Moody Blues 2017 Reunion Tour

I'm seeing them on Wednesday. Just going to appreciate it for what it is. What a missed opportunity that Mike isn't involved. I think seeing him on stage with a mellotron in 2017 would have blown a lot of minds and reminded people just how innovative of a band they were.

 

The Moodies have only themselves to blame re the situation regarding Patrick Moraz

Patrick was invited in by them for the 'Octave' tour at VERY short notice and gave them a creative 'shot in the arm' just when they needed it - and added both a more contemporary keyboard sound whilst carefully retaining the 'symphonic wave' to their music, which was his own sound but duly acknowledging fully the famous Mike Pinder style of a 'classical' stance but with a sci fi angle to it on the new material notably 'The Voice', 'Meanwhile', 'Blue World', 'Once Upon A Time'/'Your Wildest Dream', 'Vintage Wine', 'Deep' etc - while in concerts Moraz almost 100% duplicated exactly how Mike had played on the older songs (keeping it faithfully to the classic Moodies sound - 'Nights in White Satin', 'Tuesday Afternoon' etc)


THEY got Patrick in on an inflated contract and THEY very much presented Patrick as being a proper 'fifth Moodie' in summer 1978 - they included him in all band photos with all smiling happily and credited him AS a full band member on four studio albums over 1981-1988 plus he is fully credited along with the classic five Moodies in the 'Legend of A Band' video/DVD too

and the Wembley 1984 concert screened by BBC TV includes Moraz credited as a full band member (even if legally he was a 'hired gun' for them)

over time it appears they began to realise they were overpaying him and wanted to cut him loose thus first brought in Bias Boshell as second 'sideman' keyboardist (which understandably upset Moraz)

then after Moraz had moved to the West Coast of the USA they summond him to UK to play on a John Lodge song 'Magic' - and left him sitting all afternoon waiting to be called into the studio !

earlier they had quietly 'officially' ousted Mike Pinder from the band - tho' Mike had himself walked out during the 'Octave' sessions so he can't really have been surprised - but neither side acted very well then and they should have sorted things out clearly and properly (which might have avoided Pinder's legal action against them)

later it seems they did likewise re Moraz dropping him once they had got Boshell onboard and used Moraz magazine comments as the excuse to dismiss him (Moraz claimed he wanted to help with the songwriting and urged them to keep the music 'deeper' and more album orientated - they only used just the one co-write of his 'The Spirit' on TOSOL album and about 30 seconds of his uncredited instrumental intro to 'The Voice' on LDV)

they actually badly needed additional creative input in the 80's after Pinder departed - several of those run of the mill 'Hayward-Lodge' songs were blatant 'fillers' on albums (Justin has admitted that since) - but it seems they wanted to keep the songwriting (and the royalties) very much 'in house'

BUT by overpaying Moraz and getting him in on a contract much to his advantage....then presenting him to their public as a FULL 'Moodie' in 1978 they created the situation themselves that came back to 'bite 'em in the butt'...on Court TV (where no one came across very well)

hardly 'enlightened spiritual pondering our place in the universe and creation' stuff....eh ?

hence today they FIRMLY present their 'sidemen' and 'sidewomen' as very much being just that (tho' Norda Mullen contributes a lot musically, and the second drummer really holds up Graeme Edge !)!

it's a pity they were not as enlightened re their band member relationships as their classic music was...such a shame !

 

^ Thank you so much for that post on Moodies history, Billo.

If I'm being honest, I still haven't completely forgiven the Moodies for firing Moraz and then the way they handled it, post firing. Yuck!

Like a rock, (John) Lodge will roll over you!

 

Oh dear!

 

I saw them in Toronto last week. The show was being filmed. Justin and John were in top form, and by the time they got to 'Question', I was floating. Yes, the first half of the show had a flat kind of set list (though 'Say It With Love' was surprisingly excellent), but the 'Days...' second half was wondrous. Maybe because of the cameras, Justin brought his 'A' game.

 

I'm very glad that Graeme is healthy enough to be there, and he looks healthy and happy. Sad to say though, he is drumming less than ever before. He used brushes for most of the set-- so most of what he played wasn't even audible--and didn't play "lead" drums on the older numbers as before. Not one of his trademark fills was played by him.

My verdict on the show was that the newly added songs (Nervous and most of the Days) were the best latter-day performances I've seen from the band; adding newly rehearsed songs seemed to engage them quite a bit; and there's no denying how moving Days still sounds when played in full. Very little apparent enthusiasm on the "greatest hits" though.

 

I understand Graeme suffered a stroke a while back and it left him with a speech problem (hopefully improving all the time) thus they got in Jeremy Irons to narrate the two DOFP poems - tho' why they couldn't use Mike Pinder's original recitation is beyond me (which at least would have 'featured' Mike even if he's not a part of the actual group performance on this tour)

maybe it's a legal thing with an eye on any 'performing royalties' ? (tho' Mike and Ray should get royalties from their DOFP songs being performed in any hopefully forthcoming DVD / Blu Ray release of the filmed concerts)

we know Ray's health is sadly not what it once was too so it's no surprise he's not involved

I have no problem with Justin and John singing Mike and Ray's songs - they did a great acoustic version of Mike's 'Melancholy Man' with Graeme then narrating parts and Justin singing on that cruise - but I don't think Jeremy Irons 'floating head' and voice is a very clever idea...

I see John Lodge is hoping to do a solo USA tour after this DOFP tour ends, and I would expect Justin and John to both go solo after Graeme retires, which can't be too far off now ?

 

I attended the 50th DOFP show at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel this past Thursday. (5th Row seats) and while I agree with many that it's mainly just a vehicle for Justin and John to see this album performed in its entirety was amazing. Lodge did a serviceable job on the Thomas vocals (Another Morning). I do get the feeling that they are on auto pilot but they enjoy themselves and they play the music very well. This was the 3rd time I have seen them in the last 3 years.

 

I saw them at few days ago at Jones Beach, Wantagh NY. Not a yuge fan but I have most of their 1960s/early 1970s albums and saw them around 1983 with Stevie Ray Vaughn opening. 50 minute first half with announced 20 minute break that turned into a 45 minute break because of a thunderstorm. But it cleared and they did DOFP and a couple other songs. I refuse to have a hissy fit because they got Jetemy Irons to narrate. Some parts, especially early on, seemed liked they were miming to records; while much of the rest was pretty good. Lots of old folks there; looked like they emptied the nursing homes for this one. But I enjoyed it and at the end of the day, that is a good thing.

 

i am huge MB's fan but i think their day has passed...I saw them several years ago at radio city in NYC and thought they were awful,worn and without energy and i cant imagine things have got better as the years have gone on.....shame but time passes everybody by...did anyone expect rockers to be playing into their 70s and beyond?

 

But they aren't just rockers. They are veteran cosmic rockers. A very different thing, with different rules.

 

John Lodge carried the show I saw at Jones Beach. Justin looked bored and spent most of the time staring into space. He can still deliver a quality vocal however. Not sure what purpose Graeme served other than being some kind of mascot. (I know how awful that sounds.) The last time I saw them was at the same venue during the Sur La Mer tour. With Ray out of the picture and Graeme reduced to stage prop, I can't say that it felt much like a Moody Blues show. I know I'm beating a dead horse here but they should have gotten Mike involved and taken more risks with the setlist.

 

I love the classic Moodies material, but I honestly cannot believe they are still touring.

 

I think that Mike lives in Sacramento. I'm surprised he didn't play with them when they were in Sac last time.

 

Justin and John are younger than the other Moodies and seem to be in pretty good shape?

 

They're not going to get any younger.With the ever ticking clock most of the participants only have ten or fifteen years to go.

 

I don't think anybody on here is having a 'hissy fit' (silly term) that Jeremy Irons is doing the poems narration at all

- just perhaps are surprised and disappointed they didn't bother to either invite Mike Pinder along to maybe do just the ONE DOFP concert show with them and orchestra (recorded for DVD/Blu Ray/CD perhaps ?) or at the very least use Mike's original 1967 narration which would be more authentic and appear to involve Pinder in the show - which would have been a nice touch and pleased their older fans a lot I'm sure (and would have boosted interest in the show even more)

John Lodge DID hint he at least wanted to do that a while back, and he had both Ray and Mike guest with him on one song on his recent solo album - the first time the three of them played together (even if overdubbed) since 'Octave' in 1978...

however I do wonder if maybe some of the other band members didn't want Mike to be involved ? (re more royalties etc - or possibly getting too much attention from delighted older fans and curiosity re the 'Lost Moodie' from those 80's fans that Justin is apparently forever so taken with who only know the 'other singing and narrating voice and symphonic keyboard sound' from the older Moodies albums they later went and got... ?)

while it's perfectly possible Mike wasn't interested in doing it anyway of course...!

it appears there was more 'Alpha Males' attitude in the group than many of us would have believed going by their 'core seven' albums music which suggested the complete opposite

I've got the impression (chiefly from the Moraz court case on TV) that the 'veteran cosmic rockers' have over time gradually morphed into a VERY 'corporate' package since Pinder's era - in fact Mike once said he wasn't happy how they were when they reunited in 1978, one 'non musical' reason he walked from the band was because attitudes had changed a lot as some had become very 'sharp businessmen' over the seventies years they had been apart which was not to Mike's taste at all re creativity etc...

and re the 'corporate package' angle if you belong to their website you get continually showered with corporate offers re tee-shirts, posters, mugs, key rings, etc ....while Justin and John (in their seventies now I believe) have been 'sexed up' into items for presumably female lust (!) - John in open shirt and skin tight black pants 'wiggling his Tush' etc (groan !) which is amusing to me as even back in the sixties as young guys they never portrayed themselves as 'pin up' figures !!!

it's all a part of the corporate image....

while from that Moraz court case it looked as if something of a power play had occurred on a business level within the band 'Post Pinder' era and by the 80's it was VERY MUCH Justin's band - on a Moodies forum there has been talk that John and Justin have gradually grown apart over the years (with Ray now also long gone, and Graeme largely just a 'token Moodie' now) and their concert show is a very 'rehearsed' procedure thing between Hayward and Lodge (??)

Justin apparently shows MUCH more enthusiasm and indeed open pleasure for his solo shows - and this might explain why some feel he now looks 'bored' in some Moodies concerts as if on auto pilot etc (not always I'm sure but I read these online reports increasingly from various concert goers now)

I do wonder if for Justin 'The Moodies' are now actually something of an albatross around his neck....something he feels obliged to serve up to the public, and to gain financially of course with guaranteed tours and cruises etc, plus not wanting to let either Edge, Lodge, or the touring support group down...when in truth Hayward might be longing to go fully solo ?

John is already speaking of hoping to do a USA solo tour after this DOFP tour ends too.......

so ' The Moody Blues' days of future...might be soon passed !

 

My disappointment with the current tour led me to write a fantasy version of how I think they should have done it. Please share yours. I'm sure anything you guys come up with is better than what they've given us. It's a frivolous exercise but who cares.

Days of Future Passed 50th Anniversary Tour
Featuring Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge

1. Gypsy (Justin)
2. Lost in a Lost World (Mike)
3. Ride My See Saw
Ray tribute
4. Legend of a Mind (Mike, Justin, John)
5. Eyes of a Child (John)
6. The Story in Your Eyes (Justin)
7. Melancholy Man (Mike)
8. Tortoise and the Hare (John)
9. New Horizons (Justin)
10. Isn't Life Strange (John)
Intermission
11. The Day Begins (Mike, narrator)
12. Dawn Is A Feeling (Justin, Mike)
13. Another Morning (John)
14. Peak Hour (John)
15. Tuesday Afternoon (Justin)
16. Time to Get Away (John)
17. The Sunset (Mike)
18. Nights In White Satin (Justin)/Late Lament (Mike, narrator)
Encore
19. Question (Justin)
20. When You're A Free Man (Mike)
21. I'm Just A Singer
Recording of "Go Now" plays as crowd exits

 

That would have been interesting, spectacular and worthwhile.
A missed opportunity indeed..

 

I'd say that this was probably the last shot at anything approaching a reunion. If not for for this, if not now, then probably never. Time to put those dreams to bed.

 

Unless a hall of fame induction ever comes about, but they've never even been nominated plus the clock is ticking on these guys.

 

..........Graeme Edge

The mascot for the (moody) blue jays.

 

Yeah, I started it, and it wasn't a hissy fit. I enjoyed myself, and in that post recommended it to people who were up for it. I also don't have any strong feelings about woulda/shoulda, but I thought what they did was poorly conceived and poorly executed. It was amateur-ish, just like their approach to using stock footage straight off the shelf.

The irony is that they could have had a contest -- submit your video for a song on DOFP, first prize is that we use it on the tour. I know VFX artists, animators, artists of every stripe who've fallen over themselves for less. The Moodies would have been inundated with creative, impassioned choices rooted in the actual material, unlike the generic stuff they chose.

There was no miming when I saw them. For the first number, the band wasn't even on the stage. They came out after the song was over. During Late Lament, they just stood more or less at parade rest. They weren't even pretending to play. They just stood there. The woman who plays the flute (sorry, I forget her name) was the only one who seemed to be listening, rather than just waiting for her next cue.

Hey, nobody says they have to bring an orchestra on every stop, or go through whatever expense to load up a bank of keyboards to replicate the orchestra. Fine. Play the tape. But that really did make it even weirder that they not PLAY THE TAPE when it came to the narration, ie, just play the version on the record. Yeah, I get it, Mike's not in the band anymore, so if somebody performs it live, it needs to be somebody on the stage. I'm sorry Graeme's not currently up to it as on recent tours. But if you're playing the 1967 orchestral tracks, why not play the 1967 narration? It made no sense.

Then for Jeremy to bounce around the screen with no rhyme or reason -- amateur-ish isn't even the word. If your kid submitted that to her junior high media studies class, she'd have gotten a gentle but firm reminder about avoiding jump cuts that the class covered in the first week of 8th grade, and told to do it again.

Hissy about Jeremy? No. Mocking about how poorly done all the visuals were and a good bit of the planning was? Yes. The further I get from it, the more I'm struck by how little care seemed to be taken with the basics of the presentation. I'm exasperated by how easy it would have been to do something special, or at least nice, for a lot less than what they spent.

But sure, Justin sounds terrific, I got a kick out of John's energy, the crowd was 100000% into it, no harm no foul. They sold out the show I saw, and I bet they sell out the next dozen they do here. Nothing to get worked up about.

 

Tim,
I think you make some very good points here re: presentation.
(I've only seen youtubes of the show, and the background images as you stated are bland.)
Definitely a lack in creative consulting.
The flautist is Norda Mullen.

 

Hayward is the youngest of the classic 7 lineup at age 70. I'm not sure what expectations fans have of classic rock era musicians performing today. Frankly, I'd rather sit at home and listen to the records.