Legendary Moody Blues bringing golden age of rock to Strathmore

Bassist John Lodge discusses the current mood of iconic rock band By Samantha Schmieder Special To The Gazette English rockers The Moody Blues will perform in concert on March 10-11 at the Music Center at Strathmore, allowing audiences to go back to the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll, if only for a night. Formed in the mid-1960s, The Moody Blues’ 2014 U.S. tour boasts three of their original members; Justin Hayward on guitar and vocals, Graeme Edge on drums and John Lodge on bass and vocals. For the nearly five decades they’ve been together, The Moody Blues have kept their fans happy with a consistent and unique sound that has helped them sell millions of albums worldwide. Lodge explained that touring now and touring in the early days of The Moody Blues is so extremely different that it’s difficult to even compare. He said that back then the band would go out, rent a U-Haul and a car and just play wherever they could. Now, the band has buses and trucks and an entire production team that helps to stage each show. “There was so much amateurism,” Lodge said. “It’s completely professional today.” Because they rely on a crew, including light and sound engineers, to produce their shows, the band can’t really stray from their set list when they’re up on stage. However, with so many songs and albums, it seems as if it would be near impossible to narrow them down to fit into one show. Lodge said that the band performs many different songs from many different albums, deciding upon the set list prior to each tour depending on their mood. There are particular songs, however, that they always make sure to include. “We try to put the concert together as though it is an album,” Lodge said. “It takes the audience through all different emotions and hopefully makes them come back.” Last summer, The Moody Blues released a box set of their albums, “Timeless Flight,” featuring previously un-released songs, live recordings, a book and DVDs. Though it was their record company’s idea to put it together, the band members approved each element. “I think they did a great job. I’m really proud of that box set,” Lodge said. Lodge said he’s also pleased with the Feb. 24 re-release of his 1977 solo album “Natural Avenue” – not only on CD, but also as a 180-gram vinyl. Lodge explained that listening to music on a record just makes it sound so much better. “Whether you like the music or not, the actual sound is just great,” Lodge said with a laugh, adding that he had not listened to the album in years and when he heard the final mix in the studio he though it sounded great. Lodge said it’s hard for him to pick a favorite song to perform because he likes so many of them for different reasons. He said that “Nights in White Satin” is great to play because it’s the single that started it all. He also enjoys “Isn’t Life Strange,” because “life is strange.” He explained that the audience doesn’t know what the artist has gone through that day to get to the venue to perform, but once the show starts and that energy level goes up, that’s what matters. “You just get an energy level from the audience,” Lodge said.