Music | October 19th, 2016
By Jack Stenerson
jackstenerson@gmail.com
My dad first saw them in 1971. I first saw them in 1997. This will be his 11th time and my 5th time. The Moody Blues return to Fargo Thursday, October 20th at the Scheels Arena.
For a band that started in the mid-60s, still touring regularly in 2016 is impressive. I remember my dad and I driving to see them in 2007 at Moondance Jam and saying “This will be the last time we see them.” We got the chance to meet them at that show (my second time meeting them and my dad’s third) so we thought it was a perfect ending to seeing a band that meant a lot to our family. The same thing happened when we went to see them at Bluestem in 2011. We thought that had to be the end of them touring, but here we are in 2016 and we get to see them “one last time” again.
The Moodies have been my dad’s favorite band since the 60s. He drove down to see them in Minneapolis for the first time during his senior year of high school in 1971. He saw them at the Oakland Coliseum in 1974 when he was in the army. He always talks about the time that he saw them in 1978 and immediately could tell that founding keyboardist Mike Pinder wasn’t there by the model of the keyboard. When I was born in 1990, he brought in a cassette player and made sure that their song “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” was the first piece of music I ever heard.
When they played Fargo for the first time in 1994, I was too young to go to the concert but we went to the airport the morning after so I could meet them. We have photos of me playing peek-a-boo with drummer Graeme Edge. As we were leaving he said “Jack, this doesn’t mean anything to you right now, but someday it will.” He was right about that. When I finally did get to see them in 1997 we had second row seats. I was on my dad’s shoulders during their song “Story in Your Eyes” and singer Justin Hayward looked right at me. I convinced myself that he recognized me and bragged about it long after.
To make a long story short, catch my dad and I in the front row at The Scheels Arena Thursday, October 20th singing every word. We’re both pretty sure this will be “the last time”, but we’ll be saying that the next time too.
IF YOU GO
The Moody Blues
Thursday, October 20, 8pm
Scheels Arena, 5225 31st Ave S, Fargo
January 12th 2026
September 16th 2025
August 19th 2025
June 9th 2025
February 18th 2025
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