To purchase access to the concert, go to https://gonowmusic.com/go-now-live-stream-concert-event-usa/. We caught up with Marshall to find out more about the production and what fans can expect from the concert.
Q: Go Now! will benefit a local theater in Fairfield, the Fairfield Community Arts Center. Can you tell us about what we can expect from the live-streamed event?
Gordon “Gordy” Marshall: I played with The Moody Blues for 25 years and I’ve created this band called Go Now!, performing music of The Moody Blues as a tribute … We have some fantastic musicians involved. Most importantly, what’s unique about this live-steam, which differs from other live-streams that you would possibly see, is that we have partnered with sixty theaters, including 41 theaters in America and 19 theaters in the UK, and one-third of all the profits from the ticket sales are going directly to those theaters.
Q: Tell us about how the idea for this live-streamed concert with Go Now! came about? Is this your first live-streamed event?
A: With COVID-19 it’s a brand-new world. It’s always like the wild, wild West isn’t it? So, it’s making pioneers out of all of us. This is the very first time that we have undertaken a live-streamed event. We have recorded videos before, and we’ve done a lot of performances. This band has been together for five years. I left The Moody Blues five years ago, and we’ve been going for five years, so we’ve done a lot of live performing, so we are used to doing that. This is just an extension of that with some high-quality cameras in a theater, capturing everything that we do. So, this is brand-new to us, like it is to everybody.
Q: The concert will pay tribute to the music of The Moody Blues. What can fans expect from the show?
A: It’s going to be a very special evening. It’s a little bit like an orchestra. For instance, we have two people that play the guitar parts. We have two guitarists, two bass players, and a flautist that joins us every now and again. Typically, they are never all together on the stage at the same time. It comes down to availability, often. However, everybody’s going to be there, so at some points in the show, during this acoustic section, for instance, we do a couple of acoustic songs, where there are eight people on stage, singing, playing guitars and playing instruments. So, there will be more people on stage than a regular ticket-buyer would normally see.
Q: Why did you want to put this together to support local theaters like the Fairfield Community Arts Center?
A: The main reason is all of my musician friends have been dealt this blow of losing their entire income. We’re all in this together. I do see musicians doing live-streamed events for themselves with tip jar, which is great, but unless we do something to support these venues, we are going to have nowhere to play on the other side of this pandemic. So, it was really important to me to at least try and do something to help support the very venues that we want to come and play in…As much money as we can possibly raise needs to be raised in order to help these venues.
Q: You were the drummer in The Moody Blues from 1990 to 2015. What are some of the biggest things you appreciate now about being a part of The Moody Blues?
A: Well, one of the things is the realization of what a privilege, and I genuinely mean this, what a privilege it was to get the gig and be with them for so long, because their music, it’s not fashion music. They weren’t linked to any style. They are just great, very well read, very creative and very talented composers and writers, and they created a body of work that spans generations. This is why their music is still relevant today. When you listen to the lyrics, it still tells a story that’s relevant today. So, when I got the gig in 1990, I was only booked for a six-week tour, and it was going to be a nice, fun gig. Go away for six weeks, play a few big concerts, and that was going to be it, but then, they asked me to do the next tour, and the next tour, and suddenly, I was sort of brought into the inner sanctum. It’s sort of like being embraced by a big family.
About the Author