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We spent a lovely afternoon in Portland, basking in the beautiful weather, sipping Margaritas at an outdoor cafe, waiting for the evening's entertainment.  Sadly, they never walked by!  (lol) The Venue: The "Schnitz" was another in the line of several recent Moodies venues of it's kind: an older, recently renovated theater with a lovely interior, a large lobby with open balconies, chandeliers and unique wall carvings.  And of course, with inconvenient restrooms!  I didn't ask, but would estimate that it seated between 2500 and 3000.  It was sold out. The stage was about four feet high, and the mikes were close, perhaps 4 feet from the edge of the stage. It's always a thrill to see the Moody Blues feet!  Per security, point and shoot cameras were allowed with flash turned off.  Fashion Report: JL - white, short-sleeved shirt, leather pants, THE black knit shirt, second half JH - pinstriped, knit pants, black, long-sleeved shirt, white, collared, long-sleeved jabot shirt second half STUDDED BOOTS YeeHaw! Ray - black, long-sleeved shirt, black slacks, white short-sleeved shirt with button on the breast pocket second half GE - black, short-sleeved shirt with white design on right front, black slacks, paintdrop Jimi Hendrix shirt second half Gordon - Blue t-shirt, white sleeveless t-shirt second half Paul - long-sleeved gray shirt, black slacks, short-sleeved gray and black print shirt second half Bernie - black, halter-necked jumpsuit The Concert: The set-list was unchanged from the prior concerts this tour. The concert was very good.  As I've mentioned in prior reviews, it is not possible to determine the general sound quality from the first few rows, however, the sound seemed unusually muddy at times. On a few occasions, the sound was extremely loud, causing me and my partner in crime to grab our ears.  In fact, 4 hours after the concert, my right ear is still HURTING from several loud blasts.  During Gemini Dream, I could not hear the lead vocals and wondered if their mikes were off.  The only vocals we heard appeared to be coming directly from Justin and John. The drums were very loud on GD.  Otherwise, the sound was ok, not great. I found this odd, because theaters such as the Schnitz routinely have good acoustics. Small notes...Ray was ready to start FML and looked over at Justin who did not have his guitar on. I had noticed him a minute prior talking with Dan (the guitar tech). He gave Ray a sheepish grin and put on the guitar.  Later, Justin was about to announce ILS and was standing in total darkness - no spot. He waved his hands over his head, trying to attract the attention of the light man, who finally realized "where" the spot was supposed to be.  After brief laughter, Justin said "That was pretty funny, wasn't it?"  Another spot was missed earlier in the show, but Justin simply leaned down into the light which was shining on him from the waist down.  (I had to wonder if perhaps the lighting technician was a woman!) The individual performances were fine and relatively unremarkable. This was not a high energy concert, and it was mentioned that JL looked a bit "tired."  The Band sounded together.  All in all, a very good concert, but not one that you will remember 5 years from now. It was suggested that concerts be "rated" on a scale of one to ten, based on the concerts we have seen in the last two years.  This concert was rated a 7. Please note that this is my opinion and Sue's, and is being provided for entertainment purposes only!  One last comment...the Jays seem to be suffering from a SERIOUS case of flower and giftbag deprivation!  None were noted tonight.  Maggie  "I've said my peace, Now I'll leave it all up to you"