Venue: Colston Hall, Bristol.
Date: Tuesday 9th June 2015
UK Tour Dates:
http://www.moodybluestoday.com/tour/
I’m not a fan of the Moody Blues, probably because their peak in terms of chart popularity missed that moment in my teenage life when I was looking for ‘cool’ bands to latch onto, and let’s face it, the Moody Blues aren’t exactly cool anyway, are they?
I went to the concert because my parents asked me, and because my curiosity was piqued due to my own lack of awareness of the band and it’s songs. I expected soft rock hippie nostalgia with songs about leprechauns playing leapfrog with toadstools, but what I actually got was a wonderfully entertaining night of hard rocking, guitar chugging rock n roll.
The concert started an hour late (due to a fire on the M4 that delayed the band) but the time was filled by a young guitar genius named Mike Dawes, who effortlessly entertaining the crowd with his virtuoso talents. The hour delay wasn’t really a delay at all, it was a bonus for the crowd, and we loved every second of it.
When the Blues finally did arrive on stage they got loud, and rocked the place out like a passionate young rock band. The songs were catchy, the guitars were chugging with hard rock riffs and the concert as a whole had all of the excitement, passion and urgency that I stupidly assumed that it would lack.
What happened? I thought that this was supposed to be a soft rock nostalgia thing? Not for the first time, I assumed wrongly, turned up, witnessed an event for myself, and was totally blown away by it.
Justin Hayward (the lead singer and guitarist) is so unassuming. He’s just a bloke, a bloke who has none of the arrogance or attitude that you would expect of a man with his unbelievable talents. There he was, standing in front of me with his comfortable slacks, white shirt and slip-on shoes and his guitar is wailing and riffing away like a hardrock monster. And then he sings, and the passion, the intensity, the range, it’s all there. This man looks like an average guy, but there’s nothing average about him at all. He’s not just good, he’s fllippin amazing, and is a reminder to us all that appearances can be deceptive, and that the most rock n roll bloke in the room might also be the most unassuming looking bloke in the room as well.
Three songs will stick in my mind. ‘I’m Just a Siinger in a Rock n roll Band’ was guitar heaven. ‘I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,’ was sublime catchy pop, and ‘Knights In White Satin,’ was transcendentally beautiful musical poetry.
If you go and see the Moody Blues in 2015 you are going to witness an adrenaline packed night of hard rock action sprinkled with emotional ballads and beautiful pop songs. This isn’t nostalgia, forget that notion, nostalgia is redundant, and this night never felt redundant, not for a single second. I had a great time. I experienced rock music played by a super tight, super talented, pumped up and passionate rock n roll band. Forget cool, forget what you are told to enjoy, just go out and see these guys and girls for yourself. If you like rock music at all then you’ll get a huge kick out of seeing them. They were great, they really were.
Rating: 9/10 (Not cool, but very, very good)
