The Moody Blues

Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters I've written,
Never meaning to send.
- The Moody Blues -

Yesterday, our stay-cation found us at Ontario Place. The tickets we had for an 8 o'clock performance of The Moody Blues granted us free admission to the grounds of Ontario Place. We decided to make a day of it and enjoy the sunshine and warm weather at the lake. An unpredicted afternoon shower caught us a bit off-guard but when the sun came out, it was hot and delicious.

What wasn't delicious, however, was Ontario Place. We could find only one sit-down restaurant with okay food. We sat on the patio among the peeling paint and the tall weeds in the patio cracks and garden. Cinesphere was the only attraction we could find that offered anything for guests over twelve-years-old. The movie "Hurricane on the Bayou" was good, if somewhat depressing. The $15.50 price tag for our two admissions to Cinesphere bought us forty-five minutes of entertainment. We were at a loss as to what we would do for the next three-and-a-half hours. So, we walked, found a bar and sat down to people watch.

The Ontario Place crowd is pretty interesting. The daytime crowd is mostly young families. About a third of the women (and some of the girls as young as seven) wore Islamic head coverings. Some sported coats to their ankles. One was draped in full cover, with only a small slit for her eyes. The men and boys accompanying these women and girls mostly wore shorts and t-shirts. I saw one orthodox Jewish family - men with yarmulkes and prayer shawls tied at their waists, women in long sleeves, skirts to their ankles and bad wigs. No matter which faith these people are practicing, it's got to be awfully hot to be a woman.

Once the evening hours came, the geezers began arriving to see The Moody Blues. Lots of them sported t-shirts from previous concerts. I suspect some of them were purchased in the 60s. The vast majority of the crowd was pushing sixty. I don't think I've ever seen so many grey ponytails on men in one place. Merv was convinced we were younger than most of the crowd but I think it's all in the eyes of the beholder. Those people were probably looking at us and thinking we are much older than they are.

The Moody Blues played a great concert to a well behaved and appreciative crowd. At one point during the first half, someone lit a funny smelling cigarette (apparently thinking this is still 1969) but security and the police intervened quickly and the smell disappeared after only a few minutes. The band played all of their classics. When they played "Knights in White Satin" they brought the house down. The concert ended and we were home and in bed by 11. A perfect evening for geriatric hippies.