February 2024, Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Had been some time since I’d been to a Jeans’n’Classic concert, but this one piqued my interest, given its focus on music best suited to the marriage of symphonic orchestra and rock band. Still, when I previewed the likely set list, I thought, wow, that’s a lot of Moody Blues! As that’s a band I know so little about, I thought their most famous song was called “Knights in White Satin”. (It’s actually Nights.)
Jean was supposed to attend with me, but he ended up having to work at an out of town office that week. So I invited a friend to join me. Kind of like the old days, when we used to invite people to attend these concerts with us.
Also kind of like the old days was the line-up of musicians: Jean Meilleur, Kathryn Rose, Peter Brennan, John Regan, Mitch Tyler… I couldn’t help thinking how they looked so much older now. Except Jean Meilleur. He looked pretty much the same.
But the point isn’t how everyone looks, it’s how they sound, and that was terrific. The first half was Moody Blues–free, and featured songs like “Conquistador” by Procol Harum, “Solsbury Hill” and “Red Rain” by Peter Gabriel, “Livin’ Thing” and “Strange Magic” by ELO, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, and “Living in the Past” by Jethro Tull. A pretty awesome lineup of songs.
The second half was indeed pretty Moody Blues–heavy, but I ended up enjoying that more than I expected. I feel like I at least kind of knew some of the songs other than the famous. But the half started with a couple Elton John tunes, one of which was “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”, and they did Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” in a really cool way: With the vocal line all played by a very talented flutist.
There was some banter between the songs, courtesy of Jean Meilleur and John Regan, which made me think that Jean would have enjoyed this concert. My friend, funnily enough, thought it would have been better had they done a little less yappin’ and more letting the music speak for itself. But she did enjoy the music, and that was the main thing.
We’ll definitely consider heading out to see them again—possibly even for their upcoming “Music of Sting and The Police” concert.
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