Hey, hey, Micky Dolenz is the last Monkee and he's coming to Minneapolis

Micky Dolenz is the last Monkee standing.

Like surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Dolenz still performs under his own name presenting the songs his former band made famous.

Created for an eponymous NBC TV series in 1966, the hugely popular Monkees disbanded in 1970 but enjoyed an MTV-spurred comeback in 1986. Since then, they've undertaken sporadic tours (not always as a quartet) and released four new albums. Then death hit the pre-Fab Four: Davy Jones in 2012, Peter Tork in '19 and Michael Nesmith in '21, shortly after finishing a tour with Dolenz.

Now the billing is just "The Monkees Celebrated by Micky Dolenz."

"It's not a burden," said Dolenz, who will perform Saturday at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis. "I've toured as a solo artist for years and years. I'm not sure it's even a responsibility. It's just something that I do.

"When the audience is as enthusiastic as it always has been, that keeps you going, too. The job really is the travel for me. They pay me to travel and I sing for free. The shows are the easy part. That's why they call it playing."

For this tour, Dolenz is performing Monkees' hits as well as 1967's "Headquarters," their third album but the first on which the made-for-TV band actually wrote songs and played instruments in the studio instead of just singing.

"It's the 55^th anniversary" of the album, Dolenz pointed out. "Michael Nesmith spearheaded the palace revolt. And we put our collective foot down and said, 'We want to make an album all by ourselves.' So we did. It was quite successful. It was on the charts for the best part of a year and it went to No. 1 only to be kicked out of No. 1 by [the Beatles'] 'Sgt Pepper.'"

In a phone interview last week from Detroit, Dolenz, 78, talked about Nesmith's last tour, MTV's role in the Monkees comeback and the pre-Fab Four's relationship with the Fab Four.

On missing the other Monkees

"It's strange because in a way they've never left. I'm always out there singing the songs and seeing the videos and people talking to me about it. I'll be honest: Sometimes I can't watch the videos [during the concerts]. I have to bite my tongue and keep singing the songs and I tear up sometimes when it gets very personal."

On the last tour with Nesmith

"I'm not sure I've quite processed it all. I still can't watch some of the videos. It was pretty intense. His passing didn't come as a huge surprise. He wasn't in the best of health. But he was a trouper. I think he appreciated that last tour. It was quite emotional, frankly, and still is."

On learning to play drums

"I had to learn very quickly [for Monkees tours]. I could read music because I was a classical guitar player. I did have to play kind of backwards because my right leg is a little bit shorter. I had a bone disease as a kid. And it was weird. The drum teacher said, 'Screw it. You're just learning. Play it the other way around.'"

On the Beatles

The Monkees met the Beatles many times.

"They understood what the Monkees were. I think it was John Lennon who said that the Monkees were like the Marx Brothers. He was absolutely correct."

On his upcoming book "I'm Told I Had a Good Time"

It's a collection of photos from his childhood and his Monkees days. Dolenz got a camera as a teenager and began taking photos.

"I kept [the photos] in boxes. Being on tour in early days in '67 with Jimi Hendrix and others. Stephen Stills, who was Peter Tork's roommate. A few things with the Beatles."

On the Monkees' business

"The four of us had no ownership. I had to license the right to use the name Monkees" for this tour, he explained.

Back in the 1960s, the pay was $400 a week — for the TV show, touring, recording, whatever was required.

"But I feel blessed that I was cast. It's given me a wonderful life. I don't have any serious regrets. It would have been nice to bank more than $400 a week."

After the Monkees disbanded in 1970, Dolenz spent about 15 years in England as Michael Dolenz, television director and producer. He also appeared in a couple of Broadway shows, including "Aida" where he got to play the villain.

On MTV

"I lived in England at the time. I'd never heard of MTV. 'Do you want to go back and sing some of the songs?' It was supposed to be like an eight-week, 12-week tour. Of course, two or three years later I was still on the road.

"MTV showing the show again obviously had a huge impact on the new generation. The show is being shown again on AXS TV.

"The show stands up because of the four of us and because of the writing, the producing the directing, the music. The show wasn't topical, it wasn't satirical, which helped. It had legs. Like the Marx Brothers stands up or 'I Love Lucy.' It was about a band that wanted to be famous. It was the struggle for success that endeared it to so many kids out there."

On the Rock Hall of Fame

Despite clamoring from fans, the Monkees have never been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

"I've never been one to chase accolades," Dolenz said. "I was very proud to win two Emmys for the Monkees because I was a child of television [he starred in 'Circus Boy' in 1956-57]. The Hall of Fame is a wonderful organization; I've done charity work raising money for their foundation. It's like a private country club. You let in who you want and you don't let in who you don't want. It's their prerogative."

On the Monkees' legacy

"It made it OK to be different in 1966, someone famous once said to me. All of a sudden it made long hair and bell bottoms OK. Kind of like in a similar way how Henry Winkler [in 'Happy Days'] made it OK to wear a leather jacket and ride a motorcycle. Before that you were a criminal and a Hell's Angel.

"It wasn't considered to be cool to be different. Maybe that's the legacy. NBC was scared to death to put ['The Monkees'] on."

The Monkees Celebrated by Micky Dolenz

When: 8 p.m. Sat.

Where: Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $43 and up, ticketmaster.com.