I'm pretty sure this was a orchestral show. Either the night before this or after this, there was a non orchestral show at the Circle Star, and this time the stage revolved!

All of us had read articles, or our pen pals’ reviews with enthusiasm of the orchestral shows. Many of us had just gotten on line with various computer newsgroups such as Prodigy, NVN, or eventually Lost Chords. The Internet and email was starting to happen, and the world was changing changing……. How much it was changing, none of us could have known.

Little Red Hens, anyone? The cash flow associated with the orchestral tour format really brought ‘em out from under rocks. In late 1992, Patrick Moraz had sued the rest of the band for money (a couple o’ mil) amounting to "life time membership in the band" which turned out to be ludicrous in the harsh light and reality of show biz law. (They paid him back-pay, and he gets royalties, plenty to keep him happy for life). The whole fan club had processed this "suing" since the beginning of 1993, when the Internet really started to take off. Mike Pinder had even gotten into the act (suing the rest of the band, thankfully it boiled down to a good audit, end of story) and Mike had his own following of fans on line. People were rude, nutty, crazy, on line (including me for a while, egad it was easy to get sucked in!) The "Moody Mind" was being exposed for what it was, a tangled mess of insanity. It was the same with all fan groups on line. The cyber jungle was getting more and more ugly at every turn.

So it all came down to this for me, a made-up orchestra at the Concord Pavilion, which was my first time for seeing them play live with an orchestra. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I could smell pizza wafting up from the pit though, so I knew the musicians were all being very well fed down there somewhere.

Larry Baird came out. He took focus……….. There was that moment when he raised his baton, and POW! It was time. The strains of "Ride My See Saw" and the see saw of the violins in lovely rhythm……… wow what a show it was. Larry was more interesting to watch than the Moody Blues I’m afraid! The only details I remember was watching Paul’s butt as he jiggled along with the music (I was over in the far far right, actually a scalper ticket, and I couldn’t believe that was what I got for the extra money). The view was miserable, but the music was wonderful, and it was a delightful evening.

I do know all the Moody Bitches were there, and Justin was wearing a really nice brown shirt with doilies sewed onto it because Lisa got a spectacular shot of him in it.

I think it must have been the night after this they did the Circle Star theatre (no orchestra of course) and this time the stage revolved! The Moodies had a lot of fun with this, saying "you people keep moving around, now you’re over here" and so forth, they enjoyed it as much as the audience. There had been grumbling in the audience prior to the show, as most had been there the year before when the set didn’t revolve. This time when the stage moved, a wild yell went up and they broke into the strains of "Lovely to See You Again".

Lisa and my son Stephan were at this show I remember. Lisa and I were wandering around, trying to figure out how to get back stage (at least she was, I was just going to tag along if she could do it) when a roadie came up and pressed something into our hands. It was John Lodge picks! WOW Lisa and I really squealed over that! Stephan had vanished to use the bathroom about this time (with all the stern admondations from his mother about being careful) and when he came out, and saw our picks he commented in his 10 year old honest way "That guy over there has a whole BAG full of picks!" So my son had been talking to strangers (and roadies to boot!) in the bathroom. The roadie looked sheepish and scuttled away with his bag, busted on two accounts.

I think I wound up sitting on my tailgate playing my Martin after this show, the parking lot was so crowded, but I wouldn’t swear to that. I was just glad I got to see the Circle Star do what it was supposed to before they tore it down, which they did a few years later. Bummer.