gave up after that. Here are the two that I took. I think you'll see what I mean.

If you'd like to see some really wonderful professional pictures from this concert, please go to: http://www.wireimage.com/SearchResults.aspx?igi=308103&s=davy%20jones&sfld=C&vwmd=e .

I couldn't resist posting this one here though!

Davy bares his chest while holding edithsidebottom's albums. (Photo by B. Bank from wireimage.com)

And here are some pictures that we took after the show:

edithsidebottom and Jen outside B.B. King's (You can also see Chelsea [in the tophat] and Sue in the background on the right.)

Jen, Eric Biondo and edithsidebottom in front of the store next door to B.B. King's

Chelsea, Jen, Eric Biondo, LittleMetalBottletops (that's me!) and edithsidebottom

Interior of Times Square McDonald's - an attraction in itself! (That's Jen and edithsidebottom waving from below. )

Edithsidebottom, Jen, Chelsea and Sue under the marquis of the Times Square McDonald's.

If you'd like to see parts of this concert for yourself, here are a bunch of links to Youtube videos from various parts of the show. Thanks go to ScreenGemsStage7 who originally posted all these links in the Davy Jones forum. http://monkeeland.yuku.com/topic/5317

Davy at BB Kings in NYC 3/8/08:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhKwjptyod4 Show Opener

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8A2a0Rrgpk Valleri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt6sJFkrxQM I'm a Believer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-SFDvhWPo Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmgifCITI0A Daydream Believer (partial)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJ_Q0Bo5Ug Daydream Believer/ I'm a Believer (Encore)

And since Davy mentioned the fact that he'd seen Peter Tork at Mohegan Sun the night before, here's a bonus link to a video of Davy and Peter performing together at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den on March 7, 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZf8BIUP9g