User:Tkbrett/sandbox5

Background


In July1965, the Kinks were informally blacklisted from performing in the United States by the American Federation of Musicians. The circumstances that led to the ban are unclear – bandleader Ray Davies later attributed it to a combination of "bad luck, bad management, [and] bad behaviour". It may have stemmed from a 2 July 1965 incident backstage of Dick Clark's show Where the Action Is, where Davies fought a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It may also have arisen after the Kinks refused to perform at a San Francisco concert on 4 July 1965 after the promoter declined Davies's request that the band be paid upfront.

The ban persisted until Davies negotiated its resolution in mid-April1969.

Promotional campaign
In preparation for the tour and in light of The Village Green Preservation Society favourable reviews, Reprise Records and Warner Bros. Records initiated a promotional campaign in July1969 to reestablish the band's commercial standing. John Mendelsohn, whom Reprise hired after reading his favourable review of Village Green, came up with the campaign's slogan "God Save The Kinks", which referenced the refrain "God save the village green!" from the close of "The Village Green Preservation Society". Reprise mailed press kits to journalists, radio program directors and disc jokeys which included assorted items, including a guide to the Kinks' recordings, a plastic bag with blades of grass from "Daviesland village green" and a promotional compilation album, Then Now and Inbetween. In July or August, Reprise issued "The Village Green Preservation Society" backed with "Do You Remember Walter?" as a US single, though it failed to appear in any charts.

Set list
The Kinks' set list varied over the course of the tour. Below are examples from two separate nights, according to Doug Hinman:

Boston, 25 October (first show)
 * 1) "Till the End of the Day"
 * 2) "You're Looking Fine"
 * 3) "Waterloo Sunset"
 * 4) "You Really Got Me" / "All Day and All of the Night"
 * 5) "Mr. Churchill Says"
 * 6) "Fancy"
 * 7) "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains"
 * 8) "Louie Louie"
 * 9) "Mindless Child of Motherhood"
 * 10) "Victoria"
 * 11) "Mr. Churchill Says (reprise)"
 * 12) "A Well Respected Man" / "Death of a Clown"
 * 13) "Dandy"
 * 14) "Love Me Till the Sun Shines"
 * 15) "Sunny Afternoon"
 * 16) "Don't You Fret"
 * 17) "Milk Cow Blues" / "Rip It Up" / "See My Friends" / "Brainwashed"
 * 18) "The Village Green Preservation Society"

Hollywood, unspecified night (first show)
 * 1) "Love Me Till the Sun Shines"
 * 2) "Mindless Child of Motherhood"
 * 3) "You Really Got Me" / "All Day and All of the Night"
 * 4) "You're Looking Fine"
 * 5) "Long Tall Shorty" / "See My Friends" / "Jailhouse Rock" / "Tired of Waiting for You" / "Fancy"
 * 6) "Brainwashed"

Hollywood, unspecified night (second show)
 * 1) "Till the End of the Day"
 * 2) "Victoria"
 * 3) "Last of the Steam Powered Trains"
 * 4) "Big Sky"
 * 5) "The Village Green Preservation Society"
 * 6) "A Well Respected Man" / "Death of a Clown" / "Dandy" / "Milk Cow Blues" / "Australia" / "Louie Louie"
 * 7) "You Really Got Me"

Tour dates
According to Doug Hinman:


 * Note: In February 2023, Doug Hinman wrote a plea on a Kinks fansite looking for shows missing from his 2004 day-by-day book. He wrote: "[The Kinks'] return to the US in October 1969 and prior to their return to the charts with Lola later in 1970 saw the band playing a number of small clubs as they weren't able to command a billing in larger venues, especially during the weekdays of their US tours, which resulted in almost invisible, unconfirmable dates. These shows were usually booked on short notice and weren’t advertised in any newspapers, at least any available online, likely only by handbills, newsletters or radio promotion and with no copies of itineraries either published or surviving, knowledge of the gigs have vanished to time."