Legacy Live Music Review: The Moody Blues

Another in a series of my early rock and roll writing days, courtesy of 'The Lowell (MA) Sun' newspaper

Prologue

Moody Blues move on from past into ‘90s

Concert Review: The Moody Blues at Veteran’s Park, Manchester, NH, last night

By Amy McGrath, Sun Correspondent

Wednesday, August 18, 1990

They’re only singers in a rock ‘n’ roll band, but The Moody Blues proved the show must go on even in the pouring rain as 5,200 fans soaked up the sound last night at Veteran’s Park in Manchester, NH.

The weather was touch and go for a while, but the rain couldn’t damper the hardy souls who braved the occasional downpour to encourage this legendary British band to “carry on” in the solid rock tradition.

The Moody Blues have come a long way since their early debut in the ‘60s as part of the British Invasion. Their sound changed considerably in 1967 when guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge assumed leadership and took the band off into the stratosphere of psychedelic expression and orchestral accompaniment.

Last night, the band took to the stage to the strains of “Nights in White Satin” and opened up a 90-minute, 15-song set with their 1969 hit appropriately titled “Lovely To See You,” then launched directly into a pair of recent tunes, 1981’s “Gemini Dream” and “The Voice.”

Hayward and Lodge are the main focus, but two founding members of the band — drummer Graeme Edge and flutist Ray Thomas — also contributed handily, especially Thomas’ solo turn on 1968’s “Legend Of A Mind.”

Legend Of A Mind/℗© Ray Thomas/ASCAP/YouTube

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The later addition of keyboardist Pat Moraz has also helped embellish and polish up older numbers such as the Moody Blues 1967 epic number “Nights in White Satin.” With its sweeping arrangement and Hayward’s impassioned vocal delivery, it was one of the highlights of the water-logged evening.

The band has lost none of their drive and it showed as they masterfully blended the old (1972’s “Isn’t Life Strange”) with the new, such as 1988’s “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.”

In an era where grandiose and bloated might be left in the past, the Moody Blues drew on their history and brought their audience along with them into the ‘90s.

The band certainly didn’t suffer in the visual department, as their light show held up in the rain. The addition of two women backup singers and an extra keyboardist brought the fullest potential out, even as bassist Lodge was strutting it up with the women on the 1972 song “I’m Just a Singer (In A Rock ‘n’ Roll Band).”

I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)/℗© Britico, GEMA Threshold Music, Ltd./YouTube

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As they ended the show with their encore “Ride My Seesaw,” the band showed they can still keep an audience immersed in their tidal wave of showmanship rock music.

The showers let up enough for openers The Redhouse to get in a decent set of clearheaded, hardy rock and pop.

Epilogue

Ray Thomas died on 4 January 2018, at the age of 76.

Graeme Edge died on 11 November 2021, at the age of 80.

The Moody Blues were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2018.

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