A Blast From the Past

Did you know “The Turtles” and six groups are touring 15 cities this summer on a “Happy Together Tour”? I was fortunate to see them perform in Las Vegas last week. Not only did the concert include The Turtles, but they had six other popular groups from the 1960s too. It was upbeat, energetic, and fun. I was surprised that I remembered most of the words along with the crowd around me. The audience was singing and wanted to dance, but then the others couldn't see the stage. The crowd stood up and rocked out to the grand finale of timeless hits.

It was a fun trip back in time, and the music brought back memories of friends, school, politics, and fashion. All of the bands were missing original musicians. I wonder how many of them are still alive or if they can even remember their touring days. One of the star singers needed guidance to walk offstage and his long hair covered his face so who knows if he was singing. The musical groups are still having fun performing and spreading that good energy to us.

When I was a teenager, I remember listening to CKLW on my clock radio in my upstairs bedroom. They played all the hits from this tour featuring The Turtles, The Association, The Grassroots, The Box Tops, the Classics IV, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Buckinghams” and The Cowsills. I heard songs that I haven’t heard since my Forsythe Junior High dance. I could sing along to almost every song in the concert even though I haven’t heard these songs in years. The Baby Boomer audience was having fun singing along and chair dancing. The performers were dressed in 60’s clothes and still had great voices and dance moves. I was impressed with the family band, “The Cowsills” onstage. The original family band consisted of the mother and her five children who toured the country. The four brothers were overshadowed by the youngest sister Susan. She is still dancing all over the stage at age 62. The singing group was the inspiration for the TV Show, “The Partridge Family.” 

The famous groups performed some of their 61 Billboard Top 40 smashes such as “Sugar Sugar”, “It Ain’t Me Babe”, and “Windy”. All of the groups came back onstage at the end of the concert and said that we are all “Happy Together.” The Tour has been performing for the past 13 years across the U.S and will perform 50 shows this summer of 2022. I would go see it everynight if I could. It was a baby boomer bonding experience to see this blast from the past. It brought back a flood of memories with each song. I am still continuing the concert at home now watching the youtube videos of the original bands, reading Wikipedia, and listening to the 60s channel on my car radio. Summer fun is here with a blast from the past with this amazing concert!