Michael Nesmith had wrapped a Monkees tour only weeks ago. His manager says he ‘went out on top’

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Just a few weeks earlier, Nesmith had appeared before thousands of fans on a Monkees farewell tour that seemed to give him new strength in the final months of his life.

“He started to see it (the music of the Monkees) more through the eyes of his fans, how they loved it. And that brought him a lot of joy at the end of his life,” Nesmith manager Andrew Sandoval said in a interview with Variety after his death.

“His joy was coming back to him. He finally really felt that, and it lit him up, you know?”

The Monkees – Nesmith, drummer Micky Dolenz, singer Davy Jones, and keyboardist and bassist Peter Tork – were conceived in 1965 for a television show and produced a string of hits over the next few years, including “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I am a believer”, written by Neil Diamond.

They parted ways in 1970, but reunited from time to time for recordings and tours. Jones died in 2012, followed by Tork in 2019.

Sandoval said that Nesmith and Dolenz, the other surviving member of the Monkees, had planned to do a farewell tour in 2020 but postponed it due to Covid-19. When tour preparations began this fall, Sandoval said, Nesmith was frail – he had battled heart problems for years – and missed the first few days of rehearsals.

“I was scared that I couldn’t do it, and we were all afraid if we would get sick and die from Covid on this tour,” Sandoval told Variety. “But ultimately, it was his desire to want to do it that pushed me, Micky, the band and the team to move on, because we knew we didn’t have that much time with him, we couldn’t put it off.” again.”

When the tour began in September, Nesmith could only perform sitting up, Sandoval said. Then he was able to stand up with the help of a cane. And then about two to three weeks after the tour, he started on his feet for the entire length of almost every show.

“So he gained a lot of strength from the audience and from the acting,” Sandoval said. “The blockade had been hard for him, because he couldn’t go to many places, and he had stunted a bit. So there was a real renewal with the tour. It was a great celebration for him, doing what he had done in the past, and do it really well. “

The Monkees tour concluded on November 14 in Los Angeles. There were plans for the surviving members of the band to perform on some makeup dates and an old-man cruise next year, but Sandoval said they were scrapped when Nesmith’s health deteriorated.

“His last show at the Greek Theater was before 5,000 people and it was a joy. So it was a very successful tour,” he added. “He really came out on top, as far as that is concerned.

“And for the people who were able to communicate with them for the last time, I think it will be a beautiful memory.”

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