This review is a long time coming. 

This past September I trekked up to Daryl's House Club (Daryl Hall is the owner) in Pawling NY to check out Modern English. For those who don't remember, Modern English was part of the 2nd British Invasion in the early 80's with their hit, "I Melt With You" which got considerable airtime on MTV. And lest I forget, the montage scene from one of my all time favorite movies, "Valley Girl" (Yes, it is a guilty pleasure of mine). 

The tour was basically celebrating the 40th anniversary of the album, "After the Snow," which Melt is on. 

Yes, the average age of the crowd was 50 plus. The band is 60 plus, but it seemed like 1982 all over again. Fortunately, I was able to check out the setlist at setlist.fm and immersed myself into what they would be performing that night. 

What really got me wanting to see them is the incredible job the band did during the pandemic with a updated version of Melt. 

But seeing them in a club was a perfect setting. In fact I am starting to prefer small venues and clubs instead of arenas for shows now. 

ME put on a great show. Robbie Grey is a great frontman and his passion in his music and singing really made the crowd much more joyous. ME's guitarist, Gary McDowell, well how do I explain? Look at the photos. He changed quite a bit. But the love on his face of playing the guitar was something have only seen with Alex Lifeson. 

Since there is no more Rush, and the only Rush I can see are tribute bands, I want to see has much from "my day" as possible. Time is not on my side. All the acts I'd like to see are getting up there in age, one foot in the grave, or dead.

So February left with an interesting choice. Denny Laine was performing at City Winery in both Manhattan and Montgomery NY. John Lodge, the bassist from the Moody Blues was performing in Fairfield CT. 

I had seen Denny Laine in 2019 at Daryl Hall's club in Pawing NY with his band. He performed the first Moody Blues album and Band on the Run album in t's entirety along with other songs he did with Wings. Excellent show. It told the stories behind each song. But this year he it was just him and a guitar. 

But I had always enjoyed the Moody Blues and wished I had seen them. So the choice was made to see John Lodge. I am glad I did. 

The show was up at the Fairfield Theater Company in Fairfield CT. The setting was very intimate and scored 2nd row, dead center seats at the box office the night of the show. What's more, Lodge performed the Moodies album, "Days of Future Passed", in it's entirety. Jon Davidson from Yes who also happens to be Lodge's son in law came out to sing songs from that album as well as the encore, "Ride My See-Saw."