moe., 2/24-25/23, the Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

moe., 2/24-25/23, the Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

Happy moe.day ’23, to all those who celebrate, especially the moe.heads!  Ohh, this was the happiest of moe.days, as Chuck continues to make amazing strides in his recovery and the weather was finally an appropriate February single-digit + flurries situation, as it should be when one sees moe. in Albany.  It felt right. 

I’ve got a lot of thoughts on this one.  More than an instagram carousel’s worth, at least.  

2/24/23 FRIDAY

Timing on actual dinner plans was thwarted by the Friday commute, but I met up with Devito of Waterhole Legend to inhale some Skinny Pancake and One With Life tequila— and thank the goob larb I did, because shortly thereafter, I learned the Palace only stocks Hornitos, which is a terrible discovery once you’ve committed yourself to tequila for the night.  Our Server at Skinny Pancake asked which show we were in town for and I thought he was being sarcastic— but no— next door, there was a full Orchestra playing Taylor Swift covers at the Kenmore and across the street at Empire Live, there was a Shrek Rave.  Shrek Rave.  Yes.  What do YOU think it is?  Say “Shrek Rave” out loud and ask yourself.  It’s exactly that.  

Since 2/24 is the officially sanctioned moe.day, the City of Albany renamed N. Pearl Street, “moe.street”, which was pretty fucking cool.  The street sign became the weekend Step & Repeat.  A Duder from the City also read a whole decree before the show started, announcing 2/24, 25, & 26/2023, officially “moe. Weekend” in Albany.  All I heard was, “HEAR YE, HEAR YE, noweth you haveth to rageth HARDER.”

Do you love how I’ve gotten this far and managed to not mention Nate?  Have I mentioned the 4-night Pavement run I did last Fall?  AMAZING.  In January, moe. finally came out of the closet as a keyboard band and officially added Percy Hill’s Nate Wilson to the lineup in what has got to be one of the jamband scene’s longest running “Will They/Won’t They” plot lines.  moe., I love you for you.  Is there going to be a learning curve?  Certainly.  Have we been slowly conditioned to Nate over the past decade + 1 year (and Kirk Juhas before that)?  Most definitely.  Will I ever get used to the flute?  Real talk: I dunno.  I’ve mostly gotten used to a Xylophone. …

THE SHOW.  

Billy Goat was a nice start to get the crowd warmed up, but first set highlight was a super heavy and hearty Bearsong. Like the Chunky Soup of Bearsongs.  The Bearsong that eats like a meal.  So satisfying.  Chuck’s solo in Blue Jeans Pizza was beautiful.  And it was great to see Suke hop onstage to rock out for McBain.  Second set highlight was 100% Again And Again, love that song- glad they’ve dusted it off.  Al’s country ditties are precious gems.  Gimme a Time Again any day.  On that same beat - Letter Home encore was sweet and cozy.  

It wasn’t til after the house lights came up that we peeped the Teep all the way al.side in our row.  Did you peep a Teep?  The Teep had been peeped.  We schmoozed a bit before heading over the Suke Cerulo Experience ft. Members of Conehead Buddha (I dunno if that’s what it was called — it was roundabout that) at Empire Underground— but NOT before checking out the scene outside of the Shrek Rave and then getting little lost after following Vinnie down a dark, icy, alleyway.  Who amongst us hasn’t made this mistake? 

Suke band was fun, but that venue was harshly LOUD, even with earplugs.  It sounds like they found some empty space in a parking garage batcave and turned it into a club.  …  The back of the room was much easier to handle.  Eventually, I Irish Goodbye’d the whole lot of ya.  

Bless it’s soul, my hotel room’s window had an exterior privacy shade and there was no natural light coming in.  I have no idea how time passed outside of this disorienting cave.  Happy moe.day! 

I: Billy Goat > Bearsong, Crushing, Blue Jeans Pizza, ATL > Don’t Wanna Be > McBain (w/ Suke Cerulo)

II: Again And Again, Faker > The Road > Water > Downward Dog > The Pit 

E: Letter Home, Captain America

2/25/23 SATURDAY

The lobby coffee was surprisingly good.  I spent most of the day wasting time, petting dogs in front of the hotel, waiting for the Saturday batch of friends to arrive (from NJ & VT), and being too lazy to go find a suitable breakfast until eventually it was dinner time.  I went back down to the lobby to look out a window to see what kind of shoes I would need before heading out for the night (IT WAS SNOWING!!). 

Dinner at the Hollow was super yummy.  They put our table for 6 in that back room adjacent to the stage, where it looks like the Stonecutters have their monthly.  Gentlemen, to evil!  So many places fall flat on a Brussels appetizer, but this one was perfect: roasted to the point of melting and dripping in a sticky honey chili sauce— recommend!  Also had a mojito & super yummy Salmon w/ Rice & Cabbage like a fancy lady.  Psyched to have finally eaten there— will be doing it again for sure.  

THE SHOW.  

We got in to see most of Karina Rykman’s set.  If you’ve seen her play with Marco Benevento, you know she’s got an infectious bouncy happiness and is a lot of fun to watch.  That’s the vibe her band serves.  

Then the moe.ness.  First set was a high energy scorcher - great setlist.  Highlights were a booming Seat of My Pants, Sensory Deprivation Bank, and the Meat w/ a super groovy Rob Derhak x Karina Rykman bass duel.  It’s worth noting, I wish I had seen more of the set 2 opener, Punchline, but I was outside getting air.  This happens.  Highlight, as always, Rebubula.  Tie it all in a bow.  I don’t recall the flute solo in Plane Crash that so many .heads were up in arms about.  Perhaps they should eat more edibles. 

 

Next on the schedule was Midnight Sun, a Led Zeppelin tribute band featuring Vinnie Amico & Shannon Lynch, at Empire Underground.  UNCLE!  Despite the inevitable sound issues in that room, I am a huge Zeppelin fan and had to check this out.  It was a lot of fun, but MAN, the sound in that room was rough.  Additionally, it was here that a friend of mine had come to the conclusion that moe. and the city of Albany were involved in an underground human trafficking ring and this Led Zeppelin cover band in this parking lot structure at this very moment, was the center of the operation.  I was even more confident in my decision to pass on the homemade mushroom capsules he had offered me earlier in the night.  I stayed til the end and witnessed no human trafficking, but I did see moe.’s Tour Manager smuggle some leftover pizzas backstage.  Also, Paul Citone handed me a new drink at like 3am.  What is this, a Shrek Rave?  I drank most of it. 

I: Lazarus, Seat of My Pants > Sensory Deprivation Bank, Jazz Cigarette, Happy Hour Hero (w/ Shannon Lynch), Meat (w/ Karina Rykman)

II: Waiting for the Punchlin, Kyle’s Song > Puebla > Rebubula 

E: Plane Crash 

2/26/23 SUNDAY

After roughly 4 hours of sleep, I tried calling the front desk like 5 times to extend my check-out time, but they must have been completely over the whole moe.weekend extravaganza and never picked up, so I just hauled my ass out of bed and got my shit together.  Outside, the cold air smelled so so good — we haven’t gotten that smell downstate yet.  This winter sucked if you like winter, which I do. As a matter of fact, I love winter.  I took my sweet ass time cleaning snow off the car and hit the road, exhausted, but jonesing for the next show.  

moe.weekend, 2/24-25/23. Let’s do a 9 point something HUZZAHS. See you in BK. 

A friend who shall remain unnamed, told me he once used the reservoir in a hotel room Keurig to dip his razor into while shaving.  HONORABLE MENTION OF THE WEEKEND goes to my brand new Balbali travel-kettle, so I can make tea in hotel rooms without using a Keurig for gross hot water. $40 on amazon.  4 cups later and it still works!  

Thanks to the Tapirs!  Check out both moe. shows via relisten: https://relisten.net/moe