Hey Hey We're the Monkees

[Gnarly He Man]

Went to see the boys tonight, the first performance of their latest tour. They are a trio, no Davy of course, with a 7 piece back up band. Lots of hits, Mike Nesmith sang a bunch of lead, they used videos to make up for the loss of "the cute one", and brought two audience members up to sing "Daydream Believer".
Micky was in absolutely great voice, man can he sing.
Great fun, they may be coming to your town!

[SlideMeister]

I always heard that they learned to play the instruments AFTER they started the TV show. That would be quite  feat. Any truth to that?

[Gnarly He Man]

Micky wasn't a drummer, but he did play guitar--Peter Tork played 5 string banjo, Mike Nesmith was a guitarist, I never saw Davy play an instrument.
The decision to use studio musicians was not uncommon; The Beach Boys didn't play on their records either (Dennis for sure, Brian probably played on most of 'em). Mamas and Papas, etc. used The Wrecking Crew and they were uncredited.