Off topic Moody Blues
2014-03-17 by JAMES STRAUSS
Well these old guys played my town last night and given there is no mellotron in their gear anymore, and hasn't been since Mike Pinder left - this is a bit "off topic". And since Ray Thomas no longer tours with them I was somewhat dubious to go to this concert. But my wife has never seen them, and PBS TV had a membership drive and they happened to have a few Orchestra tickets to the first callers if you made a contribution. So on a whim I picked up the phone and guess what...I was first in line on the phone, so the tickets were mine. This venue for the Moodies was going to be interesting as well...it is a relatively smaller concert hall... the recently renovated Landmark Theatre which used to be called the Mosque, due to the ornately decorated arabesque tile work and gilded panels and Egyptian motiffs. So we get there at 7:00 PMand enjoy some wine and the huge dome like ceiling with all this intricate tile work. Even the aisle lighting fixtures on each seat were these old ornate brass deco panels...quite a place. When the lights went down it was just absolutely black, you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. It was like that for several minutes when, through the applause of the expectant crowd, you could hear this bizarre kind of ethereal hollow white noise sound, kind of like the humming noise in your head when you wake up in the middle of the night in an empty room. The screen at the back of the stage had this small bright white dot…it is flickering and rotating like a pulsar, then you could hear the unmistakable sound of that mechanical voice we remember from “The Beginning” on “Threshold of a Dream” . But rather than the old recording it was this strange rambling mix of radio signals like from a far off distant transmitter, with what sounded like news reports grabbed from the current headlines; rebellion in Syria, invasion of Ukraine, missing airliners, and while this garbled mix increases the small white dot on the screen gradually enlarged until you could see the whole planet earth filling the screen, and it was really quite detailed, almost like a screen grab from Gravity. All the while this synthesizer chorus begins to build up to a big crescendo, then suddenly the stage lights came on like the primordial big bang and the show was on - with a rousing rendition of “Lovely To See You Again”. I was duly impressed with how well the sound crew had dialed in Justin’s guitar, and I have to say he took full advantage of it, the guitar breaks seemed to bounce off the walls with a deep reverb every time he unleashed these chords, and with a smile, he seemed to be very much enjoying the feedback, even played with it for awhile with the vibrato bar. That had the crowd pretty well on their feet and into the moment, just waiting for what was coming next. I’m not a big fan of the post core seven albums but I figured they had to play some of the crowd pleasers for all the second generation of Moodies fans and I have to say they can play them well. I was sitting there comfortably through “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” and “Wildest Dreams”, hoping to hear some gold nuggets from the early days. Without Ray Thomas or Mike Pinder, I knew the chance of hearing “Legend of a Mind” or “Have You Heard” are fairly remote and pretty much long gone. Just as they finished “Story in Your Eyes” I figured the old guys would have to take a break. So ended the first set. Yet, in a few moments to my surprise the lights went down again and the spotlight illuminated two high backed chairs on the empty stage and out came Justin, carrying an acoustic six and 12 string and Norden Mullen flute in hand. So what we got was a very nice acoustic intermission with some great acoustic guitar with Norda accompanying with some very fine flute, performing “Voices in the Sky”, “Visions of Paradise” segueing into “Dawning is the Day” (which Norda really had fun with, chasing those fluttering notes around as if they were birds in flight). They concluded with Justin’s “New Horizons”. At this point, even if the rest of the show sucked, I figured I got my moneys worth. No problem there...because when the second set started the lights went down and we got the dark room treatment again - but this time the hall was pulsating with this plodding drum beat, with a sparingly simple electric guitar chord backing, and Justin comes up to the mike and with a big smile says he like to introduce an old friend of us all, and then from the corner of the stage this big mellotron sound drones out - and there on stage, right in the the spot light is none other than Mike Pinder, the melancholy man himself. In his unmistakable deep baritone he breaks into this soulful rendition of “Lost in a Lost World”. The crowd is ecstatic. After he finished off this melancholy gem with many nods of “thank yous” to the crowd, Greame Edge comes up to the front of the stage wearing this swami headdress with tablas and congas under each arm and the guys launch into “Sun is Still Shining” and, well - if you know how that starts…Justin is feigning these sitar like riffs with his electric guitar with Mike taking full advantage of every opportunity to send out these indian flavored mellotron drones in this kind of mini Indian raga fest mashed up with “Om” This was great stuff. Well after the obligatory “Late Lament /Nights in White Satin” they guys came back with a rousing encore of “Ride My See Saw” and they made the most of the now amped crowd’s enthusiasm. Ok, Ok…I confess. That’s not exactly how it went down. What we actually got was the standard “post seven core album” show complete with Graeme Edge, ...........river dancing to Higher and Higher. (Sigh). But I have to say - the guys can still do it. They delivered a dynamic show, even though the first set sorely need some more umpf for the vocals. They pulled some old gems out of the repertoire as I had not heard "Gypsy" from "To Our Children's Children" in many years and have never heard them perform "You and Me" from "Seventh Sojurn". There were three huge digital screens on the stage which were emblazoned with all manner of psychedelic patterns and scenes from the old moodies scrapbook. That light show must have soaked up a lot of power As intermission came to an end.... a guy came out and said that Dominion Power was having a big problem with the power grid. They had to cut off all power and everything on stage went dark while the emergency exit lights came on. The soundboard went dark too.It had been freezing rain outside, but I think the new renovations in this theatre had some glitches. The intermission was supposed to be 20 minutes.This lasted for almost an hour while everything had to reboot. I noticed a few handfuls of people leaving - the majority of people stuck it out, The band must have got a good rest during this period because the second set was powerfully delivered, and Justin's vocals were spot on. "Isn't Life Strange" was never one of my favorites, but this was a standing ovation performance as well as "Tuesday Afternoon", and Norda's flute playing was fantastic on both. Of course they did the obligatory "Nights in White Satin" which had a huge disco ball behind the stage throwing star patterns all over that huge domed ceiling as Graeme delivered the "cold hearted orb" soliloquy. Norda held the flute notes on Nights for an eternity. "Question" was the typical show ender delivered at full throttl All in all, it was worth the effort. Not like the old days, but as Justin Hayward said in EGBDF....."You can never go home" -but you can get pretty close. e. Set 1: 1. Gemini Dream 2. The Voice 3. Steppin' in a Slide Zone 4. Gypsy 5. You and Me 6. Nervous 7. Say It With Love 8. Peak Hour 9. I Know You're Out There Somewhere 10. The Story in Your Eyes Set 2: 10. Your Wildest Dreams 11. Isn't Life Strange 12. Tuesday Afternoon 13. Higher and Higher 14. Driftwood 15. I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) 16. Late Lament 17. Nights in White Satin 18. Question Encore: 19. Ride My See-Saw