100 Concerts / Concert #9

Headline Act: The Moody Blues

Touring Album:The Other Side Of Life

Opening Act: The Fixx

Date: October 1, 1986

Venue: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, FL
Ticket price:  $16.00

"Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, he's outside, looking in." 

"Legend Of A Mind" (quoted above) is a 1968 song by the Moody Blues. It's a beautiful, dramatic, trippy song inspired by the LSD guru once described by President Nixon as "the most dangerous man in America".  Like Leary then, the Moody Blues are still outside, looking in. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has yet to induct them; I think that's a travesty.

"Go Now" was a #1 single in the UK in 1964.

Before developing their signature sound, they began their career in the early '60s as an R&B-based group, like their contemporaries, The The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Kinks. The guys in the Moody Blues didn't have the outrageous behavior of Keith Moon, the drug-using reputation of Keith Richards or the charismatic leadership of Freddie Mercury. Perhaps it's their lack of controversy or notable front man that has left them unrecognized by the Hall, because their exclusion doesn't make sense to me.

With a variety of different lineups, they have recorded 16 albums, including a remarkably inventive 8-LP run from '65 to '72.  The most notable creation from this era ,"Days Of Future Passed", is a true classic. Not only was it one of the first concept albums in rock history, it was also innovative by combining rock with classical orchestration from the London Festival Orchestra. The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and countless other bands have included orchestral arrangements in their music, but The Moody Blues were the first to make it a major part of their sound.

"Days Of Future Passed" was also innovative in its use of extended passages of spoken poetry from drummer Graeme Edge, voiced with Shakespearean eloquence on the LP by keyboardist Mike Pinder. The album's climax, "Nights In White Satin", is followed by "Late Lament" which concludes with the dramatic strike of a gong. This album was creative, daring, and brilliant.

Late Lament

 Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day's useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold-hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colors from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white.
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion.

"Days Of Future Passed" (1967), a true masterpiece and a really cool album cover.

As a freshman at the University of Florida in 1985-86, I spent countless hours in the basement dorm room of my buddies Dave and Mike. We would hunker down late at night, blow off some steam after studying and listen to a lot of cassette tapes.  Along with Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, we listened to a ton of Moody Blues. Their early albums were layered with haunting harmonies ("Voices In The Sky") and well-crafted songs that built the framework for sophisticated albums. Maybe it was just our impressionable college freshmen minds (and altered states), but we viewed The Moodies as an elegant, thoughtful band with exquisitely produced music.

The Ocean Center, Daytona Beach

Gainesville, a true college town, did not get a lot of major artists passing through for concerts. Fortunately, we were only a short drive from Tampa, Orlando, and for this show, Daytona Beach.  We made the trek to the Ocean Center, just a stoner's throw from the Atlantic Ocean.

The opening act was Ned Beatty, uh, The Fixx (see my previous post on The Police concert for an explanation). We were there only to see the aging British hippies who looked more like a group of professors than rock musicians.  As expected, they delivered an excellent career-spanning set, buoyed in part by their '80s hits, "The Other Side Of Life" and "Your Wildest Dreams". The latter was a #1 single on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. A couple years later they had another hit, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere". The new songs may not have been their career peak, but they did help reach a new generation of fans. At the very least, the new music reminded their older fans they were still alive and well.

1986: Professors or rock band? You decide.

Though they seemed to us to be old men in 1986, the members of the Moody Blues were only in their mid-forties. They've released just 4 more albums in the decades since that show, the most recent in 2003. As I write this in Spring 2012, they are still touring, still performing, still telling their stories. Ray Thomas, now 71, was one of the group's founding members. He retired in 2002.  Graeme Edge, another founding member who is still touring, will be 71 this year. Also still on tour are long-time Moodies John Lodge (67 this year) and Justin Hawyard (66). They may not be enshrined yet in Cleveland, but they've certainly become the very thing they sang about in 1981, Veteran Cosmic Rockers.

Unofficial setlist: Gemini Dream, The Voice, Rock And Roll Over You, Tuesday Afternoon, Your Wildest Dreams, Isn't Life Strange, The Story In Your Eyes, It May Be A Fire, Painted Smile, Reflective Smile, Veteran Cosmic Rocker (Intermission) New Horizons, Talking Out Of Turn, The Other Side Of Life, I'm Just A Singer, Nights In White Satin. Legend Of A Mind, Question, (Encore) Ride My See-Saw