"Awesome Gary was a 7-10 split." -moe.
After the two night stand at Roseland, I was still jonesin' for a fix. I wasn't sure I could go a full 7 days (State Theater, Ithaca) without another moe. show. I realized how close Stroudsburg, PA is and considered a Wednesday night pick-me-up. But around 4pm on Monday, 1/25, those suit-crazy bastards announced a surprise show at Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday! moe., YOU CRAZY!
I couldn't sleep!!! <--- This is what happens!!! I had to be there. The rules: tickets were available at the door only, doors at 6pm, and a +1 for will-call was allowed. No one could agree on what time to get there. I thought 5-5:30 was a safe bet, but it was anyone's guess. Brooklyn Bowl is a venue/bowling alley owned/operated by the same wonderful folks who brought us the Wetlands all those years back, I was really excited to finally see it--- but I was more excited to see moe. play it.
Tuesday afternoon was crawling by and at 3:07pm I got a text:
I remained in phone communication with the troops and by 5:10pm was waiting on line with about 60 other moe.rons enjoying soundcheck. Gullo, el herno, & Josh arrived shortly thereafter. 6pm rolled around and the line was to the corner, we were safely in the first half--- but I was STILL paranoid... and I REALLY needed to pee.
5:45pm-ish
We finally got inside, claimed some couch space, and ordered some eats! Blue Ribbon Bakery does the food at Brooklyn Bowl and it's out-fucking-standing. I've heard great things about the fried chicken, but I went with a delicious chicken burger, el herno had the Slop Sloppy Joe and Gullo found gluten-free paradise on a plate. MANY HUZZAHS for the food and frozen margaritas! Awesome!
Gullo went and saved some space right up front on al.side (thanks, Gullo!), so that's where we regrouped. Someone had put a cardboard cutout drawing of Master Shake with a big phatty on the stage and once (Gullo?) paired with an empty pint glass & $1, it became al.'s tip jar*.
Peter Shapiro from Wetlands introduced moe. by saying, "We really wouldn't break (Brooklyn Bowl) in, until we had the boys from upstate. So, tonight- join us and let's break this motherfucker in! Please welcome moe.!" Cute. :) And so were moe.-- who were back in their dapper suits. Spectacular and yummy. I guess they're gonna try to do it all year!**
moe. took the stage and started layering Tubing The River Styx -> The Pit. Dark and awesome--- except for the whole "not being able to hear chuck. (guitar or vocals) from al.side.". Like a 7-10 split of sound, if you will. Totes boo!! This was basically the *only* problem I had with Brooklyn Bowl-- the sound. Word from chuck.side was that you couldn't hear al. either. Brooklyn Bowl may need to cover up all that pretty exposed brick for the sake of the music. To be completely honest with you, I had a great fucking time at this show-- but from the front of al.side, we had to watch chuck. in order to hear him.
Spaz, It, Okayalright-> Wormwood -> 32 Things, with the crowd singing loud enough to cover the missing vocals. We are a fun, adaptive, people.
al. came out for SET II and filled his tip jar with water. al. is subtle.
Tailspin shredded and then rob. declared, "I know why this place reminds me of the Wetlands, because you all used to go there... You're old... Take that." Aww. It comes from the heart.
They broke into Camper Van's classic, Take the Skinheads Bowling which was spirited and fun. Tambourine RULES and I heart it.
The Road was stellar, with al. playing the long single note into his guitar solo for approximately 30 seconds while he smiled and waited for the other guys to notice.
-> Akimbo-- which I was really psyched to hear-- until I realized I still couldn't hear chuck. sing or play. WHAT IS AKIMBO WITHOUT SATAN??! It's kinda flat and it's missing it's black soul. But the other guys sounded fucking awesome and once again the moe.rons filled in the holes. :) McBain was huge -> Brent Black--- awesome, loud (except for chuck.), and enjoyable. vin. was absolutely destroyin' it (in a good way)!
For the encore, Jim grabbed the mic for Farmer Ben- wow! Twice in 3 months? Then Awesome Gary brought us all back to Wetlands!!! I'm so psyched they busted this out! I hope it stays! Does this mean they'll start playing Ugly American again?!?
On the way out of the venue, I got a tap on the shoulder. "Were you my neighbor at moe.down? Is your name Lynn?" IT WAS SPAGHETT! And he wanted to clear something up. He somehow stumbled upon my m.d.x review where I mistakingly labeled his friend who was decorating the New Mastersounds stage, as him. Well, you can see how I confused the two, as they were all wearing the same shirt all weekend... Also, in my defense, it was moe.down.
But, here at lynnguppy.blogspot.com, we're all about retractions & apologies. So, just to clear this all up-- I learned something at Brooklyn Bowl: Spaghett's friend is the one with the bloody gash in his leg and Spaghett is the one in the U-Melt hat! Nice to see you again, Spaghett! Thanks for leaving the compression sprayer at home (or in the car)!
Spaghett!
Annnyways, for all the sound problems-- that whole pesky "not being able to hear 1/5 members of the band", it was still an awesome time. The food was stellar, the margaritas were strong, moe. were wonderful & happy, al. collected approximately $2 in tips, and it's beautiful to see the Wetlands people back in action. Maybe next time I'll get to bowl! moe., 1/26/10, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY: moe.***: 9 HUZZAHS! / sound: 3 huzzahs <-- I hope they can do something about that, cuz I'm planning on going back.
... now would I make it all the way to Saturday without suffering the m.DT's? Tune in next time to find out!
SET I
Peter Shapiro intro
Tubing The River Styx ->
The Pit ->
Drums ->
Spaz Medicine
It ->
Sticks & Stones ->
Okayalright ->
Wormwood ->
32 Things
SET II
The Ghost Of Ralph's Mom
Tailspin
Take The Skinheads Bowling
Tambourine
The Road ->
Akimbo
McBain->
Brent Black
ENCORE
Farmer Ben
Awesome Gary
Scott Bernstein taped--- and the beauty of this show's recording is that you can hear both chuck. AND al. together! It's like a whole new show! Thanks, Scott!
DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!!! http://www.archive.org/details/moe2010-01-26.tlm170.flac16
* Maybe he should have passed it around.
** snoe.down outside set?
*** chuck. is always awesome, whether I can hear him or not... though he is awesomer when I can.
1 comment:
Nice review Guppy! This was a really fun show -- but you're totally correct about the sound at Brooklyn Bowl. In its current incarnation it is absolutely more of a bowling alley and bar/bistro than a music venue. That said, there is a ton of potential -- even if its basically a hipster version of Dave and Buster's.
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