The City was Daydream Believin’ in 1967

Being the ripe age of 25, I’m too young to have really appreciated The Monkees.

I only really knew that Nickelodeon hosted TV Land every weeknight over the summer when I was younger. And the week always started off with “Monkees Monday,” and I would cock my head quizzically at their cheesy jokes and Technicolor wardrobe.

But on the sad day that frontman and band heartthrob Davy Jones passed away, I learned that The Monkees had graced The City By The Bay some 45 years ago.

In-front of their very first sell-out crowd. Who knew.

The Monkees played the very last concert of their ’66-’67 tour on January 22 at the Cow Palace.

Their performance closed out a month full of rock-infused appearances all over the city: The Doors, The ‘Dead, Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Mamas and the Papas, Hendrix, everyone else that graced the Monterey Pop Festival.

The late Jones, along with band mates Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith, played a 16-song set, including their most infamous hit “I’m a Believer.”

(No “Daydream Believer,” which would become a No.-1 single later that year.)

A little side note mystery: The previous days’ concert, in Phoenix, was recorded for the “Monkees On Tour” episode of their TV series. It’s unclear whether or not excerpts from the Cow Palace show were recorded and spliced into the Phoenix recording.

The band would not return to the Bay Area until the end of 1969 when they performed at the Oakland Coliseum, a month after their 8th album, “The Monkees Present,” was released.  Their success and crazy tour schedule would taper off the following year.

So a big Bay Area toast to the late Daydream Believer Davy Jones. Wishing him a happy journey in the pop rock afterlife.