Concert Review: John Lodge @ Cohoes Music Hall, 2/21/2023

COHOES – The fans at John Lodge’s sold-out concert at Cohoes Music Hall Tuesday night gave The Moody Blues bass player a standing ovation when he walked on the stage, and many stood again at various times throughout the two one-hour sets. The first consisted of hits from The Moody Blues’ almost 60-year history, as the band that first married rock music and symphony orchestration in 1967 with their multi-million selling album, Days of Future Passed.

“I’m Just A Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)” closed out the first set. That song, along with “Isn’t Life Strange” also presented in the first set, were both hits from The Moody Blues’ eighth album Seventh Sojourn released in 1972. The second set as consisted of the complete Days of Future Passed, including the group’s monster hit “Nights in White Satin.” 

Released in 1967, the number has climbed the pop charts three times, appeared in film soundtracks, and been covered more than 60 times. Most importantly, it marked the first time a rock band had recorded with a symphony orchestra backing. Written by singer and lead guitar player Justin Hayward, the song expanded playing in the field of rock and roll. 

The Beatles may have opened the flood gates of the British Invasion, and The Rolling Stones may have caused American rock fans to examine our own blues roots of rock and roll, but The Moody Blues took us into the realm of classical music, exploding the very definition of rock and roll, paving the way for prog rock and exploding the box the first generation of rockers had been confined to with Elvis and Dick Clark’s generation of Philly stoop setters.

Converting the studio version of Days of Future Passed into a touring act has been a problematic challenge for more than half a century. The Moody Blues have played with various symphonies in cities around the world, but mostly they relied on an electronic device called the mellotron, a nightmare to control in the pre-digital age.

In an advance interview, Lodge explained. “Actually, we have a new digital type of mellotron. You know you can sub all these things, and it’s brilliant. I think it’s what we achieved performing these songs live in the ’60s. The advancement with the equipment today, and the sound system, p.a. system. It’s an incredible feat really. That’s why I’m really pleased to be doing Days of Future Passed because hopefully the sound will be exactly – the sound you hear in your mind, you know? If you listen to a really old record, it may not sound the same as when you remember it. Sometimes you remember a record differently than when you hear it in today’s sound.”

The post pandemic era has brought new challenges to the live presentation of this epic album. Justin Hayward, lead singer and guitarist in The Moody Blues is out on tour with his own version of the band. Lodge and his 10,000 Light Years Band presents another variation on a theme with dual electric keyboardist and music director Alan Hewitt facing the prospect of trying to duplicate the huge swirling sound of this epic recording. Duffy King handles lead guitar. Billy Ashbaugh plays drums and Jason Charboneau almost gets lost in the mix on cello. 

Lodge is a multi-instrumentalist who wrote “Peak Hour” and “(Evening) Time to Get Away” for the original album. He sticks with playing the bass on stage and sings almost all of the songs. He’s brave to take on that challenge, and the result is not without some important issues. His voice is not as strong as Hayward’s, and Hewitt’s keyboard work does not have the depth and range of the London Festival Orchestra on the original recordings. Add to that a mixing challenge that had the electric guitar and bass often overpowering the keyboards. The result was a patchwork mix of loud and soft volume.

Graeme Edge, The Moody Blues’ drummer, died in 2021, but not before recording for his friend John Lodge the poetry about dark orbs and outer space mystery that gave the original recording yet another dynamic alien sound to rock music of the time. To hear his dying voice in the mix on stage was touching and eerie.

“Losing Graeme was really traumatic,” Lodge told me, “because Graeme was still in the band, you know, and still touring. He really wanted to continue. I was with him just before he died, and we shared a lot of fun stories and emotional stories, and it was too much for The Moody Blues to continue.”

“I went to see Graeme when I was thinking of doing the live concert, and I told him what I wanted to do, and said, ‘Graeme, would you record the poetry for me?’ And so, he recorded all the poetry for me, and we filmed Graeme saying the poetry so that will be an actual part of the concert.”

“He said to me, ‘John, go for it. I never recorded my own poetry. It’ll be wonderful to be on stage,’ and unfortunately, he passed away before he could see the show.”

Edge told me in 2012, “The mellotron was what gave us the ambition to write songs like ‘Nights in White Satin,’ having that ability of total variation. You have to remember there was electric piano and electric guitars, and that was it. And suddenly having all of these sounds that we’d all heard all our lives available to play on stage just broadened our ambitions and broadened our horizons enormously. We pulled it off possibly because we were too stupid to know that you shouldn’t be able to do it (laugh).”

It’s only rock and roll, but I like it. I like it! Yes, I do!

Photo Gallery by Rudy Lu