Review | Knight of White Satin Pop
Moody Blues Frontman Justin Hayward Delivers the Romantic/Nostalgic Goods at the Santa Barbara Lobero
Somewhere in the misty middle of Justin Hayward’s Lobero show last week, the Moody Blues frontman and solo artist offered a telling, self-reflexive observation: “The music we love in our youth stays with you the rest of your life.”
The truism rang especially true on this night of white satin-y British pop, with its greatest hits component nearing the 60-year mark. Wistful romanticism and enlightened-earworm farming is Hayward’s domain, as heard over the healthy course of a 20-song set (including one Moody medley), but it was the towering hits which soared the highest and hit the deepest. “Tuesday Afternoon” kicked off a set which wisely closed with the one-two punch of the Moody Blues’ most memorable songs, “Question” and the signature “Nights in White Satin.”
At the Lobero, Hayward’s nimble-fingered guitarist Mike Dawes conveniently did honors as concert-opener, with a short set of acoustic guitar variations on such time-worn (and worn out?) themes as Van Halen’s “Jump” and the Dylan/Hendrix/Michael Hedges chestnut “All Along the Watchtower.” He has a spidery command of the fretboard, freely punctuated with an array of percussive effects on and around the instrument, although his over-caffeinated showbiz patter felt somehow at odds with the potential serious intent of his instrumental musical game, in sharp contrast with the cool poise of Hayward’s own stage manner.
Hayward and band, looking like timeless troubadours against a vaguely British Isles rocky-coastline scene on a projected backdrop, delivered on the promise of a full musical evening. Hits and “deep cuts” from the Moody book mixed in with occasional side tripping, with Hayward still sounding strong and clear at age 77.
Hayward resists additives or backing tracks, and although we sometimes missed a drummer in the mix, subtle percussion elements folded into the band sound by flutist Karmen Gould and keyboardist Julie Ragins. The use of flute lines lends a unique textural twist to the generic pop/rock band formula, in the now as it did in the guitar band-stamped era of the late ‘60s.
In one intriguing retro-technical backflip touch, Ragins sometimes used her state-of-the-present-day-art digital keyboard/sampler to emulate a much earlier “emulator,” the Mellotron, used as a key element on their hit-hosting 1967 album Days of Future Past. The Mellotron was a cumbersome but pioneering instrument relying on tiny internal tape loops to generate its string sounds.
To these ears, the concert’s strongest moment came with the mini-epic “Question,” with its driving acoustic guitar-pumping fast sections yielding to introspective slow parts. The driving section returns with renewed intensity, as Hayward intones the generic but relevant refrain, concerning “a thousand million questions about love and hate and war.” Questions, personal, political and global, haunt with even greater force in 2024.
A three-song encore segment found Hayward returning in electric guitarist mode, sprinkling some tasty blues-flavored licks with his Gibson ES335 (so named because the original retail price was $335). Fittingly, he took a dip into the Hayward and John Lodge songbook for “Blue Guitar” (which could have used a drummer) before capping off with more old school Moody business, in the form of “The Story in Your Eyes” and “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.”
Indeed, Hayward’s avid fan base is still out there, mixed in with the more casual admirers among us, part of the large group of vintage listeners or general purpose pop music fans. We are all by now imprinted with such haunting lines as the “Nights of White Satin” peach, “letters I’ve written, never meaning to send,” with Hayward’s distinctive voice attached to the lingering memory.
