Justin Rakowski's fantasy artwork: "The Monkees Live at the Oakland Coliseum" in 1969

6/11/2016

For years it has been debated whether or not a concert from the 1969 Monkees tour was recorded. Conflicting reports and recollections from members of The Monkees, their backing band from that era, and others have added to the intrigue. All this time later, however, no tapes have ever surfaced. One concert, thought to be the May 10, 1969 performance in Wichita, Kansas does exist as a bootleg, but it’s an absolutely horrible recording usually sought after for historical purposes only.

Both Micky Dolenz and Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval have seemingly confirmed that there is no audio to be heard from the 1969 tour. "We never recorded that," Micky Dolenz said in a 2005 online interview. "I recorded Sam & The Goodtimers [the supporting band on the 1969 tour] as an act, and was trying to sell them to a record company. But we never recorded - I wish we had, it was funny, it was really great having that band, they were a great band."

Sandoval agreed with Micky about the nonexistence of 1969 live audio. "Certainly there’s no tape of a 1969 show in the Monkees vault. What Micky says…that he taped them (The Goodtimers) at that Souled Out Club in Los Angeles…makes a lot of sense," Sandoval said in a 2005 interview. "I tried to do research about that club. I found out where it was but there were never any advertisements or listings of who played there in that time period, so it was hard to say when the Goodtimers played there or when The Monkees might have come to see them. It seems more and more that if there had been a recording it would have shown up by now. It’s been a long time, you know?”

Even with these statements, curiosity still surrounds potential live recordings from the 1969 tour today. The year, after all, was more than challenging for the group, who were now a trio after the departure of Peter Tork. With their weekly television series off the air (but revived in syndication in the fall of '69), along with the disastrous box office returns of their feature film Head, and the lukewarm reception to their 1969 NBC television special, The Monkees' concert show proved a hard sell to ticket buyers. To their credit, The Monkees were experimenting with new sounds in their music as well as in their live performances, developing an act that was revue-like in its presentation and supported onstage by Sam & The Goodtimers, a seven-piece rhythm and blues band. Despite some positive vibes from the critics, the 1969 tour, Micky later said, "was like kicking a dead horse. The phenomenon had peaked." "We all had a good time on the tour," Michael Nesmith told Sandoval in the 1990s, but "it was tough out there." Documentation of The Monkees in concert from this era would reveal a unique period in the history of the group like never before, and is a main factor in why fans still hold out hope that tapes will materialize.

Historical evidence survives to keep those hopes alive. Below is a radio spot that was aired in Oakland, California in advance of The Monkees' appearance there on November 30, 1969.

You'll note that the advertisement mentions the fact that the concert will be recorded for "their next album," but once again, no tapes seem to exist.

Monkees fan Justin Rakowski decided to create his own album artwork for such an LP as if it had been released in the aftermath of The Monkees' 1969 tour. Check out Justin's creations below!

(Click all images to enlarge)

Great job, Justin! Fantasy artwork like this and others are always a lot of fun to examine. Now if only those tapes would emerge!

Here's the promotional handbill for the Oakland Coliseum concert that Justin used on the back cover of his LP:

15 Comments

Joe B.

6/11/2016 12:19:11

This certainly brings back memories for me. I saw them in Sacramento in 1969 at age 13 at the California State Fair. I disagree with the statement, however "The Monkees' concert show proved a hard sell to ticket buyers."...I remember the grandstand being packed (the stage was set up at the horse race track). There was standing room only in front of the stage and I managed to get up close. The sound of girls screaming was overwhelming and I remember writing in the back of the program I bought, "The girls screamed too much."

Monkees Live Almanac

6/11/2016 12:53:57

Great stories, Joe! Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to have any photographs from the show?

You are right in saying that the concert at the California State Fair in September 1969 was well-attended, as Andrew Sandoval noted in his book. And several shows on the '69 tour did attract large crowds. However, ticket sales overall were down compared to previous outings. The Oakland Coliseum show itself apparently only drew a couple of thousand in a venue that held somewhere between 20-30,000 seats for concerts.

6/11/2016 13:29:33

No, no photos unfortunately. I don't even have the program anymore as it didn't survive the "purge" of about three years later when I asked myself, "Why am I keeping all this stuff?" The only Monkee-related memorabilia I have is a Micky-signed single jacket from Oh, My, My. He and Davy appeared in a production of Tom Sawyer in the 70s at Sacramento's Music Circus and I sent it to him hoping he would autograph it and return it to me. He did, but it took about six months.

Linda

6/11/2016 14:16:18

I have a old Date Book magazine from early 1970 with a very lengthy interview with Davy along with many picture of he, Linda and Talia talking about the Monkees, the vietnam war and his feelings about it, a very insight interview I must say. The interview was done in Oakland right after their concert, he was asked about that because the rumor was that it was going to be recorded for a album, he said no they were recording it but not for album and then he went on to explain the process of recording a concert versus recording a album, if I can dig through my boxes and find it I will pass it along to you!

6/11/2016 14:20:35

Hi Linda,

That would be great if you found it! Thanks for taking the time to check.

Brian

6/11/2016 20:05:38

Who to believe? Micky "I'm told I had a good time" Dolenz who can't seem to remember a lot of things from the era (e.g.: see conflicting "Oh Darling" Sgt. Pepper and tie dye stories). Or the Goodtimers, who also have mis-recollected things about the era, even though Sam Rhodes claimed to have had a copy of the recordings until they were stolen. I'm gonna have to side with the contemporary radio ad that aired just days before the concert was to be recorded, along with the *contemporary* statement from Davy mentioned in the above comment just after the concert. Referenced interviews at Steve Hoffman forums also allude to Davy once having a copy, but no more.

6/11/2016 20:22:49

Oh, and the audio not turning up doesn't mean that it didn't exist. Remember the lost film footage: http://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com/blog/whatever-happened-to-the-1969-film-footage

6/11/2016 20:47:39

Brian,

You are right about some of the conflicting stories told about the existence of '69 live audio. Joe Alterio conducted an interview with Sam Rhodes of Sam & The Goodtimes in the late '90s. Here's an excerpt of his report on their conversation:

"Sam Rhodes has informed me that indeed there WAS a concert recorded professionally, although NOT by Colgems Records for commercial release. It was in fact The Monkees who financed the project, so as to capture the magical sound forever (especially as the tour was collapsing rapidly). Sam notes the concert was held in Hollywood at the "Soul'd Out" club (where the Monkees met the Goodtimers) sometime in August 1969. Apparently, numerous copies were made for the band members, yet most now remain missing (either through theft or misplacement). However, Micky Dolenz's mother did have a copy...and it can be assumed that both Davy and Mike also have copies of this performance as well."

The issue with this quote is that there is no documented record of The Monkees playing the Souled Out Club in Los Angeles, and perhaps details have been confused as to who played where between The Monkees and The Goodtimers. According to Andrew Sandoval it sounds like the Goodtimers played at Souled Out, but not The Monkees.

Joe Sousa

6/11/2016 22:30:07

The only thing that exists to my knowledge is them on the Joey Bishop Show. It's audio only. It's pretty decent. On utube.

6/11/2016 22:36:30

That is correct, Joe. Everyone can check it out here:

http://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com/blog/live-with-sam-the-goodtimers-on-the-joey-bishop-show

Dave

6/12/2016 12:44:52

Kudos to Justin, great job!

rob

6/13/2016 07:36:55

Awesome Artwork Justin!! Love the use of period 69' photos.. it all comes together beautifully..!

Pierre Le Cornec

6/13/2016 17:49:22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUauhYYXUMo

Adrienne

1/2/2018 21:27:51

I was 12 when my best friend's dad surprised us with tickets and chaperoned us to the Oakland coliseum, I did take photos, and like most ppl with instamatic cameras with flash cubes, I got better photos of the back of the heads of the ppl in front of me.
You can just make out the guys up on stage...I will post them (when I find them)
I would love to see other's photos.
There is a facebook page about growing up in the bay area where I posted the question re those that were there, several said they were, but sadly no one had photos :(

1/3/2018 05:18:32

Hi Adrienne,

Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to share your photos! You can email me here: https://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com/about.html

Justin Rakowski's fantasy artwork: "The Monkees Live at the Oakland Coliseum" in 1969

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