The Buckinghams! The Grass Roots! The Association! Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders! The Turtles!

It's The Happy Together Tour 2011 at the Wisconsin State Fair!

My friend Michelle and I took in this 60's/early 70's flashbook concert (2 1/2 hours worth) last night at the Wisconsin State Fair. 1st tier of the grandstands (still not close enough). If you know me you know I like classic rock/oldies. Was never a HUGE fan of The Turtles, The Association or The Buckinghams but each had a few tunes I dug. But when it comes to The Raiders and The Grass Roots - BIG FAN. Which made the concert all the more painful for me as Grass Roots lead singer Rob Grill passed away on July 11. Nuts. However, the rest of the bands were in fine voice (including "The Grass Roots" which was really nothing more than a cover band w/o Grill).

The highlight for me was watching Mark Lindsay (who turned 69 in March) run around the stage like it was 1968. Really, really a pleasurable night of music. THIS IS ALL FOR YOU, ROB GRILL!

You can look up the bands on the Internet to see what hits they had....and there were a lot. One quick factoid on each:

1.  In the entire history of Rock n' Roll, only 9 bands (including The Beatles) have charted more hits on Billboard's Hot 100 than The Grass Roots.

2.  BMI accredited The Associations' "Never My Love" as having the 2nd most US airplay in the 20th Century.

3.  Paul Revere & The Raiders hold the record for the most TV appearances by anyone in the 1960's - over 750. "Indian Reservation" became Columbia's biggest-selling single for almost a decade.

4.  In 1967, The Buckinghams were named by Billboard magazine as "The Most Listened to Band in America."

5.  The Turtles hit song, "Happy Together" , was lent to this tour since it began in 1984. The two lead singers ("Flo & Eddie) performed with Frank Zappa for many years after their success with The Turtles.

Here's a couple vids of each of the bands playing at least one of their top songs: Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Indian Reservation", The Buckinghams' "Hey Baby" , The Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions", The Associations' "Along Comes Mary" and The Turtles' "Elenore".