The Moody Blues John Lodge missed his show last year in The Villages for good reason – he suffered a stroke.
Lodge, 81, made it back Sunday for two sold out concerts in Savannah Center. He went tripping back to the days of future past on a symphonic, psychedelic, musical time machine.
“I’m glad to be here at last,” Lodge said early on. He looked the part of rock singer – wearing a white coat and black leather pants. “Last year I had a stroke and couldn’t make it. It’s good to be here now.”
The show featured a performance – including videos and spoken words — of the Moody Blues landmark album, “Days of Future Passed.” That record came in 1967, a golden year in rock music.
The Beatles led the way with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Performers such as Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Procol Harum, Jefferson Airplane and Pink Floyd joined in on music experimentation. The Moody Blues were heavily influenced by classical music, but they could also rock.
Lodge — together with his current 10,000 Light Years Band—came on strong with the opening number, “Steppin’ In a Slide Zone.”
His gait may be a little slow and his voice a bit weaker, but Lodge can still sell a song and set the pace for a concert that featured everything from the tender, hypnotic “Isn’t Life Strange,” to the rollicking “I’m Just a Singer In a Rock and Roll Band.” Jon Davison of the group YES, helped out on vocals and guitar.
Justin Hayward was best known as the lead singer of the Moody Blues. He joined the band in 1966. He, and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Lodge recalled how he formed the band when he was about 15 when he met Ray Thomas in Birmingham, England. Years later they would eventually form the Moody Blues.
“I remember we had some success in the early days and had a gig in England,” Lodge said. “We were supposed to be the headliners, but they told us another band would headline. That band was the Beatles, and they just had a hit with ‘Love Me Do.’”
Lodge and his band brought a real ‘60s vibe to Savannah Center on the soft rocker “Legend of a Mind.” It’s about LSD guru Timothy Leary. The lyrics tell us that old Tim has achieved some kind of immortality:
“Timothy Leary’s dead/No, no, no, no, he’s outside, looking in/He’ll fly his astral plane/Takes you trips around the bay/Brings you back the same day.”
Groovy.
The concert took a mind-bending and somewhat spiritual tone as the band played the “Days of Future Past” album in its entirety.
A video screen featured a spoken-word recording by the late Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues. Lodge also appeared in the video, along with a cosmic light show and nature scenes.
If you came of age in the ‘60s, it made sense. The music was lilting, comforting and rocking –sounding at times like a symphony and a rock band — which is why the album was so special.
Davison did justice to the vocals on “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin.” The band featured longtime Moody Blues tour regulars Alan Hewitt and Billy Ashbaugh. Also on stage: Duffy King and cellist Jason Charboneau.
Put them all together with Lodge and you may not have the Moody Blues. But the songs and the style capture the artistic meaning and context of the time when “Days of Future Past” was released. That’s a trip worth taking and remembering.
“We’re trying to keep this music alive,” John Lodge said. And he truly knows what it means to survive.
Tony Violanti writes about music and entertainment for Villages-News.com. He was inducted into The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame as a music journalist.