For those end-of-fair Blues

Surrounded by classical music while growing up the son of a tenor and a professional pianist in England, Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge was always drawn to noisy songs with a lot of clanging and banging.

Rock ‘n’ roll emerged as he was growing up. His dream of making all that noise himself became a reality when he helped form the Moody Blues band in the mid-1960s.

On Sunday, the Moody Blues will wrap up the Pacific Amphitheatre’s summer concert series with Edge on drums, Justin Hayward playing guitar and John Lodge singing and playing his bass.

“It’s very gratifying and good to see all the fans going along with us, growing mature together,” Edge said in a telephone interview. “You see the regular faces out there and over the years come to recognize a few dozen of the most loyal fans.”

In 1967, the band released its first album, “Days of Future Passed,” an avant-garde conceptual album with a symphonic tone. The album’s single, “Nights in White Satin,” which was about four minutes long, paved the way for other long ballads.

“It’s just the music we felt inside us and the music we wanted to get at,” he said. “We were so stupid, we didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to be able to do that with an orchestra.”

Fourteen studio albums, three live recordings, two greatest hits albums, one boxed set and an anthology later, the band still endures despite having only three original members remaining. During a four-year hiatus in the 1970s, the band evolved personally and professionally, and reconnected with more passion and respect for each other.

“We used to be a tight-knit community as a band ? we lived in each other’s pockets, as all bands do,” Edge said. “With the advent of wives and houses, and later children, things separated a little ? I wouldn’t call it estranged ? but that heavy contact got lost a little.

“Starting about 15 years ago, we started growing back together in a different, more mature wa,y and it’s as good as it’s ever been,” he added.

Edge said all the bandmates remained friends and soon realized that recording solo albums, or with other bands, just didn’t jibe as well as the Moody Blues did at times.

“A couple of us went out and made solo albums ? I made two in fact ? and it also gave us a respect for each other,” he said. “Suddenly when you’re making it on your own, you realize the work of other people.”

The Moody Blues took a hiatus from touring this year, making this stop in Costa Mesa on the heels of a live CD and DVD release, “Lovely to See You: Live at the Greek,” recorded at a 2005 concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The band will appear at 1 p.m. today at Borders in South Coast Plaza to sign copies of the release for fans.

For more information about the Moody Blues, visit www.moodyblues.co.uk.