Denny Laine, founding member of The Moody Blues and Wings, celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Band On The Run at Nashville’s City Winery.

The pre-show buzz and chatter before Denny Laine and his band took the City Winery’s stage served to create a palpable environment as fans shared conversations about meeting Laine in the past as well as songs they hoped they’d have the chance to hear played live in just mere moments.

Laine is currently touring to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Wings Over America, which includes a live performance of the band’s signature album Band on the Run. He was greeted with a raucous ovation as he and his tour mates took to the stage and launched into the opening track off of the album’s namesake, “Band On The Run.”

Without missing a beat “Jet,” “Bluebird,” and Mrs. Vanderbilt” followed in rapid succession as Laine rolled thru the Band on the Run album track-for-track.

Throughout the course of the evening, Laine took short interludes to convey whimsical tales about the origin of many of the songs that made their way onto Band on the Run.

Anecdotes about his personal experiences with Paul and Linda McCartney and the recording of the record in Lagos, Nigeria were balanced by performances of “Mamunia,” “No Words,” and “Helen Wheels,” the later named after McCartney’s Land Rover.

A brief tale about McCartney and the Picasso at his London flat preceded “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” before the band ended the first half of the set with “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five” to the roars of a mesmerized and bitched City Winery audience.

Laine returned to the stage shortly with only his guitar in hand to perform a solo acoustic version of “Ghost Of The Scrimshaw Carver” from a children’s book Laine wrote called Artic Song that he hopes one day to turn into a musical.

Laine also went on to perform an unplugged version of the Paul Simon track, “Richard Cory,” a cover he mentioned he started originally playing during 1976s Wings over America tour because he didn’t think anyone in the audience would recognize any of his solo material.

The second half of the set began with a brilliant take on a song from the first Moody Blues album originally recorded by James Brown and Famous Flames, “I’ll Go Crazy,” which promptly served to whip the City Winery crowd into a euphoric state of musical bliss.

“Time to Hide,” a song that appeared on Laine’s 1996’s solo record Reborn followed next, complete with Laine’s signature harmonica playing. Laine then launched into “Say You Don’t Mind,” a track off of his third solo release, 1980’s Japanese Tears, followed by a brilliant rendition of “Go Now,” a song first recorded by Bessie Banks and later re-recorded by the Moody Blues in 1964.

Laine and his band concluded the night’s festivities with an explosive rendition of the Wings’ classic, “Live and Let Die,” followed by the final song of the evening, “Spirits of Ancient Egypt,” a track that originally appeared on Wings’ fourth studio release, 1975s, Venus and Mars.

Following the performance, Laine took the time to speak with anyone and everyone that wanted a picture, autograph or even just to share a few moments with the legend.

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Denny Laine
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The City Winery
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Event Date: 21-Jan-2017