Customer Reviews

The Moody Blues: Live at the Isle of Wight, 1970

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4 star:		(7)
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A special thanks to Eagle Rock Entertainment for releasing this dvd. If you are a fan of the core 7 albums and the five members who created that wonderful music, then you are going to love watching this dvd. For me, the Isle of Wight concert was basically England's version of Woodstock with over a half a million people attending.

The band's performance is a little rough around the edges, but you can see how all five members show their delight and excitement and even a little fear in performing in front of that huge audience. Especially fun to watch perform is Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge. New interviews with the members are included (miss Ray). The interview with Mike Pinder talking about and demonstrating the mellotron is fascinating.

Also fun to watch is the band performing songs that are not currently on their tour lists (Gypsy). Currently, at the end of their concerts, John Lodge always thanks the audience for following them on their journey, and it is wonderful to have this recording taken from around the beginning of that journey.

So if you are a fan of British rock or a die-hard fan of the Moodies, this dvd is a must have. Especially if you are one of the Troubadour (Justin Hayward) fans.

This is a wonderful historic concert performed by the band during the time that a lot of people think that they were at the peak of their career. It is so good to see archive performances from this period finally becoming available.

Preceding the concert there is a 20 minute documentary including interviews with Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Graeme Edge, and Mike Pinder, most of which were taken from 1998. Believe or not, Mike does pull out his old mellotron. Also, a valuable comment was made by Justin, where he mentions there are no other "real" live video recordings of them from this period. By "real" I believe Justin means that this is an auctual raw performance, rather than being lip-synched. This was the case with the previously released Live in Paris '70, but not with this one.

Setlist on the concert portion of the DVD includes Gypsy, Tuesday Afternoon, Never Comes the Day, Tortoise and the Hare, Question, The Sunset, Melancholy Man, Nights in White Satin, Legend of a Mind, and Ride My See Saw. Video & audio portions of still other songs from the performance, such as Minstels Song and Are You Sitting Comfortably, due appear in the documentary portion, but not in their entirety. The complete set can be obtained on audio by purchasing the previously released CD or MP3 download of the performance.

I encourage prospective buyers to not be discouraged by the fact that the setlist is incomplete. The simple fact that this is available at all that makes this DVD valuable, as endorsed by Justin himself.

This is a rare look at the Moody Blues live in 1970. It is not a highly polished performance like their studio albums,but it is very good nonetheless. It starts with a 20 minute intro with present interview footage of John,Justin,Mike&Graeme,but sadly without Ray. The most interesting of this is Mike's demonstration of the mellotron and its interior workings. Next comes about an hour of actual concert footage. Most of the concert is excellent,with the weakest song being "Tortoise and the Hare". To be honest,the mellotron is extremely hard to play live,and Mike gives it his best shot. " Melancholy Man" is an absolutely blistering performance. Other standout performances are "Never Comes the Day","The Sunset",and "Legend of a Mind". The encore,"Ride My Seesaw",is a compilation of footage from various concerts. Some of the concert film was lost,and this is most likely the reason for this. The dvd has only 10 songs,while the cd has 14, due to the fact that some film footage was lost [as mentioned in the dvd booklet]. After the concert are present day reflections from the band [once again ,no Ray]. The end of the disc has Graeme reciting "Late Lament". This is an excellent look at early Moody Blues live. An absolute must for Moodies fans and for anyone who likes rock concerts that don't sound like they were done in the studio. There are no overdubs....this is a great raw performance.

What a treat for us fans of the real, legendary Moody Blues, at their peak, when Mike Pinder still graced the stage with Justin Hayward and the others. The Moodies produced seven wonderful albums between 1967 and 1972 before Mike Pinder left the band (and took the magic with him) and the rest of the guys carried on in a decidedly different musical direction. They were "The Moody Blues" thereafter, playing along with various keyboard players, drummers, extra singers and orchestras, to much acclaim and financial success. Plenty of videos of this whole extravaganza, for sure! But until now never any video of the real Moodies. So this DVD is priceless. Watch it and enjoy the Moody Blues live. And maybe, just maybe, this release might inspire the five Moodies to get together one more time for a concert reunion. There aren't many bands left from the 60s-70s with all their members still around, but the Moody Blues are all still with us. So how about it Mike, Ray, Justin, John and Graeme? Please?

Although lots of the footage seems to be recycled and some of the songs are a bit wobbly and out of tune, it is clear that the circa 1970 Moodies were a fearsome live act despite their hugely produced studio work.
I was simply floored to see Graeme Edge wail on the drums. Who would have thought it? Justin's voice is stellar and his classic 335 sounds great through those old Marshalls and Hiwatts. Mike Pinder wrestles his Mellotron into submission and evokes the grandeur of their recorded material, and John Lodge is as great a bassist live as on the albums.
Ray, well, he adds his flute where it should be and jumps with glee when he's waiting to. Buy this and enjoy! 600,000 hippies can't be wrong.

i want to commend the producer of this dvd concert. i have lots of moody blues concerts from the later dates but this is a keeper.. It is a concert brought back to life from 1970 which was done at the Isle of Wright which is like a woodstock concert here in america but only one band is performing in this one. The picture quality is good & the sound is excellent too.. songs on this dvd include Gypsy, Tuesday afternoon, tortoise & the hare, question, the sunset, melancholy man, nights in white satin, legend of a mind.. encore is ride my see saw of course.. it is great to see these lads so young cause they used to be very private back then & still are but they sound just as great then as they do now.. i highly recommed this dvd to all moody blues fans...

There's so much audio and visual material available chronicling the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, and all of it bears witness to a chaotic weekend. The Moody Blues played to a massive crowd at a time when festival PAs were in the development stage and on-stage foldback was a relatively recent innovation. Add to that an atmosphere of tension and aggression (see the "Message To Love" DVD) and it's a wonder so many great sets were played over that weekend.
The Moodys seem to be struggling at times - it looks as if they're not always able to hear their voices over the blast of the amps behind them - and during "The Tortoise & The Hare" Mike Pinder's mellotron is shockingly out of tune, and the vocal harmonies sound like three drunk footballers shouting into a bucket. However, overall they play a fine set. The musicianship is tight, the singing is usually very good and the Moodys themselves appear to be enjoying the experience. By that time they'd released five of the classic seven albums of their prog rock period, so they have a lot of great songs to choose from.
The DVD starts with an excellent introduction, comprising recent interviews with Justin Hayward, John Lodge & Graeme Edge, which helps set the context for those of us who weren't there.
There's always something poignant about viewing historical footage, and seeing the band at the top of their game (all of them had been playing live for many years), and still so very young, is quite a contrast with the band of today.
The sound quality is very reasonable, as is the picture. Sometimes the audio and visuals don't match - I guess some of the film stock didn't survive the decades - but that's a very minor complaint. It's a great DVD. I recommend you buy it.

This video is a treasure. The audio and video is excellent, and the additional current interviews add greatly to the enjoyment of seeing this show.

I was at Woodstock in 1969 and just returned from the 40th anniversary, so I was recently transported back in time, more due to reconnecting with old friends. The Moody Blues have always been one of my favorite bands and it's really a shame they werent' at Woodstock. The music this group produces is wonderful, but beyond the music is a soul and connection this group is able to convey and draw its listeners (participants) in to, and connect on a much higher transcended level.

This DvD is an absolute must have for any Moody Blues fan, but also for any one that just enjoys great music and songs that are guaranteed to fill you with warmth, love, compassion, and take you higher.

This is a documentary of a great band at their peak. The soundtrack is wonderful; however, much of the actual film was lost and that is a pity. Still, something is better than nothing and if you enjoy the Moody Blues, you will like this DVD.

This is footage from the 1970 Isle of Wight. The editing is Top Notch. They went a step further and interviewed the Moody Blues today, including Mike Pinder who explains the workings of the Mellotron.