Two years ago I saw John in July after his concert had been pushed back 4 months due to a "medical emergency"....he came shuffling out on the stage like joe biden and i was like "uh-oh"...he did the first song, Stepping in a Slide Zone, then announced, "Last Christmas Eve i got a visit from an unwanted guest- i had a stroke. Its been an uphill climb but i've been rehabbing hard."
He got a standing ovation then rocked the house the next 90 minutes.
The Moody Blues were the first ever concert at the brand new Idaho Center in my hometown of Nampa way back in the 1990s. It was a helluva concert. I’m forever grateful to have been able to see them live. We were a tiny little stop, but someone who worked with the Idaho Center was a former roadie for the band and he helped to bring them in. They performed as if they were in front of the biggest stadium crowd ever. I’ll not forget that.
My favorite Moodies’ song, The Voice (John Lodge featured fairly prominently, playing bass and singing harmonies):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AblopvsYCpY&list=RDAblopvsYCpY&start_radio=1
Seventh Sojourn is one of my top favorite albums of all time.
“Someday I hope to see you smiling when you’re a free man again” always made me think of meeting relatives in heaven.
I heard "Days of Future Passed", "Seventh Sojourn", "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor", "In Search of the Lost Chord", "A Question of Balance", and "To Our Children's Children's Children" for the first time that night, lying on my back on a blackened flight deck, the ship swaying gently back and forth in the waves, far out at sea with nothing but a brilliant river of stars above me. The two songs that I remember the most that night were "Nights in White Satin" and "For My Lady" ... the former because of the lyrics while looking up at the stars, and the latter because it sounded so much like a sea chanty ballad.
I'll never forget that night, and I've been a Moody Blues fan(atic) ever since ...
I think I have shared with you previously that original Moody Blues member Graem Edge (drummer) lived nearby until his death in 2021. He was a very friendly chap.
For anyone who has not read it, Wikipedia’s article on (basically) the making of “Days of Future Passed” is really quite good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Future_Passed