Imagine me and you and The Turtles and The Association and The Vogues and The Cowsills and Badfinger and Jay and the Americans. The “Happy Together” tour began 40 years ago and has become the most reliable 1960s pop nostalgia show on the circuit. The six-act event is returning to the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, where it has played dozens of times before, on Aug.
3 at 7:30 p.m. The lineup can change year by year, but it has always been headlined by The Turtles, whose 1967 megahit “Happy Together” gave the tour its name.
In recent years, though, The Turtles’ lineup had its own major change when the group’s founding lead singer, Howard Kaylan, was struck with health issues that took him off the road after over three decades. Kaylan’s longtime singing partner (and friend since childhood) Mark Volman is still involved, but another voice for the harmony-centered group was needed. They found him in Ron Dante, a verified chart-topping ‘60s pop star himself who now gets to perform his greatest hit, The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar,” on top of The Turtles set.
“I love their records,” Dante said of The Turtles. “I imitated their sounds on my records. ‘Happy Together’ was an unbelievable landmark.
It’s a monster, a great song. It was a big influence on me.” Dante said the top-5 hit he had with The Cufflinks, “Tracy,” was “an homage to The Turtles.
” Dante opened for the “Happy Together” tour in 2017. “The next year, they called me back” wh.