Michael Nesmith Tickets

Michael Nesmith was in fine form. He performed for two hours with a solid backing band. At age 70 Mike looks as if he might be Pete Townshend‘s long lost wise and friendly brother. Nesmith surprised me by setting the scene for each song with a short story about the people who were the subject of each song and their situation at the time. The little vignettes were quite visual in nature as well as illuminating. He pretty much covered his entire career, beginning with a Monkees song (“Papa Gene’s Blues” from their first LP) and performing a song (or two or three) from most of his solo albums. He also played his first cover hit. It wasn’t Mike covering someone else’s song; it was a song Nesmith wrote that became Linda Ronstadt‘s first hit with The Stone Poneys: “Different Drum”. Michael Nesmith could still hit the sweet falsettos of “Joanne”. He came off as a truly sensitive artist, wise, gentle and funny, and a real gentleman. That show was the second show of his national tour, so if you get a chance, by all means see him.

I saw the 2nd night of Mike’s 2013 solo tour at the Canyon club near L.A. Since I have seen Mike alone before, I thought I knew what to expect. However, this was totally different and very exciting. Mike had a tight & structured set list. But for each song, Nez has created a little vignette. He has written a small story to set up each song. It was a real unique way to see these tunes. For many songs, I have my own past memory to relate to. But Nez helped us along with his own creativity. He did many of his solo classics, with only one Monkees tune “Papa Gene’s blues”. Mike was in great voice, and had no trouble with the falsetto on “Joanne”. He performed “I’ve just begun to care”, “Some of Shelly’s blues”, “Silver Moon”, “Rio”, “Crusin” and “Laugh kills lonesome”. He did the title song from “Rays”, and a three song medley from “the Prison”. Not a fan favorite, but it did show how his music has evolved over the years. As Mike said, this show features his songwriting for the last 50 years. He closed out the night with a cool tribute to Red Rhodes, featuring his original 1st National band recording. For me, the big difference between this tour and his last one 21 year ago was Nez. In 1982, he was very serious with his music. Now, there is such a joy that emanates from Nez. You can tell his love for performing again, and the love the audience provided. It’s so great to see Nez happy & content. With no fanfare, Micky was in the VIP section. He cheered his partner all night long. Welcome back to the concert stage Mike!. We’ve missed your humor and creative artistry

The Evening was Magic!!! Michael Nesmith is the epitome of a showman. Accompanied by a wonderful group of musicians, Papa Nez exhibited his varied musical gifts and styles throughout the years. Beginning with one MONKEES tune to warm up the crowd. He then created a vision for each song and drew the audience in by using very descriptive vignettes. This allowed the audience to take a peek into the mind of Michael Nesmith. What an amazing evening!!

Mr. Nesmith has not played a local solo gig since his one-nighter at the Wadsworth almost twenty years ago.... The Nez did not let us down. He came out on time, smiling and played a very very nice 16 song set..... An Anthology of his years in music. He also treated us to his visions of what each song meant to him in a way a movie might play out in ones mind..... Seeing Nez play, is sadly not very often, but it is worth every second of the wait, one of our most under-rated musicians, and very sadly, he and his former partners are not in the rock hall of fame is total rubbish..... I hope you agree. The only bad part of the evening was the way the meet and greet packages were handled.. I get it, Video Ranch handled the, but no one knew anything, and the location of the show, well, lets just say I prefer not to go back to that venue......