Moody Blues (with The World Festival Orchestra)
September 17, 1993
SDSU Open Air Theatre
San Diego, CA
"A Night At Red Rocks" Tour
8:00 PM
KeithM Master via JEMS


01 //Intro > Overture
02 Late Lament
03 Intro > Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)
04 For My Lady
05 Gypsy
06 Lean On Me Tonight
07 New Horizons
08 Say It With Love
09 Emily's Song -
10 I Know You're Out There Somewhere
11 The Story in Your Eyes > Break Announcement//
12 //Intro > Lovely to See You
13 Your Wildest Dreams
14 Introduction of the Orchestra > Isn't Life Strange
15 The Other Side of Life
16 I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)
17 Nights In White Satin
18 Legend Of A Mind -
19 Orchestra Introduction
20 Question
21 Encore Break
22 Ride My See-Saw//

// Faded In/Out
- Cut or Tape Flip

The Moody Blues:

Ray Thomas
Justin Hayward
John Lodge
Graeme Edge

With:

The World Festival Orchestra
Conducted by Larry Baird

Sue Shattock - Backing Vocals
Tracy Graham - Backing Vocals
Bias Boshell - Keyboards
Paul Bliss - Keyboards
Gordon Marshall - Drums and Percussion


Welcome to the third installment (of many to come) in our series of recordings made by San Diego and LA taper KeithM. He recorded hundreds of shows from the mid-80s to today and although we have only just begun this new series of his recordings, judging by the quality of the initial titles, we suggest you to be attentive to the future updates.

Our third KeithM release brings us the second show of the Moody Blues� "A Night At Red Rocks" tour with the World Festival Orchestra at the SDSU Open Air Theater in San Diego.

There is not much to say if you are already a Moody Blues fan, but in case you are not (or you are planning to get into their music), this recording will not disappoint you at all. Moody Blues is one of those groups (along with Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, The Kinks and others) that are faithful to the sound that they present in their official albums. Unlike many other bands, the studio versions of songs made by them (with accompaniments) are made with the purpose of being presented live to an audience with said accompaniments. Have you ever imagined Love's Forever Changes album without its beautiful accompaniments? Me neither.

I hope that with this introduction I have captured your interest. Trust me, you won't me disappointed. Samples provided.

Now, about the second night recording:

In contrast to the first show there are not MANY differences to highlight but the ones that exist are worth highlighting.

Like night one, KeithM�s night two recording is excellent and has two extra songs that were not played the day before: �I Know You're Out There Somewhere" and "The Story in Your Eyes.�

It seems that the taper sat in nearly the same place for both shows (or so I want to believe) because both recordings are very similar, the sound is enveloping and clear. If there is any difference between the two, the second night recording might offer slightly stronger vocals. It's really enjoyable.

I did address a few minor issues. Firstly, "Say It With Love" had some faults, a minor cut that was repaired (although it's still noticeable) and a portion of the song with volume problems where the sound is lost and takes the levels very low. When raising the volume of that portion to make the recording more balanced there is an obvious quality difference and hiss was increased, so I used a bit of treble cut to remove the hiss from said portion. That portion lasts only 15 to 20 seconds and although it is not something serious, I know that the collectors don't like to have surprises so it is noted here.

Elsewhere, there�s a tape flip after "Emily's Song" that gets hidden by applause and "Legend of a Mind" has a cut during the flute solo. I tried to hide it as much as possible and although it can still be noticed, the effect is minimal if you don't pay too much attention and just enjoy the recording. Other changes such as fades in and out are noted in the setlist.

Huge thanks to KeithM for graciously lending JEMS his masters. There are many more good things to come from him.

Last but not least, I thank the JEMS team for the opportunity they have given to me, allowing me to present to all of you many of the recordings of the archive.

frogster