Clad in leather trousers and with a shock of silver hair that would make Brian May envious, John Lodge and his 10,000 Light Years Band have done more than most to keep the Moody Blues flag flying. This live set, recorded in Las Vegas in the summer of 2019, is case in point: an expansive, cherry-picked collection from the band’s evergreen history, it finds the singer and bassist in exuberant form.
Lodge might not have the pipes of bandmate and co-founder Justin Hayward, but he knows when to aim for a note or when to let it go. Not that it stops him making an impassioned run at songs like Steppin’ In A Slide Zone, Gemini Dream and the roiling I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band). There’s an occasional helping hand from Yes vocalist Jon Davison, who joins in to help lift a strangely underwhelming Nights In White Satin, which is greeted by the crowd like Lodge has just announced a drum solo, and a much more buoyant, show-ending Ride My See-Saw.
Minor lulls aside, it’s a fitting celebration of a set of songs that defined the 60s and 70s and are still sailing happily down the years.
