Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When the Moody Blues come to Liverpool, something magical seems to happen on stage that weaves its way through to the collective conscious of the audience and the spirit of the age. The  moment when the zeitgeist first took a firm grip on a group of lads from Birmingham, is seen once more as the three remaining members of one of the greatest bands to come from the second city give a towering performance that is both regal and befitting a crowd.

For Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge and John Lodge, it has been a long couple of years since they first walked back into the hearts of the Liverpool music lover’s hearts.  After the British dates are over, they will go back to America to once more show those across the pond that separates two cultures with a common devotion and worship that music from the U.K. is still the most sought after in the world.

It has been a season of some of the greats coming back to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and The Moody Blues are no exception as their talent is almost unrivalled except in their own city by the likes of The Move and E.L.O.  The set list that the three men and their outstanding supporting players perform will have at one time or another captured many of their fans hearts and with tracks such as The Voice, Steppin’ in a Side Zone, You and Me, the fantastic Tuesday Afternoon and Peak Hour making an appearance in the first half of the evening, whatever followed would have to be something from the very top draw to even match the intense feeling that was as visible as the atmospheric smoke drifting, clawing, its way through the first couple of rows.

Any doubts that may have started to well up in any of the audience members stomachs during the interval were soon banished like a tyrant king exposed by travelling troubadours as being a weak willed and easily dealt with. Images flashed across the back screen of the band in various epochs of the group’s history, giving more reasons for the crowd which to begin with had been respectfully quiet as each song played out, become more and more animated as they realised this wasn’t a dream, their favourite band and some of the most iconic music from that period and city really was being performed for them.

The second half of the show included classic songs such as The Story In Your Eyes, Higher and Higher, I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band), the poetic Late Lament, the exquisite and haunting Nights In White Satin, which as ever was captured perfectly by Justin Hayward and the outstanding Question.

The Moody Blues still retain that unmistakeable aura of a group who are incredibly professional even after nearly 50 years since they started the long road to being one of the finest and creative acts of the time. There are not many bands then as now that could pull of a piece of work as intricate and intoxicating as Days Of Future Passed without something being spoiled in the mix. Then that is The Moody Blues for you, highly skilled and much loved to the very end, the result was an excellent gig by one of the founding fathers of Midland’s rock.

Ian D. Hall