| Welcome
to the Higher and Higher Tour!
I hated to leave lovely and very warm Palm Springs, but knew that the relief to loneliness waited for me in Las Vegas. It's good to find out about yourself, and the week on my own confirmed what I had suspected: I am *not* a loner! I think I have the opposite of the popular ADD syndrome - rather than too much stimulus being overwhelming, too little leaves me depressed and bereft. The five concerts were great, but the joy was diminished and hollow. Thank goodness I didn't hit Megabucks in Reno! There I would have sat, lights flashing, bells ringing, $39 million dollars racking up on the slot machine and not a person in the world to share the moment with. The casino would have been forced to send a plane to the midwest, large men in sunglasses and black suits would have had to drag Hubby and SueC from their respective beds. It would have been the only thing to do to stop my sobbing. LOL (Not that $39 M wouldn't have been a little consolation!) Thanks to all the sweet Moody souls that sympathetically shared the Long Highway. The plane trip to LV was nothin', got a taxi, checked in and finally found myself at dinner with my two favorite people in the world. What a relief! I slobbered affectionately over them. Life returned to usual, and we sent my ever energetic Hubby off with the girls to see Wayne Newton. LOL!!! There was a lot to do in the bar on Wednesday and it was SueC's and my job. Wayne would just have to do without us! THE VENUE Paris Hotel and Casino is one of my favorite places in the world. The Parisian theme provides both its uniqueness and its charm. While gambling is available, it is not the overwhelming theme of the hotel. The Central Bar is a nice place to see people and have a drink or a cup of coffee and catch up. Paris is my favorite stop on the Moodies tour and provides the only opportunity to move in, see four concerts and visit with everyone. There's plenty to do in Las Vegas for those that want to spend the day on the go. That's not me! SueC and I sit contentedly, sipping our coffee with Bailey's and checking out the passing crowd. I discovered electrical outlets near the bottom of the lamp post and write in the middle of all the action. I LOVE it! I'm often forced into my hotel room by review aficionados who want their tour updates ASAP and will not be denied. ; ) Here, I can be a part of the scene and have enough noise to allow me to think. It's also VERY nice when a Band member stops by to say "hello"! Le Theatre des Arts or The Theatre of the Arts is one of my best-liked venues. The Moodies can't play here enough for me. The theatre seats a fair-sized 1200 and there's always a big crowd. Fans from all over the country make the journey to this Moody Mecca, and the first three rows are valued highly and packed with appreciative music lovers. The stage is large enough to be comfortable and is one of the lowest I have seen, providing great views of dancing feet. ; ) THE FASHION REPORT Night One GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks JL - Award-winning black long-slvd shirt with ruffled bib, fabulous fitting leathers, kicking boots JH - Black long-slvd crepe shirt, black jeans The Battle of the Buttons Night One Well! The first night in Gay Paree was a downer for Justinfans. Mr Hayward came out on stage in a state of extreme rock star modesty. SueC said that he was buttoned up so tight that she thought he needed a tie! No ties, please! JL on the other hand strutted out with his shirt unbuttoned to midchest, shifting all attention from center stage to stage left. THE CONCERT Night One Just a few notes - the concert went very smoothly. I've realized that my perception of the concert depends hugely on the location of my seat for the night. LOL If I'm in front of Justin, it's a "Justin" review, in front of Graeme or the gals, it's "their" review - whomever is in my line of sight gets my full attention. ; ) I have the same seat for the four nights at Paris, and so, it is (drum roll, please) a JOHN review. Lucky me! Rather than write pages and pages about John Lodge, (tempting though it may be), I thought I'd condense the weekend's four shows into two reviews. If I'm lucky. We're operating in severe sleep deprivation mode here! At center stage - LOTS of jumping up and down by Justin at the beginning of YWD. JH introduced Norda at the end of AYSC. The other backups were not introduced this evening. H&H was spectacular, yet again. Graeme put the audience on their feet and wore us out. He apparently wore JUSTIN out, too. JH could not properly finish his notes in AYSC - just not enough breath left to do it. Because of that, AYSC was not nearly as smooth and polished as it usually is. Forget center stage: stage left was where the action is! John Lodge came out looking great and ready to rock 'n roll. I like the acoustics at Paris. Front row is often an awful place to sit for the sound, but it's not bad at all at Paris. The stage is low enough that you get a lot from the on-stage amps. LOM sounded great, and JL *looks* great with a 12 string in his hands. I'm confused, though! Just *where* is JL going to take her? And WHY hasn't he taken her there before? Would he take me there too? HAHAHAHA (or possibly...heheheh) The bass is an integral part of a rock band, equivalent to the cello in a symphony orchestra. Each provides the continuity of the music, while the glory hogging guitar or violin peals out against it. Sigh It's the work horse of a band. You gotta have it, but no one is going to throw their underwear at you. At least no one ever threw their underwear at ME onstage while performing Brahms. It was quite delightful to be AT the stage nearly in front of JL during Question. It is a FABULOUS bass part. Wow! Great runs and kind of funky. It was the first time I had *heard* it; it's usually lost in the mix. There, but not fully appreciated. It's something new to listen to! Other bass parts I really like are in The Actor and the ending measures of TOSOL. SueC said she has always loved the bass in Nights and Singer. The powerful run in TSIYE is also a killer. Non-musical notes (oh! An oxymoron!) One can NOT undervalue the importance of BOOTS in rock 'n roll. John Lodge in boots is a different person onstage from John Lodge in those cute shoes with the gold buckles. A lot of power comes from boots and they kick up the performance. You move differently and you ACT differently. Naturally, it doesn't *all* come from footwear, but the sparkle starts at the soles and moves up. JL has been spot on for the second half of this tour, more so than I have ever seen him. He has FABULOUS energy. You can feel it! My favorite part of the package has been the feet. JL rears back on those boots, rocks forward (giving a glimpse of his gold cross) and does a lot of a shuffling step, moving by swinging his toes, then his heels without picking up his feet. I love his move over to Justin in TOSOL where he "lives" the song: The only way to get there is to take that step. Oh, yeah! It's the other side of life, all right! Another great boot moment is when JL moves to the front of the stage at the end of Singer. I watched him and he looked down and put his left boot right on the edge of the stage to finish his song. Perhaps boots give you courage, too! Be careful at Paris! Due to the new setlist, the ending of Nights is now the moment for the frantic rush to the stage. I HATE that! The ending is magnificent and I want to be in the moment, not snatching up my purse and moving forward. It seems sacrilegious to me! LOL It's getting as bad at Paris as it is in Atlantic City. THE FASHION REPORT Night Two GE - flag shirt, black slacks JH - Black long-slvd crepe shirt, black jeans JL - Black long-slvd ruffled shirt with bib, leathers, boots JH, yes, I said Justin Hayward, deserves a special mention for GORGEOUS hair at the Paris. He's two for two in Las Vegas. It's full and "fluffy" and *very* long down over the collar and very, very BLONDE. SueC's comment was that his hair was slightly "shaggy" and when I asked if that was good, her reply was: OH YEAH! (said with a BIG smile!) I hope that this particular hairdresser is retained on a permanent basis. The Battle of the Buttons Night Two The biggest LOSER move of the entire tour took place tonight. Mr Rock 'n Roll came out looking great, moving like a wild man and putting on a hell of performance when, without warning, he poured a bucket of cold water over me and SueC. HE BUTTONED HIS SHIRT! We stared in shocked disbelief. There was a collective cry of AWWWWWWW from the right side of the showroom. Sigh! The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away. sniff! If center stage didn't provide the sexiest move of the show, it definitely provided the cutest. JH poured it on for the Graeme Edge showstopper, H&H, and during the protracted and wildly enthusiastic applause he lifted up the edge of his shirt placket and BLEW onto his chest. He then undid a button. Yes, I would certainly say that he was "hot"! : ) JH and JL ended the night in a tie. All I can say is, it's a cruel, cruel world! THE CONCERT Night Two The gurgling, eerie, sci-fi "music" of TOAD signals the beginning of the concert in 2003. At least it USUALLY signals the beginning of the concert! LOL The audience was plunged into darkness, the backups slid into their places and the concert began. However, we waited and waited and no Band walked out. The excited music-goers were ready with thundering applause for their rock 'n roll heroes, but none appeared! I thought that perhaps they were deep in a game of high stakes poker and not coming out until someone won the pot. The music ended and began again! Comments began to fly from the audience and one gal yelled Deja Vu! Even though it was dark, a leg was seen sticking out from behind the curtain like a teasing exotic dancer. Hmmmm - it *must* have been Graeme! LOL I considered that perhaps Justin had suddenly discovered a missing button and was terrified that his shirt (as predicted) might fall off. Norda was giggling in the dark, but everyone, including the audience was ready when The Moody Blues FINALLY, yes, FINALLY walked out onto the stage. Hey, better late than never! : ) It was another great concert in a great setting for a big audience. JH mentioned Ray in his introduction to The Actor, saying that it was a favorite of his good mate Ray Thomas, and that he had sadly decided not to tour. Justin has been doing a nice job of varying his comments before The Actor and they seem natural and sincere, rather than memorized and stilted. Again, JH introduced Norda after AYSC but did not introduce the other backups. Very little seemed to mar the second night at Paris, but one thing sticks out in my pathetic memory. English Sunset! English Sunset includes my FAVORITE moment of the concert, which is the last JH vocal before the jam. JH sweetly and poignantly sings "I saw the English Sunset". (I always put my hand to my heart and sigh deeply) Not last night! I don't know where he went, but only "English Sunset" came out in a confused moment at the mike. I was so disappointed. sniff sniff I'll cross my fingers for Justin tonight. JH seemed to have a technical difficulty or two in Night Two. SueC noticed JH using a long cord and plug during Singer rather than his plug and transmitter. I didn't realize he was using a chord until SeeSaw when he picked up a plug at the corner of Paul's "stuff" and plugged the Strat in. There was a broken string on Question. More great boot dancing by JL. GE and GM were two for two on the drumstick toss, but GE needs to practice a bit on that single toss. LOL I guess it's cuter when he misses it! Last, but definitely not least...I unglued my eyes from JL long enough to give a look or two over at center stage last night. I was surprised to see a different guy there for night two in Las Vegas. This guitarist moves a lot more and seems a lot looser and more relaxed than the usual stiff Englishman. Justin has seemed to be a bit dour and a lot too serious this tour. Last night was a treat! He really looked like he felt good about performing. It was nice to see! : ) Why not have fun? It's only rock 'n roll... But I LIKE it! MaggieMay |
