By: Staff
In the three years since The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie brought back some friends for the 25th Anniversary Tour in 2010, “Happy Together” has become one of the most successful summer tours in existence, constantly hitting the road and celebrating the music of the ’60s for thousands of “Happy” fans to enjoy across North America.
This year’s Happy Together Tour — comprised of The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & The Raiders and Gary Lewis & The Playboys — will begin on Saturday, June 8 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi and subsequently land in more than fifty cities across the United States and Canada on a trek that is expected to last through early October (see below for itinerary).
“Happy Together Tour 2013 will be the biggest and most successful tour we have done in the past 7 years,” states Mark Volman (aka “Flo”) of The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie. “It’s 54 cities over 9 weeks, and the groups on this year’s show bring with them hours of hit songs and memories certain to please every fan of the 1960’s. We are so excited to be a part of this great show. You don’t want to miss it!”
Hours of hit songs, indeed.
In all, the five artists on this year’s tour have over sixty Top 40 hits to choose from, including six number one songs.
Half of those Top 40 hits were Top 10!
The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie have headlined and hosted all the previous Happy Together Tours and will be doing the same for this year’s shows.
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap return from last year, while Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & The Raiders returns from 2010 and 2011.
Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, joined The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie on 2009’s Hippiefest Tour.
The relative newcomer to the Happy Together Tour is Gary Lewis & The Playboys, who shared the stage with The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, The Mamas & the Papas, The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams on the immensely successful 1985 Happy Together Tour.
“I’m very excited to be on the Happy Together Tour again with my great friends from the 60’s,” exclaims Gary. “We have wonderful acts and all you’ll hear is hits!”
From such songs as “Happy Together,” “Joy to the World” and “Young Girl” to “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)” and “This Diamond Ring,” fans will, once again, delight in hearing the songs sung by the original singers that they’ve heard on the radio for the past several decades.
“Happy Together” by The Turtles hit #1 on the charts in 1967 (displacing the Beatles’ “Penny Lane”) and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. Although their biggest hit and signature song, it’s just one of their nine Top 40 hits, which includes such popular songs as “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “Elenore,” “You Showed Me” and “It Ain’t Me Babe.” In 1968, far ahead of their time, they would release one of music’s first concept albums, The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, where they pretended to be eleven different bands with different names, each providing a song in a different genre. The album — which showcased their incredible range of vocal talent — spawned the hits “Elenore” and “You Showed Me” (both peaking at #6 on the Billboard charts). Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan have remained plenty busy over the years with both The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie and their extracurricular music activities. The band has sold over 60 million albums worldwide and continue to please audiences with their fun-filled performances.
Chuck Negron co-founded the hugely popular, multi-platinum band, Three Dog Night in 1967. The group went on to become one of the most successful bands of the late 60’s and early 70’s with 21 Top 40 hits and three number one songs including “Joy to the World,” “Black and White” and “Mama Told Me (Not to Come).” The band’s first gold record was “One,” which featured Chuck on lead vocals as did “Joy to the World” and many other of the band’s biggest hits including “Old Fashioned Love Song.” Chuck has kept the music that he helped make famous “alive” by continuing to perform throughout the decades.
This year’s Happy Together Tour starts on Chuck’s birthday and he’s looking forward to being a part of the festivities. “Performing with the Happy Together Tour is one of the highlights of my career!”
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap was one of the most successful musical groups of the sixties, boasting five Top 10 singles. Gary’s unmistakable signature voice garnered six consecutive gold records and top ten Billboard hits such as “Young Girl” and “Woman Woman.” In 1968, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap sold more records than any other artist including the Beatles. Gary Puckett has performed on more than thirty network television shows and prime time specials during his career, even adding a command performance for the President and Prince Charles at the White House. The Union Gap disbanded in 1971. Gary continues to tour nationally and internationally.
Gary comments, “The Happy Together Tour is a tremendously fun and entertaining show both to do AND to see! It’s a pleasure and an honor to be one of the featured performers. Don’t miss it!”
“Indian Reservation” by Paul Revere & The Raiders hit #1 on the charts in 1971, selling over 4 million copies which made it the biggest selling single for Columbia Records for almost a decade. This massive hit followed quite a few that came before it from the band including “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Just Like Me” and “Good Thing” (as well as the Mark Lindsay Top Ten solo hit, “Arizona,” from 1970). In all, the band would achieve no less than fifteen Top 40 hits, five going Top 10. In February of this year, Mark released, “Like Nothing That You’ve Seen,” ultimately described by Little Steven on Sirius/XM Radio’s “Underground Garage” as the “coolest song in the world.” A full album, via Bongo Boy Records, will be coming out this summer.
“I’m hyper-excited about being back on the Happy Together Tour this year and I’m working out to get in top shape for my high energy show,” says Mark. “I hope to see you all out on that road and we’ll have some great rock and roll fun together!”
Aficionados of the 60’s pop classics have cause to rejoice with the return of Gary Lewis & The Playboys. It was the summer of 1964 when Gary Lewis & The Playboys were discovered by producer Snuff Garrett. By the following year, they had a song go straight to the top of the charts called, “This Diamond Ring.” After the second hit titled, “Count Me In,” went to number two, Gary and the band proved they would be a continued success. They followed with more Top 10 songs such as “Save Your Heart for Me,” “Everybody Loves A Clown,” “She’s Just My Style,” “Sure Gonna Miss Her” and many more (seven in all). In 1965, Gary, himself, was Cash Box magazine’s “Male Vocalist of the Year,” winning the honor over other nominees Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. He was the first and only artist during the 1960’s to have his first seven releases reach Billboard magazine’s Top 10 on the Hot 100 chart. Still going strong, Gary released a new single last year titled, “You Can’t Go Back.”
For the second consecutive year, ten Belmont University students will be joining “Professor Flo,” Mark Volman, for an invaluable experience on the road in their own tour bus for approximately two weeks of the Happy Together Tour beginning June 14 in Clearwater, Florida.
Under the guidance of Volman — a founding member of The Turtles and Curb College professor of Entertainment Industry Studies — the students will be working with the artists on tour and crew professionals in the area of tour management, stage management, audio engineering, tour accounting and merchandise sales This will be in addition to learning the process of loading in, setting up, breaking down and loading out.
“This is a unique and wonderful experience for all of us,” comments Volman. “The students get a chance to see and experience first-hand what life on the road is really all about… We like to think of it as the Rock and Roll Reality Tour.”
Come on out, join the fun and imagine how the world could be, so very fine… so Happy Together!
HAPPY TOGETHER TOUR 2013
DATE / VENUE / CITY
Saturday, June 8 – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Biloxi, Mississippi
Sunday, June 9 – Peabody Auditorium – Daytona Beach, Florida
Tuesday, June 11 – Stafford Centre – Stafford, Texas
Wednesday, June 12 – Wagner-Noel Performing Arts Center – Midland, Texas
Thursday, June 13 – Long Center for the Performing Arts-Dell – Austin, Texas
Friday, June 14 – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, Florida
Saturday, June 15 – The Pavilion at Seminole Casino – Coconut Creek, Florida
Sunday, June 16 – Tennessee Performing Arts Center / Polk Theater – Nashville, Tennessee
Tuesday, June 18 – Lebanon Opera House – Lebanon, New Hampshire
Wednesday, June 19 – Keswick Theater – Glenside, Pennsylvania
Thursday, June 20 – State Theatre – New Brunswick, New Jersey
Friday, June 21 – NYCB Theatre at Westbury – Westbury, New York
Saturday, June 22 – Tarrytown Music Hall – Tarrytown, New York
Sunday, June 23 – Wolf Trap Filene Center – Vienna, Virginia
Wednesday, June 26 – Cain Park – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Thursday, June 27 – Penn’s Peak – Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Friday, June 28 – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom – Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
Saturday, June 29 – North Shore Music Theatre – Beverly, Massachusetts
Sunday, June 30 – American Music Theatre – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Thursday, July 4 – Del Mar Fairgrounds / Grandstand – Del Mar, California
Monday, July 8 – Ed Kenley Centennial Amphitheater – Layton, Utah
Tuesday, July 9 – Sandy City Amphitheater – Sandy, Utah
Wednesday, July 10 – Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino – Lemoore, California
Thursday, July 11 – Chumash Casino – Santa Ynez, California
Friday, July 12 – Fox Tucson Theatre – Tucson, Arizona
Saturday, July 13 – Talking Stick Resort – Scottsdale, Arizona
Saturday, July 27 – Count Basie Theatre – Red Bank, New Jersey
Tuesday, July 30 – Bergen Performing Arts Center – Englewood, New Jersey
Wednesday, July 31 – Mayo Performing Arts Center – Morristown, New Jersey
Friday, August 2 – Casino Rama Entertainment Centre – Rama, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, August 3 – The Colosseum at Caesar’s Windsor – Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, August 4 – Wisconsin State Fair / Main Stage – West Allis, Wisconsin
Tuesday, August 6 – Indiana State Fair / Marsh Free Stage – Indianapolis, Indiana
Wednesday, August 7 – Fraze Pavilion for the Performing Arts – Kettering, Ohio
Thursday, August 8 – Centennial Terrace – Sylvania, Ohio
Friday, August 9 – Iowa State Fair / Grandstand – Des Moines, Iowa
Saturday, August 10 – Ho-Chuck Gaming / Black River Falls – Black River Falls, Wisconsin
Sunday, August 11 – Peoria Civic Center Theater – Peoria, Illinois
Wednesday, August 21 – Effingham Performance Center – Effingham, Illinois
Thursday, August 22 – Kentucky State Fair / Fairgrounds – Louisville, Kentucky
Friday, August 23 – Paramount Arts Centre – Aurora, Illinois
Sunday, August 25 – Corn Palace Festival – Mitchell, South Dakota
Monday, August 26 – Minnesota State Fair – St. Paul, Minnesota
Tuesday, August 27 – Sanford Center – Bemidji, Minnesota
Wednesday, August 28 – McPhillips Station Casino – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Friday, August 30 – Little River Casino Resort – Manistee, Michigan
Sunday, September 1 – New York State Fair / Chevy Court – Syracuse, New York
Saturday, October 5 – All Seasons Arena – Minot, North Dakota
Madeleine (10 years ago)
I saw the wonderful Happy Together Tour 2013 in Daytona’s Peabody Aud. It was wonderful! However, I would like to know the names of the musicians that were performing on stage as well! Without them, there is no show, as well as the rest of the crew! Hope you can help. They were introduced, but I couldn’t write down their names. Thanks!
Mad
Guitar International Magazine (10 years ago)
We’ll see if we can get those. One musician who plays great guitar for the show is Godfrey Townsend….
Dennis Thibodeau (10 years ago)
I was able to attend the Happy Together tour a few years ago when they performed at the OAKDALE Theater in Wallingford, CT.
I am highly disappointed that CT is not on the tour schedule