Moody Blues 50th Anniversary Tour

The Moodies are doing a brief North American tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the Days of Future Passed album from 1967 (their first album). So I bought two tickets, of course, knowing that I would need to find someone to take the second seat (Amp has been to a number of these shows with me over the years, but I have exceeded her limit at this point, and am well into "if you can find someone else who wants to go, please do" territory).

John, my other non-brother brother was happy enough to go, so on a beautiful mid-July day/evening, off we went to the Mann Music Center in Fairmount Park. The Mann is a great semi-outdoor covered amphitheater with a terrific view of the Philadelphia skyline. I have great memories of shows at this venue, including my only Dire Straits concert (c. 1985/86), two different Moodies shows (including a probable 1983 show for "The Present" album), and a Mark Knopfler solo show in 2008.

Mann Music Center and Philly skyline

The show was to be in two parts, with a "greatest hits" set followed by an intermission, followed by the Days of Future Passed album played in its entirety.

I could gush at length, but the short version is that I got to see my favorite band (for the ??? time; probably 12-15 or so...) with my best and oldest friend in perhaps my favorite venue. It's hard to top that. And for a bunch of ~70 year olds, they sounded pretty darn good. For someone who has seen them so many times over the years, seeing them do some of the DoFP songs live, songs that they haven't done live since the 1960's, was pretty special.

A good day. A very good day.

I've linked some videos below, but if you search for Moody Blues 7/15/17 you can find multiple versions of most songs from the whole show...

Set List:

1. I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)
2. The Voice
3. Stepping in a Slide Zone
4. Say It With Love
5. Nervous
6. Your Wildest Dreams
7. Isn't Life Strange
8. I Know You're Out There Somewhere
9. The Story in Your Eyes
10. (Intermission)
11. Days of Future Passed album in its entirety
12. Encore: Question and Ride My See Saw

Opening number:

I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)

I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)

Resurrecting the 1960's:

Dawn is a Feeling

Dawn is a Feeling

My happy place:

Nights in White Satin (with Jeremy Irons)

Nights in White Satin

End of show encore (normally the pre-encore exit song, and the encore):

Question and Ride My See Saw.

Question

Good stuff. And thanks John.

Justin Hayward Solo Tour - 5/20/14 - Wilmington DE

Tuesday evening was another fabulous Justin Hayward solo show at the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington. Or perhaps Tuesday (very late) Afternoon if you prefer...

This tour is basically another small batch of shows in support of Justin's 2013 album Spirits of the Western Sky, wedged in between Moody Blues tours. After a Moodies spring tour leg, this show was the sixth in eight days (out of I don't know how many planned in total...). My write up of the August 5, 2013 show is here, and I won't repeat everything that I wrote there, as much/most of the same still applies. This time around we were in the second row of the balcony instead of the first. Brother Dave's Darling Wife and a friend were there again as well.

The backing band this time consisted of only two people, Mike Dawes on acoustic and electric guitars (and percussion on the guitar body), and the hyper-talented Julie Ragins on backing vocals, keyboards (bass parts with the left hand) and percussion. Alan Hewitt, the Moodies keyboard player, was not here this time around. This minimalist setup produced an amazing amount of good clear sound, and everyone sounded terrific.

Same as last time, Mike Dawes opened with a set of four songs by himself, and I was just as amazed this time around. You have to see this guy to believe it... Boogie Shred. And here is 10 minutes of his very first American performance opening for the first Justin show August 2, 2013... I know he did Boogie Shred, The Impossible, and Someone That I Used to Know. I think the fourth song may have been Somewhere Home, but I'm not sure.

Following a 20 minute break (to force a run up of the bar tab I think), Justin came out and played for about 90 minutes, doing 14 songs plus one more for an encore.

Set List: (links are to YouTube videos of the exact performance we saw)

1. Tuesday Afternoon
2. It's Up to You
3. Lovely to See You
4. In Your Blue Eyes (SofWS)
5. The Western Sky (SofWS)
6. I Dreamed Last Night
7. In the Beginning (SofWS)
8. One Day, Someday (SofWS)
9. The Eastern Sun (SofWS)
10. What You Resist Persists (SofWS)
11. Your Wildest Dreams
12. Forever Autumn (as an esoteric aside that Brother Dave might appreciate, the cutaway guitar in this is a James A. Olson handmade custom one of kind, prices starting at $12,000 and going up from there...)
13. Question
14. Nights in White Satin
15. I Know You're Out There Somewhere [Encore]

Someone had posted a set list on SetList from one of the shows a week or so before, and it was exactly this show, but with New Horizons after I Dreamed Last Night. We didn't get New Horizons, which was a mild disappointment, but at least it wasn't I Dreamed Last Night that got dropped. In all of the dozen-plus times I have seen the Moodies or Justin, I had never seen that one live (to my recollection).
It is a beautiful song recorded on the Blue Jays album that Justin did with fellow Moodie John Lodge (while the band was on a multi-year hiatus in the mid 70's). The set list was almost identical to last year's, with only two changes (Land of Make Believe and It's Cold Outside of Your Heart out, and I Dreamed Last Night and What You Resist Persists in).

Anyway...seeing my idol in a small theater setting like this is a slice of heaven. I'd pay the ticket price for Forever Autumn alone. Or any one of a number of other songs for that matter... There is nothing like a small venue like this. Justin was telling stories, interacting with the audience, and seemed to be having a great time. As was I.

Following the show, Julie and Mike were at a table in the lobby signing autographs, so I bought a CD of each of their solo work and had them signed. So in addition to memories, I have some souvenirs (and the CDs are really good too).

Fanboy 2014

Happy happy. I am in pre-concert prep mode as my top musical idol, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, is set to come to the World Cafe Live at the Queen this week, and I will be there (of course). Amp and I saw him at the same place last August (blog post is here), and it was a great little venue to see a show.

It doesn't matter that Justin is closing in on 70 years old. He always puts on a great show, and I relish every chance to see him while he is still touring, whether it be with the Moodies, or in a solo show like this.

I expect that the show will be similar to what we saw last summer, since he is apparently touring with the same three other musicians.

A few clips I have found while doing my "prep work":

• August 9, 2013 (solo) - It's Up to You and Lovely to See You medley.
• The Voice (2007, with the Moodies)
• The Story in Your Eyes at the same show (the perfect song...)
• Justin and Norda Mullen doing Voices in the Sky on the Moodies cruise.
• Last but not least, a very young Justin with the Moodies at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 (bigger than Woodstock). Gypsy at 20 minutes. Question at 38 minutes. Nights in White Satin at 55 minutes.

Ah, to be young again....

The Musical Box - Selling England by the Pound

I had a fun but partly surreal experience last night. My good friend Anthony is a huge Genesis fan from back in the day, and he has told me about a group called The Musical Box, which is a Genesis tribute band. At one point back in the Fall, I saw that they were coming to the Grand Opera in Wilmington and so I bought two tickets for he and I. I got the tickets online right when they went on sale, and pretty much could have had my pick of the house, so I took the center two seats of the first row of the balcony (this is a small theater, and the balcony is right near the stage).

So last night we drove down to Wilmington and watched Genesis perform the Selling England by the Pound tour show in 1974. Or we saw The Musical Box (TMB) perform the show in 2014. One or the other. Frankly, at times, it was hard to tell. The whole schtick of TMB (and they are quite famous at this) is that they recreate early-era Genesis tour shows, with the band's blessing, down to the stage decorations, hair styles, costumes, instruments and the video shown on the screens behind the stage.

For all intents and purposes, the show I saw last night was the Genesis show from that tour in 1974. They looked like them, sounded like them, played the same set, acted like them, and looked suitably retro (vintage or vintage looking instruments, old style amp systems etc). Peter Gabriel was the lead singer back in that era, and the lead singer looked passably enough like Gabriel, and sounded just like him. Gabriel was apparently a bit of an oddball (being generous here), and was famous for loads of costume changes between and during songs, whacky spoken song introductions, and a compelling (if peculiar) stage presence. This guy had all that. It was fun. The musicianship was excellent, and while only a couple of the songs sounded even vaguely familiar, it was a very good time. Not everyone likes progressive rock of that era, with the long meandering songs, etc, but I do. Maybe 23 minutes of "Supper's Ready" wouldn't be everyones' cup of tea, but it didn't phase me at all.

The band in that era was Peter Gabriel singing, Phil Collins on drums, Tony Banks on keyboards, Mike Rutherford on bass and guitars (12 string and 6 string acoustics, electrics, and a lot of time spent on a double-neck bass and guitar combo), and Steve Hackett on lead guitar. The Genesis most well known to people in the early MTV years was the "and then there were three" bunch of Collins, Rutherford and Banks.

Two hours of something different, something that I probably wouldn't have gone to if not prompted by a friend, but that I enjoyed very much, is a good start to the concert going season of 2014.

Next up - Justin Hayward's solo tour returns to the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington in May, and Amp and I will be in the balcony again...

Justin Hayward Solo Tour, 2013

Justin Hayward in Concert at the World Cafe Live at the Queen, Monday 8/5/2013

Justin Hayward from my seat... not zoomed 

I have had a good run of live music over the past couple of years, but I can honestly say that I have never in my life looked forward to a concert as much as the one I saw last night - Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues touring solo and acoustic in support of his new solo album Spirits of the Western Sky. Justin is my favorite musician of all time, and the opportunity to see him in a place as intimate as we did was something that I never thought I would get to experience. The World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington Delaware is a tiny place that seats maybe 300-400 people on a ground level and a small balcony. When buying the tickets a few months ago, I logged onto the ticket website as they were going on sale and got two seats in the center of the first balcony row. We were literally on top of the stage. It turns out brother Dave and his Darling Wife also had tickets, and sat a one row back and to our left. She is almost as big a Justin Hayward fan as me. Almost.

The band was Alan Hewitt on keyboards, Julie Ragins on keyboards and backing vocals, and Mike Dawes on guitars. Hewitt and Ragins have been part of the Moodies backing band the last few tours. Dawes was a new one for me, and a spectacular guitarist in his own right. He opened the show on his own and played four songs, similar in style to Andy McKee who Dave and I saw open for Eric Johnson a couple years ago. Amazing.

I have to admit that after a not-so-satisfying Moodies show last fall in Atlantic City, I had doubts as to whether Justin could perform well live anymore (he is 66 years old after all). In that show, they skipped songs on the set list and Justin seemed to struggle throughout the show. After seeing this, I am willing to chalk that up to an off night or an illness. In this set of 5 songs from the new solo album and 11 Moodies songs, Justin was simply terrific. It was wonderful to see some of these classic old songs in acoustic arrangements in such a small venue. Of the songs they did, despite having attended over a dozen Moodies shows, I am pretty sure I have never seen It's Up to You, The Land of Make-Believe, or It's Cold Outside of Your Heart. After that many shows, seeing an old chestnut that I have not seen live before is a special treat.

The exact set list is below, and courtesy of the omni-present iPhones, links to either the exact performances we saw in Wilmington or other shows on the same tour are given. Solo songs from the new album are noted "SotWS", and Moodies songs are noted with the album and year.

Set List:

• Tuesday Afternoon, or, to be precise... Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) (MB, Days of Future Passed, 1967)
• It's Up to You (MB, A Question of Balance, 1970)
• Lovely to See You (MB, On the Threshold of a Dream, 1969)
• In Your Blue Eyes (SotWS, 2013) [Taylor 12 string]
• The Western Sky (SotWS, 2013)
• The Land of Make-Believe (MB, Seventh Sojourn, 1972)
• New Horizons (MB, Seventh Sojourn, 1972)
• In the Beginning (SotWS, 2013)
• One Day, Someday (SotWS, 2013)
• The Eastern Sun (SotWS, 2013)
• It's Cold Outside of Your Heart (MB, The Present, 1983)
• Your Wildest Dreams (MB, The Other Side of Life, 1986)
• Forever Autumn (Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds project)
• Question (MB, A Question of Balance, 1970)
• Nights in White Satin (MB, Days of Future Passed, 1967)
• (Encore) I Know You're Out There Somewhere (MB, Sur la Mer, 1988)

There is a backstage clip of an Interview here, where Justin talks about future tour possibilities as well as some of the guitars used in the show.

We did have one funny experience as we were leaving the balcony area after the show. We walked out into the hallway to catch the elevator to the ground level, and ran into Mike Dawes and Julie Ragins in the hallway. They looked confused as to where they were going, turning this way and that. Mike said "I think it's over here...". As they came around the corner to the elevator, the doors closed in their faces. Julie Ragins muttered "Aww f&*$ing Hell". I said "Welcome to Wilmington". She turned and smiled, and they walked off down the hallway...

There isn't much more that I can say about the show, other than that as I write this a week or so after the fact, I am still basking in the afterglow of a fantastic concert by my favorite artist.

Justin Hayward Solo Tour, 2013

I saw a post on Facebook a few days ago where my sister-in-law had commented on Justin Hayward coming to Wilmington this summer on a solo tour in support of his recently released new album Spirits of the Western Sky. I'm glad she did, because this was news to me, and tickets were scheduled to go on sale at noon today.

He is playing at the World Cafe Live at the Queen, which seems to be a very small theater/club. Judging from the seating chart, it seats maybe 350 people, and has bars, waitress service, food, etc... According to their web site, the Balcony area is considered the premium seating, at least in terms of amenities.

This is a "must-go at any cost" event for me, so I logged on, stalked the website until noon, and got amazing tickets at an amazing price ($118 total including all fees and surcharges for the pair). Amp and I will be sitting in the center two seats of the first row of the Balcony. If the seating diagram is to scale, this would put us right above the front of the tables on the floor level, making it about 10 rows from the stage. The website allowed you to click on what was currently available on a seating chart and select exactly what you wanted, much like registering for airline seating these days, and these were my first choice. In retrospect, I wonder what if anything would have been available in the very first row, but I am not going to second guess myself - I got in, staked my claim where I wanted to be, and got my first choice. Hard to argue with that. Looking at tickets now at about 1:00pm, most seats are gone...

I am excited beyond belief at the thought of seeing my musical hero in such a small and intimate setting. One of my favorite concert DVDs ever is of Hayward in San Juan Capistrano perhaps 15 years ago, where he does a mix of Moodies and solo music, acoustic and electric, sometimes with a band of 3 or 4, and sometimes alone on stage. I would imagine this will be at least somewhat like that. I can't wait!