LOVELY TO SEE YOU LIVE (DVD)

Most of the bands I listen to consist of members who are about twice as old as I am myself. But The Moody Blues are older still. These guys were already touring America - and their songs were played on the radio - when Yes, Genesis and King Crimson were just starting out making music. When these bands released their respective debut albums, The Moody Blues already had about five albums under their belt. The Moody Blues simply belong to an earlier generation of bands represented by the likes of The Beatles, The Who, Procol Harum and perhaps Pink Floyd.

On this DVD we get a full live performance, filmed and recorded in Los Angeles in this millennium. Impressively, the set list features songs from five different decades! The show starts with two very old songs in Lovely To See You and Tuesday Afternoon. It continues with a song from the 90's called Lean On Me (Tonight) which was a song I had not heard before. It sounds very much like a Beatles song, indeed too much so, I think. Another older song follows, The Actor. In my opinion these first four songs constitute a very weak start of the show. These are not at all bad songs, but they are much too low key to open a concert. The next number, Stepping In A Slide Zone, is the first song that really rocks and would have been much better as a concert opener.

The portion of the show from Stepping In A Slide Zone onwards is much better than the weak introductory portion. The Voice is a good song with a symphonic intro and The Story In Your Eyes, Isn't Life Strange, I'm Just A Rock & Roll Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band) and Question are all very good songs. Forever Autumn is a song originally from Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds album and is a very beautiful song. Even some newer songs that I had never heard before like I Know You're Out There Somewhere and Your Wildest Dreams are decent. December Snow is the most recent song and it is utterly forgettable. Indeed, I just heard it a minute ago and I don't remember anything about it! Higher And Higher is an alright number but it is destroyed by Graeme Edge insisting on dancing around the stage in a very embarrassing manner!

As you may have noticed, Ray Thomas was no longer in the band at this time so none of his songs are performed. This is a good thing in my opinion since I never much liked his songs. On the other Moody Blues DVD I have, Thomas feels largely like the fifth wheel, spending most of the concert just sitting there and only occasionally playing a bit of flute and singing a couple of songs.

The ending of the show suffers from the same problem as the start of the concert. After the eternal Nights In White Satin we are given a powerful performance of Question. This would have been a perfect place to stop, but they insist on playing Ride My see-Saw which, for me, is something of an anti-climax.

The Moody Blues is not one of my favourite bands, and this DVD, though enjoyable, will not chance that.

Good, but non-essential.

Share this THE MOODY BLUES review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to SouthSideoftheSky
• Report this review (#211024)
• Buy THE MOODY BLUES music online with PA partners
• Show all THE MOODY BLUES MP3/Stream
• Go to THE MOODY BLUES page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Lovely To See You Live (DVD) page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE MOODY BLUES related discussions