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Concert Reviews
'The Happy Together Tour 2010'
(DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI - May 30th, 2010)

Peace, love, and good music was the theme for the evening at DTE Energy Music Theatre. The event was the 25th Anniversay of the Happy Together Tour, featuring the Buckinghams, Mark Lindsey, from Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Grass Roots, Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees fame, and the Turtles, featuring Flo and Eddie. There was a mixture of young, and… not so young in the crowd.

The brightly colored flowers and peace signs set the tone to take us back in time to the 60’s, where simple, yet classic tunes stand the test of time.

Our emcee for the evening was the voice of famous disc jockey Shadoe Stevens. He told us “boys and girls, cats and kittens“ to sit back, imagine the fun we are about to have and multiply it by a thousand. The first act we were introduced to was The Buckinghams, featuring two original members, bassist Nick Fontuna and guitarist Carl Giammarese. They started the night with “Don’t You Care.” Giammarese’s voice still sounded great.

It was followed by “Knock me off my Feet.” Gibrisi mentioned that The Buckinghams were the most listened to band in 1967. The hits kept coming with “Hey Baby” and a Top 10 hit in 1968 which debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show, “Susan”. The vocals duties switched places as Fortuna sang a rendition of the Soul Survivors’ “Expressway To Your Heart.” Ending their set was their #1 single, “Kind Of A Drag.”

Next in line was Mark Lindsay, lead singer of the group, Paul Revere and the Raiders. He burst on to the stage with a lot of energy jumping right in to the song “Steppin Out,” followed by “Just Like Me.” Lindsay spoke of appearing on the popular teenage show, “Where The Action Is.” His next song was top ten hit “Hungry.” He talked about the wardrobe of the band, which consisted of tight pants, high boots, three corner hats, and a “lace dickey.”

Mark then sang his Top Ten solo single, “Arizona.” The audience participation portion was for the song, “Louie, Louie.” During the song, the band played snippets of such popular songs, “Sunshine Of Your Love”, “Gimme Some Lovin”, and “My Generation.” Lindsay then reminisced of the “summer of love”, then quipped, “I ended up back in the 60’s- my sixties.” “Good Thing” was followed by “Indian Reservation,” which we were told was the biggest selling single for CBS Records until Michael Jackson took over the spot.

He mentioned that Paul Revere and the Raiders had 17 Top 40 records in the 1960’s. Lastly, he finished with the song “Kicks” as a video of the band performing in their heyday played in the background.

Shadoe Stevens introduced the next act as one of the highly successful acts of the 1960’s. They were on the chart for 307 straight weeks, one of nine bands to have 29 plus Top 100 singles, The Grass Roots, featuring original member Rob Grill on lead vocals. Grill didn’t move around the stage, but sitting on his stool, he sang the song, “Temptation Eyes”, followed by “Heaven Knows.”

He said this is the 44th anniversary of the band, joking, “We’re on the Rock and Roll Senior Tour!” Songs that followed were “Sooner Or Later”, their #1 hit, “Live For Today”, “Million Years” and, my personal favorite, “Midnight Confession.”

After a short intermission, Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees fame was the next act. He performed the song “That was Then” followed by “Little Bit Me.” A fan-favorite, “Last Train To Clarksville”, was next. Mickey mentioned that Jimi Hendrix at one time was the opening act for The Monkees. He also reminisced about meeting John Lennon and gave a spot on impersonation, at which time he broke into song performing the Beatles, “Oh Darlin.” “Daydream Believer” also had the crowd cheering.

When Dolenz sang “Steppin’ Stone,” Mark Lindsay came out on stage and they performed together, since apparently Paul Revere and the Raiders also recorded this tune. His next song was the Carole King penned, “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” Finally, he introduced his last song by saying “We sang this song before Shrek.” The tune was “I’m A Believer”, composed by legend Neil Diamond. The crowd enthusiastically joined in.

Our final act of the evening was introduced as having sold 40 million records. Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) of The Turtles came bouncing out onstage, jumping into their song, “You Baby.” Hit after hit followed with the Bob Dylan song, “It Ain’t Me Babe”, “Elenore”, “The Pied Piper”, made famous by Cripsian St. Peters. In between songs, they bantered back and forth, joking about their age and going to hang out in Ann Arbor in the 1960’s. “You Showed Me” , the slow groove of the night, was followed by the bouncy “She’d Rather Be With Me.”

The finale was their #1 hit, and the name of the tour, “Happy Together”. We all couldn’t help but join in the fun. Wow, what an evening it was. For the most part, although they have aged, they were still entertaining, and a delightful walk down memory lane. I will be sure to mark my calendar for next year’s tour.

Review and Photos by: Becky Trombley





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