The Moody Blues
Tuesday, March 25
Hard Rock Live
The Moody Blues created an indelible imprint in the annals of classic rock, having gained a generation’s eternal affection. After their initial incarnation as a blues band – and an early hit called “Go Now”– they morphed into the leading purveyors of late ‘60s psychedelia, drawing on subjects spanning intergalactic exploration to the search for spirituality. No wonder then that they found a liberated, free-spirited adolescent following, one that absorbed their sound with the pungent smell of herbal ingestion filling many a dorm room and eagerly turned the Moodies’ music into a late night soundtrack for lysergic adventure and substance-induced exploration.
Even now, their albums – Days of Future Passed, In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream -- and more specifically, classic rock staples such as “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Nights In White Satin,” and “Ride My Seesaw” remain mainstays on classic rock radio and vivid reminders of that more innocent era.
Forty years on, the band’s main mission is one of nostalgia, certainly not unusual considering the role their peers play nowadays. The Who, Jethro Tull, even the Stones, find themselves playing to hordes of aging baby boomers still clinging to their days of freewheeling experimentation. So it was no surprise that when their current tour brought them to Hard Rock, it was an older audience that anxiously awaited, eager to relive days of youthful indulgence before they were forced to succumb to jobs, families and the humdrum responsibilities that accompany a begrudging maturity. It was somewhat appropriate that one of the lines from the spoken-word prelude to “Nights in White Satin” -- the one that suggests “senior citizens wish they were young” – actually garnered a hint of appreciative applause.
Like most of their contemporaries, the Moodies’ current incarnation reflects a diminished rank and file. Keyboardist Mike Pinder has long-since departed, as has flautist Ray Thomas, reportedly due to declining health. That leaves chief singer, songwriter and guitarist Justin Hayward, bassist, vocalist John Lodge and drummer Graeme Edge to carry on the legacy. They’re ably assisted by four support musicians on dueling flutes, a second drum kit, keyboards, guitar, percussion and back-up vocals -- all ably filling out the band’s sound and making the absence of Pinder and Thomas that much less noticeable. The audience certainly didn’t seem to mind that it was newer recruits playing those key instrumental roles, according the more familiar tunes repeated standing ovations and the Moodies themselves displays of effusive appreciation.
