moe., which played Lawrence's Liberty Hall on Friday night is way too good a band to remain marginal for much longer. Already every bit as good as Phish ever was, moe. Appears poised to assume the mantle of preeminent hippie darlings during Phish's hiatus.
Though their latest release, "Dither" appears more song-oriented than a jam-fest, moe. remains commited to the jam concert blue print that they, like so many other bands adopted from the Grateful Dead.
Rob Derhak and Al Schnier of moe. performing Friday night at Liberty Hall.
Break it down. Spring tour is scheduled during spring break, so hardcore fans can tag along from town to town. They allow taping and set aside a section of seats for that purpose. They play two sets without an opening act. The first set is about an hour and features shorter, crisper tunes and concludes with a more open, exploratory song. The second set clocks in around two hours and is almost entirely built on improvisational songs.
They work without a written set list, from an extended repertoire, leading fans to speculate on the evening's musical fare and ponder what's off the table, having already been played too recently.
This road map to jam happiness worked for the Dead and continues to work for jam bands playing at all levels because it provides a certain narrative, a visceral arc of building energy, finding the center, releasing that energy, resting, then doing it again only in a much bigger way. For a crowd of fans looking to groove in their heads, shake their butts, or both, this is a great way to present large swaths of interesting music.
Opening its set with a faithful reading of Pink Floyd's "Money" just warm up and grab the audience's attention, moe. then dove into "Stranger Than Fiction," driven along by funky boogie of Rob Derhak's bass. After the loping ballad "Gone," the band explored "Happy Hour Hero," which showcased guitarist Chuck Garvey doing his best George Benson impression as he scatted along with his guitar solo, and a solo where standout guitarist Al Schnier was practically channeling the late Jerry Garcia.
moe. continued with the goofball breakdown "Seat Of My Pants, which is at times a reggae tune, a funk metal explosion and an open ended jam. They closed the set with an extend, intense jam during "Sensory Deprivation Bank" after building a substantial head of steam.
Following the break, moe. eased back into the groove with the acoustic guitar and mandolin based "Blue-Eyed Son." They followed this with "Faker" from their latest release, which begins as a ballad, eases into an uptempo jam and settles in to a relaxed, groove for some exploration wich segued seamlessly into the song "Head" during which percussionist Jim Loughlin picked up a second bass to augment the groove.
During "Head,: moe manages to bring the tune back down from a dynamic, expansive improvisation to the nub of a tight little song, and then onto some very trippy noodling with Garvey kneeling amongst his effects pedals, and Schnier playing with an electronic "bow" in lieu of a guitar pick.
During "Livin' Again" it became evident that while Schnier isn't gifted with the best pipes, the band's attention to vocal harmonies is considerable and to good effect.
Like all the songs in the second set "Time Ed" opens up for extended soloing and group improvisation. It begins with a latin beat for some relaxing decompression, quickly followed by Loughlin and drummer Vinnie Amico's all too short percussion and drum break. The rest of the band rejoined the fray and the groove dropped away for some serious space music. As the rhythmic foundation was rebuilt, Schnier began to play some beautiful North African flavored motifs. Towards the end of the song Garvey and Schnier performed a twin lead guitar part that would have done the Allman Brothers proud.
The set closed with the energetic exploration of "Rebubula." moe. return to play Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" as an encore.
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