The Monkees Regroup for 45th Anniversary UK Tour

Liverpool, U.K. - The Monkees, a now-vintage pop singing group, will reunite for a 45^th anniversary in the United Kingdom this spring. Ironically, the television-spawned 1960s crew, often tagged as the original boy band, will kick off their ten-stop series of gigs in Liverpool, birthplace of The Beatles.

Starting February 25, pop oldies fans will be scooping up tickets to The Monkees' British tour dates, perhaps hoping to hear many of the early bubblegum pop group's dozens of hit singles from the mid- to late-1960s. Monkees' hits included "Daydream Believer," "I'm a Believer" (remixed in 2001 by Smash Mouth and Eddie Murphy for "Shrek"), "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone," "Last Train to Clarksville," "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and more.

Unfortunately, for fans of The Monkees, the quartet has become a trio.

Micky Dolenz (65), Davy Jones (65) and Peter Tork (69) will perform together without Mike Nesmith (once known as "the one in with the knit hat). Nesmith, now a 68-year-old with a respectable series of country music recordings, will not participate in The Monkees 45^th Anniversary Tour.

The reunion tour marks the 45^th anniversary of the forming of The Monkees. The group was assembled in 1966 for a musical comedy series on television, which critics characterized a light imitation of The Beatles. "The Monkees" ran for two seasons, airing 58 episodes on NBC TV from September 1966 to March 1968.

Disney's "Jonas," a recent comedy series featuring The Jonas Brothers (including Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas and Nick Jonas), perhaps thematically echoed "The Monkees" TV series.

As a recording artist group, The Monkees sold more than 50 million albums. The late John Lennon (once of The Beatles) allegedly called The Monkees "The Marx Brothers of Rock."

In 2009, Davy Jones said a regrouping of The Monkees was an impossibility.

The British singer, often recognized as the front man of The Monkees, said this in 2009: "It's not a case of dollars and cents. It's a case of satisfying yourself. I don't have anything to prove. The Monkees proved it for me."

But now, in mid-February 2011, Davy Jones has changed his tune about his former bandmates, describing the 45^th anniversary tour as a mixture of music and dialogue.

The Monkees' 45^th Anniversary Tour includes ten stops in the U.K.

Beginning May 12 in Liverpool and wrapping up May 25 in Nottingham, The Monkees will perform across the United Kingdom.

Here are the scheduled 2011 gigs for The Monkees in the U.K.: Liverpool's Echo Arena (May 12), Manchester's Apollo (May 14), Newcastle's City Hall (May 15), Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium (May 16), London's Royal Albert Hall (May 19), Sheffield's City Hall (May 20), Birmingham's NIA (May 21), Plymouth's Pavillions (May 23), Cardiff's CIA (May 24) and Nottingham's Royal Centre (May 25).

The possibility exists for a United States tour for The Monkees as well, perhaps including as many as 30 cities in a summer 2010 jaunt.