Hey, it's summer time. Have you been to any concerts this summer? You know, have you have you gone to see somebody famous live? I haven't huh, you know, this should probably be a 30 or 40-minute podcast and perhaps it will be the Saturday And I could bring on a guess but we're just going to go a little bit and talk about how expensive concerts are now And how strange it is that old old rock stars are still touring and What's the most frightening thing about that is that the turtles now have the guy from the Arches?
The guy from the Arches and I how you doing welcome to the show This is the daily grateful and I am Michael Croce and I am grateful because you don't know this about me You don't know this about me. Maybe some of you do. I have been to more rock concerts than you have There I think I can safely say that if you are listening to this I have been to more rock concerts than you have as a matter of fact I've been to a hell of a lot more rock concerts than you have I have been to an outrageously large amount of rock concerts in the 60s in the late 60s in early 70s I was a reporter for an underground newspaper and I covered concerts. That's how I met my first wife I've been to concerts like you wouldn't believe.
Have you been to a concert this summer? Let's talk about that Just a little bit shall we did you want to go see Taylor Swift? Well? Yeah, you're gonna spend more than a thousand dollars Beyonce more than a thousand dollars Elton John average ticket price if you want to sit in the nosebleed section It's two hundred dollars if you want to get anywhere to where you can see his hair It's gonna cost you six to eight hundred dollars Bruce Springsteen I don't know if he's touring now, but uh 500 bucks go to a concert the Rolling Stones Who I've seen one two three times the last time I think I paid Sixteen dollars that was in Orlando 500 bucks Ed Sheeran a hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars Adele a hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars Billy Eilish.
Oh, I would love to go see Billy Eilish a hundred to three hundred dollars Post Malone a hundred to two hundred and fifty Drake a hundred to two hundred and fifty Kanye West a hundred Two hundred and fifty the weekend a hundred to two hundred and fifty Harry Styles who wants to go see him a hundred to two hundred dollars Bruno Mars eighty two hundred and fifty, you know, I could I would probably like a Bruno Mars concert. I probably would Lizzo I would love to see Lizzo. Oh what I love to see Lizzo fifty two hundred dollars Yeah So that's the you know the the prices that are running around this summer for the expensive people okay for the expensive people But let's take it back a notch. Shall we because also, you know, what I wanted to stay was there's a bunch of old Rockers still out there playing local gigs around the country And I want to say who I would go see and who I wouldn't go see the Rolling Stones.
I just I might go see them But probably not I've seen them and they're all in their 80s and I understand Jagger still runs it all over the stage Might that's a might if somebody would give me a ticket not gonna spend 500 bucks, but I might you know I might spend a hundred bucks, okay The who? Roger Daltry and P Townsend. I think our touring or did tour I might go see them and they're both very old now And I don't know if the Altry so that is voice the Beach Boys Okay, this is a touchy subject. They were just here in my town.
I didn't go And now I'm regretting that I didn't go because the Beach Boys right now is actually the Beach Boys touring group that is headed up by Mike Love and Bruce Johnson the only two original members of the band and Michael of owns the name and he won't have the other people back. He had him back for a 50th anniversary But I don't know it rubs me the wrong way until until I Saw a video it was made a couple years ago called add some music to your soul and after I saw that video I've gotten mad at myself for not going to the concert in Clearwater and if they come back I'm sure they will I will probably go I was told by friends of mine who went that it was a great show You know that it was just a really really really good show the zombies no thanks the birds Who is the original members? Roger McGwin who used to live around here by the way? And he is the sole original member performing under the bird's name.
I didn't know he was performing under the bird's name I saw the birds in Tampa at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory a non air-conditioned building years and years and years ago And they were good David Crosby was not with them then they were the best one with the original lineup the monkeys believe it or not Okay, believe it or not. I saw the monkeys in Tampa at Curtis Dixon Hall, which is where I met my first wife Mickey Dolan's Peter Torque and Davy Jones and Mike Ness Smith I take that back Peter Torque was not on that tour but I it not only did I see them I got because I was a reporter at the time and The woman that I later married was also a reporter for our local newspaper and our friend John Claridge said Can you get Michelle in to meet the monkeys and I didn't want to go to a monkey's concert? You know I had press passes, but I didn't want to go but I went And yes, I took her backstage or well We went backstage for a few minutes But we got invited back to the hotel the Sheraton in downtown Tampa where I met the monkeys and I found Mickey Dolan's to be Absolutely delightful and Davy Jones to be absolutely delightful Mike Ness Smith was sick He popped his head in for a few minutes and had to go back to bed but you know now the only one that tours is Mickey and Depends on the venue it absolutely depends on the venue if he were playing at a local theater that we have around here called the Capitol Theater I would probably go the Association seen the Association in concert twice with the original lineup now. There's only two original members But I just saw videotape of them they play on what is called the happy together tour more on that later And I have to say and by the way the guy that wrote all of the good songs Passed away him and I were friends on Facebook as a matter of fact we chatted back and forth on messenger His name is Terry Kirkman.
I met him in Tampa in 1967-68 and he was just a genuinely wonderful man And he's the man who sang cherish and I saw the or this now version of the band sing cherish on tape And I was actually taken back as to how good they were so yeah I might I might do that I might and again depends on the venue and if they played the Capitol Theater if they played Ruth Eckert Hall, I would go the kinks Ray Davies They're not actively touring but Ray Davies sometimes performs solo in various line-ups. No four seasons. No under no circumstances Absolutely not my friend went and saw them and and I've got to tell you Frankie Valley is lip-syncing because he is totally deaf. He was singing he was lip-syncing to attract So which by the way the same thing for the Eagles the Eagles toured last year and my ex-wife Michelle I met when we saw the monkeys went to the concert paid an outrageous amount of money to go see them and It has been reported to people you know from people who went to that concert that it was obvious That it was obvious that there was a lot of lip-syncing going on there and you know, I don't want to pay for that I I just you know, no so now let's get to the turtles the turtles do this happy together to her every year and I Have always said I would go I've seen the turtles Oh gosh back in the 60s and then my son Tyler and I went and saw them in Clearwater some years ago And at the original two guys are Mark Volman and Howard Kalen Well now Howard is no longer performing and they've replaced him with the guy from the Archie's the guy from the Archie's No, you know, but would I go to the happy together tour?
Yes, I would probably go eat popcorn or something while the turtles were on Volman is running around the stage as he always did now. He's got totally gray hair He doesn't sing very much his voice is pretty much gone and the guy from the Archie's is there Then he sings sugar sugar, which makes me want to have a thrombo But I would go because you know who plays on that tour. I will tell you who plays on that tour the cow sills Remember the cowsills? I want to see the cowsills in the worst way.
They are a fabulous family band They are a fabulous band and they've still got it and they're very good. I think there's three original members that tour But John Cowsel actually toured with the Beach Boys touring group for many many years And just got fired as a money-saving move But he's the one who would sing O'Darling and a bunch of songs with the Beach Boys touring group So but they got rid of him I don't know what he's doing. He's not with the with his original family band anymore. I wish he would get back with him But yeah, I would go to the happy, you know, who else the Buckingham's go on that tour I saw the Buckingham's in Tampa in 1965.
They were fabulous fabulous I wonder what they're like. I wonder who's still original that is their Gary Puckett and the Union Gap two are unhappy together to her Unfortunately, and this is my opinion. By the way, he lives around here He didn't live very far from me as a matter of fact, I could probably walk to his house If you did the truth be known I could probably walk to Gary Puckett's house from here. So he lives very close voice Last time I saw tape gone Just gone.
So I think you know, sometimes you're done and Gary Puckett of the Union Gap. You're done I Can see Going to concerts. I'm all done. I'll tell you what I'm all done with I'm all done with big venues I'm not doing stadium concerts anymore.
I'm not going to pop vessels and I've been to pop vessels I was at the Miami pop festival in 1968. I was at the Atlanta pop festival covering it I was supposed to go to Woodstock right after Atlanta But I was totally wiped out from Atlanta in the same groups that were playing Atlanta were playing Woodstock And I said nah, not gonna go that's something I regretted But anyway, I will only go to small venues now, and I would love to go to the happy together tour Oh, well more on this maybe Saturday an expanded version with a guest. Let me see what I can do