The Moody Blues

Before this past Sunday night, I wouldn't have been able to name off one Moody Blues song, even if my life depended on it. I had heard of this English band from Birmingham, but just wasn't familiar with their albums. So when my husband and I were invited to see them in concert we figured, "What the heck? It might be fun." I pretty much like all types of music, except for hard-core heavy metal, so I thought that it couldn't be that bad.

After seeing the group, I now feel that it is sometimes more fun to go to a concert where you don't know the band than it is to go to see your all-time favorites perform (sometimes, not always). Why? Because of expectations--with a band you don't know, you have essentially have none. So there's a good chance you may be pleasantly surprised. Whereas when you see an artist or group that you love, if they don't play your favorite song, you will be mad. Or if they arrange a song slightly differently than how you've grown used to it on the radio, you might be annoyed. Or if they don't sound as perfect as they do on their CD, you may be really disturbed. But you don't have to worry about any of that if you don't know the songs or the band's performing style in the first place!

I actually did recognize two of the Moody Blues' songs: 1) "Knights in White Satin," which I never liked and actually thought Neil Diamond sang, and 2) "In Your Wildest Dreams," which I also never liked and thought Mike & the Mechanics sang. You may remember that one from the height of the 80s, cheesy video and all (below):

The song I DID really dig, however, was called "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," and it has the kind of chorus that you immediately pick up--it's just catchy. I am still singing it two days later, so I just bought it on iTunes. It turns out the video for this song is somewhat of a continuation of the video for "In Your Wildest Dreams." (If you just want to hear the chorus, forward to the one-minute mark.)



Anyway, the guys (and two women on back-up vocals who also played instruments) did put on a good concert and I really enjoyed it. I also appreciated the old-school light show they had--I almost forgot that's what all concerts used to have for effects. No acrobatics, no rotating stages, no smoke and fog machines, no video screens, no alien spacecraft (I'm talkin' to you, Kanye), just colored lights flashing to the beat.

The other cool thing was the two-drummer set up. One of the drummers was not an original member of the band, but he had what looked to be the funnest job in the world. He was just surrounded by drums and cymbals and was just wailing on them constantly--standing up, sitting down, twirling around--it looked like quite a work-out. The other drummer was one of the original band members, and despite being older, he definitely hammed it up for the crowd and came out on stage with a tambourine and danced all around like a goofball.

So all in all, we had a great time and I even got a new addition for my iPod out of it!

- e