By Jim Rowland
Justin Hayward has touched an astonishing seven decades now as a recording artist, songwriter and performer. As the voice of the legendary Moody Blues, he’s one of the pioneers of prog, and alongside his work with that band, he’s had a successful solo career for a very long time, both here and in the United States. A brand new single, ‘Living For Love’, is out to coincide with this current UK tour, and tonight he hits the south coast of England at a packed full Pavilion Theatre in the heart of Bournemouth.
A key member of Hayward’s solo band is versatile guitarist Mike Dawes, and a short but most entertaining set from him kicks the proceedings off tonight, allowing him to show off his impressive and original guitar skills as he delivers his very different interpretations of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’, alongside a selection of his own material.
Justin Hayward enters the stage solo for an acoustic ‘The Eastern Sun’ before the three members of his band join him one by one during the Moody Blues’ ‘Driftwood’. It’s a simple, stripped down economical set up with this band, featuring Julie Ragins on keyboards & backing vocals, Karmen Gould on flute, percussion & backing vocals and the aforementioned Mike Dawes on acoustic and electric guitar. So the lack of a traditional rhythm section gives the set a more acoustic feel.
Aside from a smattering of solo tunes both old and new, the vast majority of the set is derived from the huge Moody Blues catalogue, spanning the late ’60s through to the early ’90s, with ‘The Voice’ perhaps the standout moment from the later, more middle of the road Moodies material on offer, alongside the likes of ‘Hope & Pray’, ‘Your Wildest Dreams’ and encore track ‘I Know You’re Out There Somewhere’.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the earlier Moody Blues material from the late ’60s and early ’70s that seems to get the best response and often spontaneous applause of recognition at the start of songs such as ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ and ‘Never Comes The Day’. Full credit goes to the band for pulling off a fine rendition of the more complex early classic ‘Question’, where Mike Dawes’ versatile and percussive guitar skills are put to good use.
The main set closes with, of course, ‘Nights In White Satin’, still Hayward’s signature Moody Blues tune, and worth the admission alone just to see the man, still in fine voice after all these years, deliver this timeless classic. The other standout moment is when he sings another timeless classic in the shape of ‘Forever Autumn’ from Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’, a truly great song given a great rendition.
For a man of his vintage, Justin Hayward is still in great shape, still engages an audience, still packs out theatres like this and most important of all, is still in fine voice.
- The tour finishes in Hastings tonight (Friday 23 September).
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