Moody Blues’ Bassist Lodge Takes ‘Singer In A Rock And Roll Band’ Show On The Road For 17-City Tour

PLYMOUTH, NH — One of classic rock’s most beloved songwriting-bassists will be launching a tour later this month, showcasing songs from the earliest days of his nearly six-decade repertoire.

John Lodge, the bass player for The Moody Blues, will be in the United States in July, August, and December, performing a new show called “Singer in a Rock And Roll Band,” which will feature songs by the band from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, before the MTV days. During the past few years, Lodge has been touring while performing “Days Of Future Past” and thoroughly enjoyed it. After suffering a stroke in late 2023, he was determined to make sure he kept his band’s music, especially the early stuff, alive.

“I think that was the most productive years, for us, for creating music,” he said. “I know we had hits after that. But up until then, it was the five of us or the four of us in a band, creating the music, and that’s what I wanted to do on stage.”

Jon Davison of Yes, who is married to Lodge’s daughter, will be singing some songs and also offering those complicated, thick vocal harmonies featured in the band’s early offerings. Lodge said he was, really, just a singer in a rock-and-roll band: “That’s who I am.”

Solo songs, he said, were for him, not the band, emphasizing this tour was about preserving the band’s history.

Listen to the complete interview with John Lodge, including music clips, at SoundCloud.com.

“This tour will be all Moody Blues (songs),” he said.

MTV, Lodge readily admitted when asked, changed the band, as it did the entire industry in its infancy. In fact, he agreed with the statement that every time the band would take a break and come back, the music business would change. The one thing that kept them vital was the constant touring and attempting to replicate the sound of the band’s albums live, especially after expanding with orchestration.

Lodge said Decca, the band’s early record label, and the band itself realized an orchestra was needed early on. Mike Pinder “really mastered the mellotron,” he said, and with flutist Ray Thomas, guitars, bass, and drums, and those soaring voices, they were almost like a small orchestra.

“We were almost there, doing it, and because of the harmony structure in the vocals in the band, we spread out those,” Lodge said. “It all added up to, we needed an orchestra.”

2025 Tour Dates

• July 19: The Vogel, Red Bank, NJ
• July 20: Newton Theatre, Newton, NJ
• July 23: Scottish Rite Auditorium, Collingswood, NJ
• July 24: Wind Creek Casino, Bethlehem, PA
• July 26: Lynn Auditorium, Lynn, MA
• July 27: Infinity Hall, Hartford, CT
• July 29: The Flying Monkey, Plymouth, NH
• July 30: JPT Film & Event Center, Newport, RI
• Aug 1: MCL Pavilion, Newport, KY
• Aug 2: Agora, Cleveland, OH
• Aug 6: Arcada Theatre, St. Charles, IL
• Aug 7: Des Plaines Theater, Des Plaines, IL
• Dec. 4: PacSun, Cerritos, CA
• Dec. 6: Uptown Theatre, Napa, CA
• Dec. 7: The Magnolia, El Cajon, CA
• Dec. 13: Tower Theatre, Oklahoma City, OK
• Dec. 14: Austin Theatre Alliance, Austin, TX

All members of the band wrote songs.

Both Pinder and Thomas, who have passed away, as well as drummer Graeme Edge, contributed mixes of poetry and odd sounds while Lodge and singer-guitarist Justin Hayward, for the most part, churned out most of the hit singles.

Lodge, though, denied there was ego or competition involved with Hayward, even if it seemed like it to the ordinary fan when looking at the songwriting credits. He said each member worked on their material and brought things to the band. It was like walking, he said — your left foot does not tell the right foot what it is doing; it just does what it must do. Both mates played off each other, working toward creating new and better music with each album.

“We added to each other all the while,” Lodge said. “It seemed to work.”

The working relationship led the band to release 16 studio albums, an EP, eight live albums — including ones with full orchestras, and dozens of singles and compilation albums. Sales tracking surveys report the band had 18 of those albums reach gold (500,000 units in sales) or platinum status (1 million in sales), leading to more than 70 million albums sold across the globe.

During the 2025 tour, Lodge will be performing classics from the band’s first seven albums. Songs fans can expect to hear with his 10,000 Lights Years Band include “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band),” “Isn’t Life Strange,” “Ride My See-Saw,” “Gemini Dream,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Nights in White Satin,” “The Voice,” and other hits and album tracks.

For more information about Lodge and his tour, visit JohnLodge.com.

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