The Moody Blues embark on the 50th anniversary tour celebrating their 1967 album, Days of Future Passed, this Saturday in Rancho Mirage, California.
This will be the first time they've played the album, or any of their albums, in its entirety -- something they resisted for a long time. That's because Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas are no longer in the band, which means their songs will have to be sung by either Justin Hayward or John Lodge.
Lodge tells San Jose's Mercury News, “It’s going to be exciting. Some of the songs we haven’t played at all since we recorded them. So, it’s been really interesting revisiting 50 years ago, and thinking, ‘How did I sing that?’ or ‘Where was my head at when I sung that song?’”
Considered to be one of the first concept albums, Days of Future Passed started out as the band's agreeing to do a rock version of Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony so Decca Records could test out the possibilities of stereo (as opposed to mono) recording.
The tour, which runs through July 23rd in Atlanta, will feature the Moodies playing their hits in the first half of the show, followed by the album in the second half. The shows in Los Angeles and Toronto will have them backed by a symphony orchestra, and Toronto will be filmed for release.