udiscovermusic.com Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, who has already announced extensive solo dates in North America in May and June, will follow them with a 12-date UK tour in September titledStage Door. VIP ticket packages will include an autographed poster, t-shirt, tote bag, pick tin set and a lapel pin (photo above: Opera – Ville de Nice). “'Stage Door' was the title of a song on my first album Songwriter,” says Hayward, “and although far from being the greatest track I ever made, it was absolutely the most joyful, with all the musicians and our families playing a part (sometimes with dialogue) in a glorious live performance directed by Peter Knight. “Stage Door has a particular resonance for me as when were small boys my brother and I could not afford to go to the shows at the Empire Theatre in Swindon,” he continues. “In fact we were regularly chased away from the lavish entrance by the fat commissionaire who stood guard there, but we loved the Stage Door - we saw many artists come and go - and we believed it was the place the real magic entered and left the building. Which of course, it is. “It is often the one part of the building I actually see nowadays and it has fond memories of joy for me to be lucky enough to be returning, and sometimes foreboding (I think of all those gigs where I have never actually seen front of house!). “I have a friend at the Opera de Nice and the photo is taken at the 'Entree des Artistes' at the side of that grand old building. I also realise that sadly I may be coming to the end of my touring career one day soon, and the stage door will be the place of my final step, and exit. “For our ‘Stage Door' gigs, with the sensational Mike Dawes on guitar and the gorgeous and talented Julie Ragins on everything else, I have some brand new songs to mix in, as well as old favourites. There is something there for everyone - I'm sure.” Explore our dedicated Moody Blues Artist Page

Documentary exploring the rise and fall of the most visionary period in British music history: five kaleidoscopic years between 1965 and 1970 when a handful of dreamers reimagined pop music. When a generation of British R&B bands discovered LSD, conventions were questioned. From out of the bohemian underground and into the pop mainstream, the psychedelic era produced some of the most ground-breaking music ever made, pioneered by young improvising bands like Soft Machine and Pink Floyd, then quickly taken to the charts by the likes of the Beatles, Procol Harum, the Small Faces and the Moody Blues, even while being reimagined in the country by bucolic, folk-based artists like the Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan. The film is narrated by Nigel Planer with contributions and freshly-shot performances from artists who lived and breathed the psych revolution - Paul McCartney, Ginger Baker, Robert Wyatt, Roy Wood, the Zombies, Mike Heron, Vashti Bunyan, Joe Boyd, Gary Brooker, Arthur Brown, Kenney Jones, Barry Miles, the Pretty Things and the Moody Blues. Justin Hayward's interview begins around 42:50 into the documentary. Psychedelic Britannia (2015) BBC Documentary by racedaily

mcall.com Justin Hayward has been the principal songwriter, guitarist and vocalist in prototypical prog rocker band The Moody Blues for nearly 50 years. He's the voice of such classic songs as “Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” and “Your Wildest Dreams,” and the protagonist in the group's 1973 hit “I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band),” if you will. So if anyone knows when — or whether — the group will ever release another proper studio album, it's Hayward. But he says he simply doesn’t know. So after not having a new Moodies album in a dozen years, Hayward nearly two years ago put out a solo disc, “Spirits of the Western Sky,” his first in 17 years. And now with a break from The Moodies' incessant touring, Hayward is on a solo jaunt, playing not only songs from that disc and some of the other half-dozen solo albums he's released over the years, but also stripped-down versions of Moodies hits and deep cuts he says have never been played live. He stops at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia on Monday and Musikfest Cafe at Arts- Quest Center in Bethlehem on Wednesday. In a recent telephone call from his home in England, Hayward discussed the new tour, the history of The Moody Blues, and the future of both. Here’s a transcript of the call: JUSTIN HAYWARD: “Hello John, how are you?” LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: Just fine, thanks. Thanks for taking time to speak with me today. “Not at all. My pleasure. Thank you for calling, yeah.” So tell me about the Watching and Waiting tour. What’s it going to be like? What are you going to do? What songs are you going to perform? Or what types of songs are you going to perform. Just give me a capsule of what it is. “Well, I’m going to be doing quite a lot of things that I wrote for the Moody Blues and that have never been done on stage before.” Wow. “And I think that are more suited to this kind of acoustic format that is closer to the actual recordings than the big production with two drummers that the Moodies could do, that I could do with the Moodies. So there’s some interesting things I’m revisiting and looking at the reasons and the stories behind some of these songs – from the late ‘60s particularly. “And of course I do some things from the ‘Spirits of the Western Sky’ album that I had out recently. So that’s just fine. And then really I’m looking at the songs … I’m doing the songs in my own original demo form; how I’d present them originally. And, you know, I was always very lucky with the group, that they were able to put those acoustic-guitar-and-voice and my own feelings into it kind of up front on the recordings, which was very good. And then I get to do ‘Forever Autumn,’ as well, which was a big hit for me, but I rarely get to do it onstage, so I’m very pleased to have that. “And they can also see two of the greatest musicians that I’ve worked with: Mike Dawes, a truly incredible young English guitar player, and Julie Reagans, who’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever seen—certainly the best I’ve ever worked with.” And when you actually play your set, is it only you, or do you have any backing musicians? “No, I have Mike Dawes on guitar. So me on guitars and Mike Dawes on guitar – acoustic and electric – and Julie Reagans on keyboards and assorted percussion and vocals. And she plays a lot of different things. But yeah, we present the songs – the three of us present them and it’s a lovely atmosphere. We all get to contribute, which is nice. “So we all have a love of this music and these songs, so that comes across.” How did you decide to do a solo tour now, and then what brought you to do them in this format? “Well I’ve always been lucky enough to have support from a label – whether it be Decca, Universal , Polygram and now Eagle Rock for new products and an outlet for thing that I wasn’t able to do with the Moodies. And really then I did one tour, it was like a promotional tour for the ’Spirits’ album, and then the promoters just seemed to love it. And so they asked me back, and I think then a DVD followed and it’s just sort of snowballed from there, really. I think it’s because it’s another look at the Moodies – particularly another look at the earlier things that we did in a different format. “And like I say, probably truer to the original recordings than we could do with the big production that is the Moodies. I’m lucky to have that, you know? One makes the other possible, really.” My reaction to that is that fans, obviously, love the production of those songs. So it’s not as if those were the wrong things to do . “No, no, not at all. Yeah, so I think I’m always lucky that the producers always either used my demo or put the acoustic that originally was there or the vocal up front. And so I think we tried so many things with The Moodies, and if you have a big, loud format, some things just don’t work at all. And it’s sad to see those fall by the wayside. So I’m having this look at the other side of those songs.” You mentioned ‘Spirits in the Western Sky.’ What were you looking to do when you put that album out? What was your creative inspiration for that? “Well, I was spending a lot of time in the studio – mostly working for Universal and doing mixing for different projects and for Eagle Rock in particular for the Isle of Wight, and then remastering The Moodies’ stuff. And I was also doing little bits and pieces over the years and then I was spending so much time in the studio, my engineer -- my partner that I’ve worked with for quite a few, 20-odd years now – I think we both decided, ‘Listen, we’ve got a lot of demos that we’ve done, it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a Moody Blues album, and so let’s record them properly. “And Eagle came in and really supported that. And so I so many songs, and it’s not fair to let these things – it’s not right to just keep them in a drawer somewhere.” Yeah. You mentioned thee history of The Moodies. What do you think is next for the group, and how long do you expect to continue to do that? “Well, John, that’s a question, isn’t it?” “I mean, you could have asked me the same question in August 1966 and I’d have said, ‘About a month.’” “I’m still no wiser now. I know that we have things coming up early next year. We have a cruise, another Moody Blues cruise, and I know there’s a lot of love out there for us and the band and, you know, we’re very, very lucky to have that. How long it will go on, I don’t know. You know, the three of us now, it’s the happiest kind of incarnation of The Moody Blues I’ve ever been in.” Wow. “Yeah, I think so, because you’re left with the three guys who really wanted to tour, out of the five of us. There were five of us from ’66 onward. And so I wish I could give you an answer. I don’t know really what’s next apart from the touring plans that we have and hoping it’ll stay together and somebody wants to buy a ticket to see it.” . Well, I have a couple of reactions: First of all, I saw you guys – you guys actually played Bethlehem last summer, I guess it was – played our Musikfest festival. “That’s right, yeah – we’ve done it … well, we’ve played Bethlehem a few times over the years, yeah. Very nice.” Yes, and obviously the crowds loved the presentation. And if it’s a decision of whether people will come to see it, I think they will. “Oh yeah, yeah.” The other thing I have to ask is whether recording new stuff by The Moodies out there anywhere? Is it a possibility? “I don’t know, I just don’t know. And I’ve got a feeling that if … the trouble is, I think it would be just kind of solo recordings that you’d call Moody Blues, and I’m not sure that that’s fair to do anymore. We’ve done quite a bit of that, and that’s not really …I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the band. “But I think if there’s something new it’ll be in kind of an audio-visual format, and I think DVDs seem to be what there’s a demand for the group, and I can see that being the next step. If anything new comes out, it’ll be in that kind of format. “But I mean, listen, John, I’m in the center of it. You know, I’m the guy standing in the middle of The Moody Blues. And if I don’t know, then there’s nobody that can really help ya.” Yeah, that’s a good point. This is always an awkward question to ask but I have to ask it of groups that have such a legacy as you do: Do you ever reflect on what you’ve accomplished in all these years? I mean, how influential you’ve been and the music you’ve put out? I mean, do you ever look at it in those terms at all? “Uh, I find it hard to because we’re a group that’s often kind of gone under the radar. And we’ve traveled such a different road. I think that through the ‘60s and ‘70s, we were lucky to have a record company that didn’t insist on having an A&R guy standing over us, so it didn’t demand a lot of hit singles from us. So we were able to travel a kind of different road. “But then we didn’t really employ a publicist, either, so we didn’t become celebrities or personalities. It was such a long, slow thing. I mean ‘Nights came out in November of ’67, got to No. 1 in 1972. So everything kind of happened slowly. “But I do look back on the thing that I love most of all, that I can reflect and I’m proud of most, is the period in the ‘80s with ‘ Wildest Dreams’ and ‘I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.’ Because that was a wonderful time. I was straight and I was able to enjoy it and I wasn’t in some kind of race like we thought we were in the ‘60s, trying to get it all done before … ‘Cause people said, ‘Hey listen, it’ll be over tomorrow.’ That kind of thing. And so I really enjoyed that part of it, and I loved the ‘80s particularly for that. And to have a couple of those big videos. And I think the songs that we did then –or the audience that we developed then are probably the audience that stayed with us and that came down. “But I don’t look back, because I don’t see us listed in many peoples’ favorite bands or anything like that . But I do look back at some of the albums, particularly ‘Days of Future Past,’ and even though we can’t really take credit for the whole concept of that, I think it was changing – it changed things in the music business. Because we were taking stereo seriously, and it just happened to be at the birth of FM radio, and out stuff was perfect for it. Our stuff was much better recorded than anybody else in the ‘60s. “And I think everybody did listen – all the musicians listened to that album and thought, ‘Wow, we have to change the way we record. FM radio is coming in. And I think that that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of. Is that first album.” I have to admit I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. I think that you guys have been incredibly influential, and that album to my thought points that out. After that, it sort of opened up the possibilities of what you could do with music, with that type of music – merging classical elements into music. So I think you guys have an incredibly wide influence. “Uh, I hope so. I hope so, yeah. I think for some people, yeah, I agree with you. But I think it’ll be … we’ll be remembered for that album, probably. Probably, yeah.” So if it’s difficult to talk about new Moodies music, is there any possibility of you doing solo music after “Spirits of the Western Sky”? “Sure. I mean, I just did a video just recently of a string quartet version of ‘Story in Your Eyes,’ which is up YouTube now, and the reaction to that has been phenomenal. And I think I might investigate that more, because I’m with a couple of Italian guys who are … great kind of classical musicians that like that sort or crossover and a great young string quartet. And that’s an interesting avenue. “But I know that now that I have a label that’s supporting me and just saying, ‘We’ll take what you give us – just go out and do it,’ that’s a wonderful kind of safety net to have, really. I won’t be doing stuff in the dark or risking whatever to do it.” You mentioned the fact that The Moodies have played several times in our area. I know that you’ve played the State Theatre in Easton, Pennsylvania, several times. “Yes.” And you always get good response there. Do you have any memories of those concerts or of Pennsylvania in general? “You know, it’s always been a strong hold for Moodies, which is why the promoters are always happy to see us and they’re always phoning up and saying, ‘Are you coming out?’ you know, kind of thing. ‘Do you want to do something?’ But I think it always has been, right from the beginning, right from when, in the ‘60s, we came through there on a tour with Humble Pie, and we came with Cream on their farewell tour, and Canned Heat –we were opening for other people. “But I think it’s always been such a strong music area. It seems you can do a gig that’s 70 miles down the road, and you’ll still pull a crowd from last night’s concert. That’s why we’re asked to come back. “And the Bethlehem thing, first of all, is impressive in its location and that whole industrial thing around it is interesting, too.” Anything else? “John, how kind of you. I think you’ve covered it. All I’m trying to do is sell a few tickets and some DVDs. But it’s a show that’s full of love, an if you want to hear the story of what’s behind some of this stuff, then this is the place to come. These are like my own original demos for these songs, so that’s the point I’m trying to get across. “And also, I want to spread the word about Mike Dawes. He’s one of the finest players I’ve ever seen. One of the new generation of British guitar players that is really making a name. I shall be lucky to hold onto him in the next year or so, that’s for sure.” JUSTIN HAYWARD, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Musikfest Cafe, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. Tickets, $52, $67, www.steelstacks.org, 610-332-3378. ALSO, 8 p.m. Monday, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia. Tickets: $75 (other areas sold out), www.worldcafelive.com, 215-222-1400.

sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk Veteran rocker Justin Hayward is pretty happy with life. He may be the frontman of The Moody Blues, but he is anything but grumpy. His talent for and love of music has given him a wonderful life – and his love of music shines through as he talks about being back on the road with the famous ‘Moodies’ as he calls them. “Music is always about enjoyment,” he says. “Every day of the Moodies had pressure on it. “It’s a serious business, but ultimately, I think music is trival. “However, it’s huge in my life and brings enjoyment to others.” The Moody Blues are on the road with Timeless Flight – The Polydor Years tour, which arrives at Sheffield City Hall next week. Justin says: “I hope there’s something for everyone in the set list. “We do songs from most of the albums. “The first half is stuff from the 1980s, the Polydor years, from Long Distance Voyager through to Sur La Mer. “The second half is the stuff you can’t go off stage without playing. “There’s something there in the set from every incarnation of the Moodies. “We have been exploring our catalogue of songs recently and we’ll be playing some songs on stage that we only experienced for a day or so in the studio the first time around.” With a string of hit singles – including UK number one Go Now and US smash hit Nights in White Satin – to choose from, there is something there in the set for every fan. And Justin is proud the band have kept their fanbase for so many years. “People love the music of their youth thankfully and that stays with them,” he says. “The songs young kids are falling in love to, that will stay with them. “We do get a lot of young people in the audience to see us. “There’s a lot of people who identify with the stuff we made when we were young.” And he admits he is proud songs such as Nights in White Satin, which he wrote, have stood the test of time. “I am just grateful some of the music we have made has lasted,” he says. “I am very proud and pleased with that. “However, the other side of that is that after Nights, people were asking: ‘Can you write another?’ “Sometimes, I thought I had, but sometimes you write music that people are into, and some they’re not.” And Justin has urged people to come out and see the show in Sheffield next week. “Dedicated Moodies fans will be out in force, and we love it,” he says. “I can say this is the best incarnation of this great band I have been in. “It’s certainly the happiest and truly faithful to the Moody Blues spirit. “How long will it continue for us? “I have no idea - none of us would have thought in our Wildest Dreams we would still be up there – but it’s a fabulous ride and as long as we’re still playing from the heart and the fans are with us I’m in.” The Moody Blues play Sheffield City Hall next Thursday, June 18. For tickets, priced from £41.50, visit www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.

CTNow.com Few bands get to enjoy a first act, let alone a second one. Somewhere near the post-"Sgt. Pepper" intersection of psychedelic and progressive rock, U.K.'s Moody Blues crafted memorable album-length statements like "Days of Future Past" (1967), "In Search of the Lost Chord" (1968) and "On the Threshold of a Dream" (1969), while cracking the charts with "Nights in White Satin," a pocket symphony that still sounds futuristic. But like a lot of 1960s bands, the Moodys struggled in the early 1980s. Producer Tony Visconti, who had already worked with Wings and David Bowie among others, was brought on board for 1986's "The Other Side of Life," their Polydor Records debut, and it worked; the album was a surprise smash, scoring two hits with "Your Wildest Dreams" and the sequencer-heavy title track. A couple of catchy videos later, the Moodys had recaptured their fans while reeling in a younger, MTV-primed crowd. Those crucial Polydor years are the focus of the current Moody Blues tour, which brings them to the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on Sunday, March 22. CTNow spoke with singer and guitarist Justin Hayward about the band's struggle to rebuild in the '80s as well as the legacy of the Moody's earlier prog-rock epics. CTNow: The current tour celebrates the Polydor years in the mid-1980s. What can you tell me about that time? Justin Hayward: Of course, it was wonderful to have success the second time around in your life like that, and to have such big success with a couple of really big hit singles. There's no doubt, from where I was standing, that we were in decline in about 1983. Ticket sales had really gone down. There was nothing really fresh in the band. The music business was moving so fast. It was very transient. One day, I had the good fortune to meet Tony Visconti, who I knew vaguely as a producer. We got together and did something for the BBC, and we hit it off so well that I persuaded the other guys that he would be the right producer for the band. The first thing we did with the band was "The Other Side of Life," and it gave us a huge record. The sound of the record, I think, just changed everything, and the way the people saw the group was in the sound. Suddenly we weren't a dated '60s and '70s band anymore. Sonically, the group had come right up to date. It was a wonderful time for us. I think a lot of people who came to the band in that period, around 1985 to 1987, are the people who are still with us today. That's the core audience for us. With "Your Wildest Dreams" and "The Other Side of Life," our audience grew immensely. We got back into big venues and selling out places, and we haven't looked back since. CTNow: What was it about Visconti's approach that made the band sound so good? JH: He was one of the first people who understood programming. I was doing things on MIDI in my own music room, and I was able to bring my own demos into the studio. Instead of remaking them from scratch with the group, I was able to use them as the basis for the songs, because I had time codes on them and everything. He was a keyboard player and a bass player, and he could see the value in keeping the spark and the original magic of any of our demos of any of our songs and including them in the final recordings. It was magic. He worked very, very quickly. The album before, which was called "The Present," there was one song on it that took 13 weeks to record. With a lot of cocaine going down, or whatever, it was just insane. We needed a big shake-up. Tony worked from 11 in the morning until 7 at night, and that was it, and it was intense. At five past seven, he'd be out the door, and you'd be thinking, "I'm actually exhausted, but I've had a great day." That's what he brought to the band. He was like a time-and-motion-study bloke of the perfect order. He was a legend. He would come in at 10 a.m. every morning to meet people who'd made the pilgrimage to come and meet him, obviously because of the work he'd done with David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He had a lot of young fans of his own who'd make the pilgrimage to come and see him. I'm pleased to still be very close to him today. CTNow: Looking back even further: the Moody Blues worked with orchestras and made gestures toward classical music. Does the band get credit for those innovations? JH: I'll leave that one alone. I don't have any feelings about it, and I don't have any regrets about it, because getting credit for something is not what I really yearn for. The fact is that we've gotten to the age we're at and we can still sell out venues. I'm very lucky to have a great solo career and a great label for my solo stuff. I'm not really worried about that. But I'm very grateful that, after all these years, I'm still there and able to do it, and to have a choice of what to do with my own solo acoustic show and the big productions of the Moodys. It's absolutely wonderful. CTNow: Rock musicians in the late 1960s were suddenly doing things that were previously unheard of. What gave you that license, that feeling that you could take rock music a little more seriously? JH: The most valuable commodity — still — in the music business is youth, and we had that on our side. We had a generation that we could rebel against, the one that was immediately before us, so that was hugely convenient. Also, it was the perfect combination of the days of the record companies having big recording studios with fantastic technicians and engineers. We found ourselves like the Beatles with EMI and Abbey Road with a label. After "Days of Future Past," our first record, there was a whole series of accidents. Nobody can claim that it was planned or anything like that. It just worked out that way. But it caught the imagination. Decca, our record company, had these wonderful recording studios, mostly to do with classical music and middle-of-the-road artists. But literally, the chairman of Decca, Sir Edward Lewis, who was a lovely man, did come and see us, and he said, "I don't know what you're doing, but people really love it, so just get on with it. Here's the studio. Just do what you want. You can have lunch, dinner and tea in there. It's yours all day long." For us, it was like being kids in a toy shop. It was wonderful for us. I think a lot of groups in the 1960s who were given that great gift — the Beatles, of course, were like that, and the Kinks — had these wonderful places available to them, and it gave you time and space to think about creative kinds of things. And of course, the album was becoming the format that people really loved. CTNow: Was there a sense that you had a bigger canvas — the album — to express your ideas? JH: It was certainly the turning point of people buying stereo systems, and albums became the thing to record. I feel for artists nowadays. I'm guilty of it myself, just buying singles again, like I did when I was a kid, listening to Buddy Holly or the Everlys or something, and not really giving enough attention to people's albums, or buying them as a unit. We tend to buy singles again now, don't we? A lot of times we don't even know who they're by. We just Google the first line, or something, that we like, and we buy it. But the 1960s and '70s — and we were lucky to be in the forefront of that — was the time when people were interested in albums. You'd go around to somebody's house or apartment and you'd play the whole album. It was a great time, and we were very lucky to be a part of it. CTNow: The upcoming tour: you're going all the way through June, and you're going to be in both the U.S. and the U.K. You've mentioned in interviews that U.S. audiences tend to be louder. Is that true? JH: Yes, I think that's a cultural thing, which is very nice. You're a member of the greatest nation on Earth: speak up! I'm doing a solo tour in the summer, just me and my guitar player Mike Dawes, who's a fabulous player, and I'm a little bit worried to be in Europe and the U.K. I know how quiet they are. You can hear a pin drop. But it's always refreshing; America is the land of our heroes. It's the home of rock and roll music, and I think people are used to going to concerts and experiencing that energy in the U.S., and that's a wonderful thing to share.

Justin Hayward spoke with Alan Thompson on BBC Radio Wales which originally was broadcast on March 15th. Alan explores Justin Hayward's new album and celebrates the seventieth birthday of guitarist Eric Clapton. Justin's segment begins at about 21:38. LISTEN HERE.

Parade.com Music legends don’t come along every day, so I am always thrilled when one decides to take a moment to share his or her journey with me. But when Justin Hayward, the legendary Moody Blues’ guitarist and vocalist joined me for my podcast Whine At 9, I was happily caught off guard. Gifted musicians specialize in making magic for their audiences, and Hayward is no exception. However, Hayward’s wisdom, unique sensitivity, eloquent disclosure, and artistic passion made me feel as though I’d been chatting with a dear friend who happened to be a philosopher– oh yeah, and a rock icon. No doubt, these characteristics have been a driving force in his career longevity and the continued synergy of The Moody Blues. In a revealing conversation, Hayward shared with me his journey with the band, the mystery behind writing hit songs, the inspirational conflict behind Nights in White Satin, and a solo tour that will precede the upcoming “Moodies” tour. Watch a video of Justin Hayward’ s solo performance of Nights in White Satin here. It is difficult to imagine The Moody Blues as a startup, but when Justin Hayward joined the band in 1966, there was no flashy stage show or fleet of tour buses. Says Hayward, “Suddenly I found myself in the band. And off we went– You know really with no money, but we did have a van that we could put our equipment in. Actually– I was the only one with an amplifier at that time, but we made due. And we went to Belgium and got some gigs. And that’s how we started really.” And while some fans may believe that the infamous group quickly rose to fame, the climb to the top wasn’t an especially speedy one. “Success didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure,” notes Hayward. “And the next big milestone really was recording our own material. Because when I came to The Moody Blues, we were a rhythm and blues band. I was lousy at rhythm and blues– I think the rest of us were. The two guys who were good at it had left (the band). And anyway, I was persuading the other guys to include some of my songs in the set, and so was Mike (Pinder). But then our break came about a year later when we’d written a stage show which was all our own material and we were doing that on stage. And we got to record that for Decca (Records). And that became an album called Days of Future Passed with (songs) Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon. But still, the success and any royalties and any fame or fortune took maybe 5 years. Even Days of Future Passed, even though it was released in 1967, it didn’t get to #1 in America until 1972. So through those ‘60s years, we were pretty kind of hard up.”

The Moody Blues - The Polydor Years

DURATION: 04:31 Moody Blues legend Justin Hayward on his new CD and DVD.

Live Nation is delighted to announce the ‘Timeless Flight 2015’ Tour from The Moody Blues, one of the most enduring, creative and consistent groups in the world. Tickets go on sale on 19 September 2014 from www.livenation.co.uk or www.ticketmaster.co.uk. VIP Packages go on presale Wednesday 17 September at 9am at Ticketmaster.co.uk HERE. Their remarkable music has enthralled generations of fans since the 1960’s and their recorded legacy contains some of the most important and ground breaking work in the history of popular music, having generated over 55 million sales throughout the world. The Moody Blues - Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge - carry on their magical musical legacy from generation to generation, year after year. The legacy of The Moody Blues continues to live on, as the band tours throughout the world, delighting their loyal fans. Justin Hayward said, “We are always so happy to be returning to the UK to play. All of these venues are dear to us and many, like the New Theatre Oxford and Newcastle City Hall, are the gigs we remember fondly from our youth when we played them as headliners for the first time. We felt then that we had really 'made it' at last and all our work had paid off. Dedicated Moodies fans will be out in force, and we love it. We have been exploring our catalogue of songs recently and we'll be playing some songs on stage that we only experienced for a day or so in the studio the first time round. They work brilliantly. We believe there's something for everybody in our show and we are playing songs from just about every album. I can say this is the best incarnation of this great band I have been in. It's certainly the happiest and truly faithful to the Moody Blues spirit. How long will it continue for us? I have no idea - none of us would have thought in our ‘Wildest Dreams' we would still be up there - but it's a fabulous ride and as long as we're still playing from the heart and the fans are with us I'm in!" John Lodge said, “Our Timeless Flight Tour returns to England and Wales in 2015. It is always special to me to be on stage in the UK. Every city on the tour seem to welcome the Moody Blues as their own, this is a very special feeling. To everyone who has been on this journey with us… Thank you”. A legendary band with an enviable repertoire and reputation, The Moody Blues remain one of the top-grossing album and touring bands in existence. Graeme Edge explains the continuing popularity of the group thus; “It’s all about the music. The music is everything for us. We’ve always put the music before anything else, and that’s why I think we’ve been able to endure for so long.” JUNE 2015 Sat 6^th Plymouth Pavilions Sun 7^th Cardiff St David’s Hall Mon 8^th Brighton Centre Tues 9^th Bristol Colston Hall Thurs 11^th Bournemouth BIC Fri 12^th London Eventim Apollo Sat 13^th Ipswich Regent Theatre Sun 14^th Oxford New Theatre Tues 16^th Manchester Apollo Weds 17^th Nottingham RCH Thurs 18^th Sheffield City Hall Sat 20^th Birmingham LG Sun 21^st Liverpool Philharmonic Mon 22^nd Newcastle City Hall Thur 25th Amsterdam Heineken Music Hall Tickets are priced at £41.50 regional and £48.50 London and can be booked online through www.livenation.co.uk or www.ticketmaster.co.uk (all tickets subject to a booking fee). VIP Ticket Packages will be available via www.Ticketmaster.co.uk