The iconic, symphonic prog-rock band made sure its Meijer Gardens debut was everything its devoted, longtime fans wanted it to be: a cavalcade of familiar favorites.
English Invasion: Justin Hayward, center, and John Lodge, right, led The Moody Blues in their Meijer Gardens debut. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
They’re just singers in a rock ‘n’ roll band … and they’ve been so for going on 50 years now.
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For The Moody Blues, that’s nearly a half-century of fusing rock with hints of classical music.
Long Distance Voyager: Justin Hayward. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
The formula worked so well during the ’60s and early ’70s that it clearly had a lasting impact on the mostly graying, baby boomer crowd at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park that ardently cheered its graying, baby boomer heroes on Thursday night.
Of course, even if the mainstays of the classic rock band — guitarist Justin Hayward, 67, bassist John Lodge, 69, and drummer Graeme Edge, 73 — don’t quite sound or look the way most of these fans remember them, they made up for it by playing nearly two hours of hits and familiar favorites (not counting an intermission), starting with “Gemini Dream” and “The Voice” and continuing through the band’s traditional encore rendition of “Ride My See-Saw.”
In between — with a healthy assist from two female vocalists and a second drummer, as well as a dapper video backdrop — they covered the gamut of notable sing-alongs for approving devotees: “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band),” “Question,” “Your Wildest Dreams,” “Tuesday Afternoon” and, course, 1967’s landmark “Nights in White Satin.”
It it was a predictable, unabashed nostalgia-fest at the sold-out amphitheater, then so be it, because it proved to be a successful one in a safe and mildly effervescent way, a feel-good show for a generation of fans who first embraced what was a trailblazing band at the time.
Edge even poked fun of the band’s advancing years at one point, saying that a college coed expressed interest in dating him. Turns out she was a history student interested in carbon dating.
As even Hayward sang during “Driftwood,” “time waits for no one at all.”
But there are ways to turn back the clock for at least a couple of hours.
THE MOODY BLUES: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Anthony Norkus
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