June 23, 2004 - Uncasville, CT
WELCOME TO THE SUMMER TOUR 2004! The Moodies concert at the Ford Pavilion finally and mercifully ended, the drunks scattered and SueC reappeared, looking pretty good despite her harrowing experience. The gals at the front groaned, rubbing their aching necks as a result of the high stage. It’s a wonder that no one got hurt! Apparently, there was a lot of shoving and pushing and SueC’s guard had had to break up a fight behind them. Personally, the beauty of the area won’t entice me to buy a ticket there again. We made our long trek down the mountain (aaaargh!) and finally got to the parking lot. Lo and behold, there was an um…”entrepreneur” there, selling t-shirts! I had noticed these particular t-shirts being worn at a prior venue. They’re pretty sharp looking! Black with The Moody Blues on the front and a nice design on the back. I also had noticed that the tour schedule on the back had started with Denver. Well, that was funny, because I was sure SueC and I had been at the Brown Theatre in Louisville! LOL Yep, they were bootlegs. I asked the guy how much and he said $15. I bought one and after I had it in my hand asked the fellow where he had gotten them. He replied a friend had made them, and when I asked what The Moodies cut was he forthrightly said “NOTHING, but they don’t cost $30!” LOL Well, I hope Hal finds you one night, buddy. ; ) It took a while to get out of there, but SueC was armed with directions and we got out on the highway. We had decided to go immediately to Mohegan Sun and in retrospect, that was probably a pretty iffy decision. I’m sure the drive was through beautiful country and would have been delightful during the day. It was late and the drive was LONG and lonely. I think I ended up singing to SueC to keep her awake and that was an act of desperation on poor SueC’s part. LOL What was I singing??? Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons! LOLOLOL!!! Her favorite? Rag Doll! I did the best I could and racked my brain for all their hits, going through Walk Like a Man, Sherrie (Sherry Baby), Big Girls Don’t Cry. Darn! I forgot Grease! I’ll have to make it up to her next trip. 3am came and we were getting slap happy, so we stopped for gas. Actually, I think we stopped twice! Our first try didn’t have diesel, but our second *did* and what’s more, there was an attractive diner next door. I was amazed that there don’t seem to be any truck stops in that area of the northeast! How do truckers keep going without truck stop coffee? The diner was empty except for us and a large table of police (4 cop cars were parked in front). I couldn’t have felt safer! LOL We ate breakfast but didn’t loiter. We were on a mission to get to Mohegan Sun. Well, that and we were in California. No Smoking! You can drink yourself to death in those states, but God Forbid you light a cigarette. <shrug> The drive after the concert to Mohegan Sun was stupid. To all those that lust for the touring life, I say “Do Not as We Do!” We keep saying to each other, if we get too tired, we’ll just pull off and find a motel. And we’ve done that at times. However, we were going to one of our favorite places in the world and were determined to get there. It was STILL stupid! LOL  THE
VENUE
Mohegan Sun is without a doubt, one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been! I LOVE it there! SueC and I were knocked dead by it on our first visit and I’ve been anxious to return. It was just as fantastic as I had remembered. The entrance to the hotel/casino is a large pool surrounded by surrealistic trees. Not a soul was there at 4am and it was a scene of complete serenity. It’s like walking in to a fantasy land. Mohegan Sun outdoes anything I’ve seen in Vegas or Orlando. It’s spectacular! The gambling ain’t bad, either! The only negative thing I can say about Mohegan Sun is about the concert room. It’s a basketball arena (Mohegan Sun owns a WNBA franchise). It’s really the only part of the Mohegan Sun complex that isn’t first rate in every way. It’s ok, and it’s adequate. It’s not like I haven’t seen a thousand concerts in a basketball arena. The arena was cut down to about half for The Moodies, with the temporary stage placed somewhere near center court. There’s floor seating, lower seating (up on the side) and upper seating. The temporary stage is fair-sized and had the usual Moodies setup. Curtains block off the unused seats. THE FASHION REPORT Paul – While long-slvd shirt, black slacks Gordon – Black short-slvd t-shirt, white pants Norda – Black beaded bustier, black skirt, Tart’s Trotters JL – Black long-slvd shirt, black jeans, boots JH – White long-slvd full shirt with ruffle, gray knit slacks with black pinstripes, black studded boots GE – hula shirt, black slacks This is prolly the stage dress for the 2nd half. At some point, it dawned on me that I had a camera and knew how to use it! LOL Sorry, no fashion dope on Ms Barlow – I couldn’t see her.  THE
CONCERT
We didn’t go to Mohegan Sun to see The Moody Blues. We decided to see The Moodies there so that we could go to Mohegan Sun! LOL Our plans had changed a couple of times and we (ok, *I*) had missed the ticket window. We had crapola and nothing was going to change that. After all, front row seats aren’t EVERYTHING. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Lousy seats are an excellent excuse to go to a Moodies concert in strange clothing, ratted hair, and houseslippers. Though SueC had argued with me that MS was the perfect venue to tie on a good one, I had repeatedly pointed out that I have the perfect defense against liquor- I fall asleep. We had slept most of the day and felt pretty good actually. I wore my Australia 87 t-shirt (it’s very soft) in celebration of The Moodies return to Down Under in 2005 and Sue pulled out her new favorite from our trip to Red Rocks. We didn’t look great, but we looked respectable. There *may* have been bits of dried prunes in my hair, but who could tell? We finally left our very nice room (accommodations are definitely superior to Vegas, and include FREE high speed internet) and went in search of the MS business center, discovering once we got there that our Jones Beach tickets were being held instead at the concierge desk. After that important errand was done, we headed to the box office. Frankly, you never know what might turn up at the box office or its environs on concert day. ; ) The nice fellow did have a number of decent tickets that had been turned in the day before, but nothing much better than the side tickets we had. I hadn’t actually checked the showtime and was startled to see the venue doors preparing to open. Ack! The concert is at 7??? Doors open at 6??? Sigh It was going to be another hotdog dinner night. LOL Mohegan Sun had a fair amount of serious security and we were surprised to see their employees pull on rubber gloves. They had a ticker tape running over the entry doors with a list of forbidden items and I vaguely recall audio running too. No flash photography, no digital cameras, no video cameras and no note-taking. (HAHA) The line started moving and security seemed to be doing a good job of checking bags. I sighed and said to SueC that I had better go on through the line so that I would have plenty of time to walk my new Canon back to the room should it be nabbed. Rather than go to the effort of hiding it, I shoved it haphazardly into my bag. I smiled at the first security fellow and he waved me through to the second person (in latex gloves) for a bag check. Hey, it was right there! She looked all through my open bag with a flashlight and said “You’re all right!” Well! That was nice of her!  We
had our 100th hotdog of the tour (I can’t face them the rest of the year)
and checked out our seats. LOL They were too bad for words!
We decided instead to sit in no-man’s land, past our seats near the corner
of the stage to the area directly facing the SIDE of the stage. We
thought that area hadn’t been sold, but quite a number of people came to
join us there over the course of the evening, some arriving fashionably
late, immediately before the half. The peppy usher would bring a
group down and point in our general direction at no seats in particular.
We had picked seats in oh, maybe row K, a few feet higher than the stage
where we could look down (giving my poor neck a welcome rest).
 They
were fantastic! We had a wonderful view of Gordon and Paul, a good
view of John and *some* view of Justin. We weren’t blown out by the
speakers which faced directly out, but still had a nice ambient sound.
We could watch the monitor board, and keep track of John Burwick’s guitar
comings and goings. It was fun to see The Band come out from behind
the curtains (just like the Wizard of Oz), stand around and chat, then
make their way up the short flight of stairs to the stage, carefully lit
by a blue flashlight brandished by their production manager.
It wasn’t like watching or being at the concert. It was more like watching people watch the concert and watching The Moodies perform for someone else. LOL I didn’t feel a part of it at all, and it wasn’t at all a bad thing. It was a very different concert experience, quite interesting and quite enjoyable. I was left with a single, unanswered question: What the heck is IN that picnic basket on the monitor board??? Beer? Pigeons? What??? LOL!!! I never saw anyone open it or get in to it, but there it was. I *must* know!  Ah!
The concert! The Summer Tour 2004 setlist was played in its entirety
and I *think* with an intermission. Yes, there WAS an intermission
because our area (Lwr 15) had filled in quite a bit and we had to move
closer to the curtain and therefore farther toward the back of the stage.
Two things made a lasting impression on me. First, the lights were
absolutely gorgeous! I could see the screen unimpeded (no performers
messing about in front of it blocking my view) and I must say that it is
ART. Art in Motion! Some of the moments are BEAUTIFUL.
Really Mick! Would you please come to my house and paint that lighting
on my walls? I could have watched the lights while listening to the
music and not watched anything else.
 MS
is a pretty darn big place, even cut down and I was dismayed at the crowd
when the concert first started. The floor was pretty full, and there
were quite a few people in the upper seating, but the large area of lower
seats was pretty empty. I was completely surprised when the lights
shone out into the arena during IKYOTS. The place was just about
full! And rocking quite nicely, thank you!
I don’t recall anything particularly memorable about the performance itself. It seemed pretty good! At least Paul and Gordon did a FINE job. John came over to the side quite often, waving and smiling at the people in the lower and upper seats, doing his best to make them feel a part of the scene. It was quite a nice evening all around.  SueC
and I had a great time at MS, watching a new side of the performance and
getting a really good look for once at Paul and Gordon. Paul and
Gordon interact a lot onstage, but it’s pretty subtle and can’t be seen
very well from the front. It was fun to see Justin’s face as he turns
to Paul during December Snow for the piano solo. It was a different
way of looking at things onstage and the experience felt *fresh*.
No one bothered me at all, no one tried to cross past me, get in front
of me or push me or hassled me and that was incredibly refreshing.
LOL It was great! I fished out my naughty digital and snapped
away, taking a couple hundred pretty bad shots but enjoying it nonetheless.
 One
thing that surprised me was how WELL I could see the first several rows
on the floor. It was hard NOT to watch that! So THAT’S what
we look like! LOLOLOL I could actually read people’s lips as
they sang along to the music, could see them dance and gesture. Fascinating!
So that’s what The Band sees! Hmmmm. I think from now on, I’ll
just look up the stage *angelically*. Sway slightly perhaps.
The evening at MS was enlightening in many ways. It was quite amusing to notice a NUMBER of people on the floor put their heads together, whisper and point at me and SueC. Don’t worry, we had a great time and appreciated your um…”concern”. LOL The one thing that has really stuck in my mind was a small something I saw at MS. I now know the very LAST thing Justin Hayward does before he walks onstage. 
He checks his zipper! MaggieMay I'm just beginning to see Now I'm on my way Photos by SueC |