Moody Blues 2017 Reunion Tour

Denny could appear as a "special guest" for the show's encore and the band could leave 'em with "Go Now".

 

The best thing Denny Laine did for the Moody Blues, was quit.

 

Personally I'll take Go Now over their subsequent output, though White Satin is pretty in a ponderous molasses tempo kind of way.

 

Enjoy. However, you won't find it here.

 

No thread crapping please.......

 

Any news on the 2017 reunion tour? Just listening a moment ago to "To Our Children's Children's Children", I think it would be awesome if Pinder would rejoin them in the studio for a new album, with Ray Thomas guesting on a couple of tracks.

 

Nothing so far. I think this is all a big pipe dream, myself. Lodge and Hayward seem to be focusing on their solo material at the moment. I think Hayward has too much of an ego / financial grip on the band to let this reunion ever happen, but we'll see.

 

His recent quote on his website about the session players he's working with now ("They are the best musicians I’ve ever played with on record or anywhere") is pretty telling. Maybe he's just trying to be a pitchman, but if he somehow thinks his current overly-slick stuff is better because of the musicians, it's pretty sad. It also indicates there would be little musical motivation to get the old crew back together.

IMHO, he has long ago lost the magic he once had. It's been 25 years since he released a new song that has moved me at all, and 35 years since the last solid Moodies/solo album (LDV, although Moving Mountains was OK).

 

Hayward's insistence on solo over MB and just using MB as a touring machine has made them irrelevant to me. I'll still buy his music, but it doesn't really get me excited like a Hayward and Lodge album would and certainly any kind of reunion album or tour or even live performance would. Lodge said he only made a solo album because he couldn't use the songs for the band as they are not actively recording. It would've been his preference though. So clearly this all lands squarely at the feet of Hayward who has expressed a complete lack of interest in recording as a band, oddly enough for commercial reasons, as if more people would rather buy his solo albums.

 

To be fair, if Hayward comes in with new songs, who's going to record the keyboards and drums? Grahame Edge can barely play, and the Moodies don't have an official keyboard player. I think Lodge is a perfectly fine bass player, but I think the Moodies as a recording entity would basically be two songwriters working with session musicians anyway.

Granted, I don't really understand the logic of doing a solo album instead of pairing it together with Lodge's solo album and calling it a Moodies record, but they're really not a "band" anymore.

 

sadly I must agree - Justin Hayward was such a great artist and seemed a really nice guy ....but as he's aged I get the impression his head has swollen

what was once a five piece perfectly balanced group...have long evolved into Justin's band !

The Moodies have became their own 'semi' tribute band (just the Hayward - Lodge songs), increasingly playing more and more on the 'core seven' nostalgia angle while their transformation into a 'sexed up' corporate act aimed chiefly at the female fans has been rather embarressing !

a young John Lodge wore a blue suit...then casual shirt and jeans ...now an elderly Lodge looks absurd in skin tight leather pants and open shirt etc - Jeez !

Justin's pin up boy days are long gone...yet they play on his 'sex appeal' to an embarressing degree

musically the band ground to a halt at the end of the 90's after pretty much a blank decade before that !

while never the same minus Mike Pinder...they were still pretty good as a band in the 80's and still did some at least half decent albums (I don't blame Patrick Moraz who added creative energy and urged that they keep a deeper musical style ) but then amid wistful songs of lost love etc the songwriting duly got patchier, mainly due to forever trying to be mega contemporary rather than play to the remaining group core strengths....

Ray Thomas lost interest well before he finally retired and Graeme Edge was er 'edged' out often replaced by drum programming after 1983....

they have kept the band going I feel chiefly as a guaranteed money spinner re tours and cruises etc and latterly both Justin and John have re-launched their solo careers presumably moving towards officially retiring the group name when Edge finally retires...

they might celebrate the 50th anniversary of DOFP tho' whether Ray Thomas health is up to even a cameo is questionable now, hopefully Ray and Mike may at least be included in a DOFP performance which could make a DVD/Blu Ray/CD release, we shall see

whatever Justin's rather unkind comments like; 'these session players are the GREATEST people I've ever worked with' and 'The Eighties - that is 'his Moodies' - were THE era for The Moodies' etc are no doubt aimed fully at today's concert fanbase not the sixties/seventies Moodies fans who rushed out to see them and bought the 'core seven' albums plus 'Blue Jays' etc...and enabled Justin and John to still have a concert act today ...and a treasured glorious past of classic recordings half of which - their songs - they can draw on to keep them in concert/cruises money today !

a curious legacy being perfomed to their 'childrens childrens children' in the audiences now !

 

It reminds me that "Long Distance Voyager" is up next on my playlist.

 

I do rate LDV and even 'Strange Times' both of which saw them being 'themselves' more not all mega modern and synthetic !

they could have given us at least a few more such Moodies studio albums with suitable Moodies styled songs in the years since (minus any weak 'filler' tracks) ...had they really been bothered

 

Yeah, I'd like both of their solo albums better with the other on it.

 

Yes, many musicians have a restless gene. Its in their blood,
I,m retired, but still enjoy doing my
Thing (retired engineer)
It's what I am .
No different for a musician
They were outstanding.

Still love question after all these years
The years roll away and i,m feeling groovy man .

 

This one (from Strange Times) is a beauty :

 

Definitely a favorite from that album.

 

Thanks for the memories ...

 

That Lodge album was an absolute snooze fest. However, Lodge has never been a strong solo artist in the first place. I think he works great when he has support, but clearly on his own he doesn't bring the magic.

Justin, on the other hand, does seem to think that more people are interested in his solo material at this point. Maybe he does have a point - maybe he feels more free to try things under his name rather than labeling it Moodies material. Maybe he really feels that the Moodies fanbase would not accept new material under that banner. Tough to say. It is an odd choice though, but obviously it's working for him. I personally like his solo material (including the new stuff) and the solo tour I saw him on last year was just fantastic, with songs you'd never hear the Moodies do on their traveling jukebox tribute tour.

At this point, I do think it's an ego trip and a balance of money on both ends of the spectrum as to why a) the Moodies will never record again and b) the reunion "tour" will never happen. I used to think it was a lack of creativity but now I'm not convinced --- I think Justin has just seized total control of the finances.

 

John Lodge brought out a few gems himself during his solo tour earlier this year.

If you take a look at December its unclear if John is even present on Justin's material. Stuff like Don't Need a Reindeer and December Snow. There's nothing distinctive about the bass and John isn't noticeable in the vocals if he's there at all. December Snow could've been on Spirits of the Western Sky. So maybe it wouldn't make much of a difference for Justin's material. I think John's material would benefit greatly from Justin's guitar work. But I agree....I think,Justin had seized control. He wants the money machine that is Moodies touring and to record by himself as a solo artist. So thats how it is.

 

Amazing their all still around.

Do a couple shows like the Cream reunion.

 

Exactly.

 

Pinder. Pinder. Pinder. or forego the whole thing...

 

One show, Royal Albert Hall, with orchestra. Part One, play the hits. Intermission. Part Two, perform Days Of Future Passed in its entirety.

Blu-Ray, Vinyl, CD, and download release.

Moody Blues children's children's children never have to work a day in their lives.

 

A lot of Hayward bashing in this thread from no one who could possibly be a qualified source. I think things are much more complicated than that.

I guess my question is if Hayward is in complete control of the Moody Blues why are they touring year after year with the same setlist? And the only time Hayward gets any creative freedom is when he goes out on his own?

It seems to me like he views the Moody Blues as an obligation that he wants to keep and likes to escape it from time to time with some solo adventures.

Hayward barely wants to say hello to the audience so the idea he thinks of himself as a sex symbol made me laugh.