“Moody Blues” Review by Neil Glickman

[rating=4] Congratulations to the Moody Blues! It is hard to believe that it has been 45 years since the release of “Days of Future Past”, but it has. Now, the group is doing their tour celebrating this momentous anniversary and I was able to view them first-hand at the wonderful Venue located at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond,Indiana ( just over the border). What a perfect place to see and hear a concert. Great seats! Great sound! Great Sight lines! 50 years as a “rock band”! Hard to believe, but they began in 1962 and they are still a crowd pleaser.

The evening began with great fanfare as they came on stage…and were “smoking”. They began with “Gemni Dream” and you could feel John Lodge’s bass go right through your body. With that, the sold out audience began to feel the power of the music. To follow this, they chose “The Voice”,”Steppin’ in a Slide Zone” and “For You and Me”. From there, they went into selections from “The Days of the Future Past” album featuring “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Peak Hour”. They did 15 selections from their repertoire including “I Know You’re Dead Out There” and their big hit “The Story In Your Eyes” from their 1971 album “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor”. You can imagine te frenzy of the crowd at this point, but they were just getting warmed up ( as were we!).

The second half of the show had “”Your Wildest Dreams” to the very harmonic “Isn’t Life Strange”. The group went to its psychedelic roots with “Higher and Higher” then back to its rock base with “Singers in a Rock and Roll Band”.The spotlight then went to Justin Hayward as he did his magnificent rendition of “Nights in White Satin”. They finished the set with “Question”. As you might expect, the audience was not about to let them leave the stage, after all, they were really rocking. As an encore, we  were treated to their rock great “Ride My Seesaw”. The group’s music was flawless, never missing a beat. They were as sharp as I have ever heard them…every thump of the bass, every high note of the flute and the lead guitar never missed a note.While age has played a little with the vocal range of John Lodge and Justin Hayward, you could feel the inner emotion they expressed as they brought back these memorable hits. The fever pitch as just as high from the audience as well. The entire Venue was as one with “Nights in White Satin”.

The Moody Blues are known for their beautifully haunting background vocals and despite their ages, all seemed as days of the past. The light show complimented the evening’s performance as did the wonderful videos of the 60’s and 70’s.It is always a special moment to be able to re-live one’s past by attending a concert of this magnitude. You missed a great one. Keep an eye on the Venue at Horseshoe casino as they may return. The Venue has some great Vegas type shows and they are only a short ride from the “loop”