ONE LAST RIDE: Micky Dolenz’s Emotional Farewell to a Lifetime of Music
“One last time, I will sing for the dreamers…” The words hung in the air like the last note of a song you never want to end. Spoken by Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of The Monkees, they carried the weight of more than fifty years of music, friendship, and memories. Now 80 years old, Dolenz has announced his 2026 Tour, “One Last Ride” — a final journey through melodies that have defined not only his life, but the lives of millions.
With eyes filled with radiant memories of a glorious past, Dolenz revealed that this tour will be more than a series of concerts. It will be a pilgrimage through history, a gathering for fans who grew up with the sounds of “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Daydream Believer” playing through transistor radios and living room record players. But at the heart of this farewell lies a single song — one that few might expect.
The very first track Dolenz ever recorded with The Monkees, a playful and spirited tune titled “Last Train to Clarksville” — captured in the mid-1960s during the band’s early days — will now serve as a bookend to his career. It’s a song brimming with youthful energy, recorded at a time when Dolenz and his bandmates couldn’t have imagined the global phenomenon they were about to become. Performing it again, alone on stage, will be a full-circle moment — a nod to where it all began.
“This isn’t just about saying goodbye,” Dolenz shared quietly in a recent interview. “It’s about honoring every laugh, every tear, every chord we ever played together.” He spoke of Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, his late bandmates, not with sadness but with gratitude, recalling their adventures on tour buses, sound stages, and studio sessions. “We were brothers in a band and in life,” he said. “And this tour… this one’s for them.”
While dates and venues have yet to be revealed, industry speculation suggests that Dolenz will choose a mix of intimate theaters and historic concert halls rather than massive arenas. Fans can expect stripped-down arrangements, personal storytelling, and archival footage woven into the performances — a blend of song and memory that will bring the past vividly to life.
Over the decades, The Monkees evolved from a made-for-TV pop group into one of the most beloved acts of their generation, their music enduring long after the cameras stopped rolling. Dolenz’s voice, still warm and distinctive, has become a living link to that era — a reminder of a time when music was simple, joyous, and unifying.
For the fans, “One Last Ride” will be more than a concert. It will be a chance to say thank you, to sing along one more time, and to witness a chapter in music history gently closing. For Dolenz, it will be the final bow of a life devoted to song.
One last ride. One last “Huff Puff.” And then, the lights will dim — but the music will never fade.