moe.schief night, 12/4/10, Washington Ave. Armory, Albany, NY

moe.schief night: the electric lemoe.nade acid test, 10/30/10 12/4/10,
The Washington Ave. Armory, Albany, NY


Due to a family emergency, moe. had to reschedule their 10/30 mischief night show to 12/4. However, the fan-picked theme, The Electric Lemoe.nade Acid Test, would remain in place. Each band member had written an original tune to help tie the theme together throughout the night. Son of Screaming Chicken announced our arrival to the great City of Albany via the parking garage at the Crowne Plaza.


Then he broke. Then we drank Coffee Patron over ice in coffee mugs, which was delicious but may have contributed to some eventual incidents... more on that later. After warming our marrow from the inside, we headed to McGeary's for some yummy dinner awesomeness. And then-- a sign from beyond?!?

Chicken McFistys??

The Crowne Shuttle happily drove us up to the Armory, which was stellar cuz it was fucking Upstate Cooold out! Getting inside was kind of a clusterfuck and people were already shitty. That's just the way Albany do, yo. There were lots of costumes, but mostly, in spirit with the particular theme of this evening, many folks seemed completely out of their gourds. This isn't gonna be that review, cuz that ain't my style. Though I did wonder what evil plans moe. had in store for those folks.

The Armory was jam-packed. I was already getting jostled around like it was a Ween show. You accept it and move on. Which is exactly why I decided to flee the crowd before the show even started and found a nice little nook near Scott Bernstein's rig.

They opened with a fun, dark, circusy, tune that had a Welcome-To-The-Big-Top-You-Guinea-Pigs feel. A Jim composition, with the best song title EVER: Chromatic Nightmare!! OOOH!!!! When you say it, you have to speak with a delightfully evil voice (I hear The Monarch). And Jim was on fiyah! Brilliant! Above on the backdrop, old skool psychedelic liquid skins were totally melting peoples faces. Not Coming Down -> Wormwood. moe. were getting their noodle on. -> a super moody, dark, and grooving Interstellar Overdrive. Wow-- really really good. That was a long time coming! The crowd was actually cheering them along as they hit every single twist and turn. So so so so good. -> a really fun transition to a great Moth! Nice. Then, Suck A Lemon, Chuck's new tune, which was as you'd expect, totally fucking awesome. Really fun with a great hook! Annnd Plane Crash. meh.


Setbreak, regrouping, people-watching, stuff. The crew played a Cheech & Chong song while simultaneously plugging the USB of the show as a Perfect Holiday Gift. Brilliant marketing.

Son of Screaming Chicken is feeling fat tonight.



Having absolutely no desire to deal with the massive amount of shitfaced people on the floor, I followed friends up to the bleachers at center-court, al.side. Genius.

The guys were still in their classy suits, but Rob had a pirate hat and Al had a wig on. No Refrain, the new Rob tune has a classic groove and wailing guitars- it was fun-- maaaybe needs some work if they plan on breaking it out again. Speaking of Rob- are we sure his ankle is really broken? That this wasn't all some elaborate plot designed so he can sit down in a Leather chair onstage while the other guys have to stand (except Vinnie)? Has anyone actually seen the X-Rays? Yeah, marinate your brain in that.

Laziest Bass Player Ever, not punching someone in the face.

A lovely Buster and there began the weirdness. Giant Ant Creatures in Lab Coats came out and started dancing next to the guys- a performance troop, Big Nazo would be dancing alongside moe. for SET II in the form of costumed weirdness. Let the Electric lemoe.nade Acid Test commence!


I'm pretty sure there was a storyline through the span of the set, but haven't heard any theories on it thus far. An alien Doctor/Scientist came out and removed the Ant/Space heads from dancing Ant/Space things. Those were then Monkey Things. Suddenly moe. were wearing crazy hat-masks. Then some sort of epic battle ensued where moe. were answering the Big Nazo's creature's injustice with shredding rock? We may have been under water at some point. But then more aliens on stilts gathered round, a few were humping onstage. It was very Sid & Marty Krofft-- Sigmund & The Sea Monsters/Lidsville/H.R. PufnStuf kinda bizarre. I spent a good portion of the evening laughing hysterically.



All's I know is that as soon as Rec Chem broke out, everyone started dancing and getting along. Aww, they've found something in common! There's a lesson here! And that lesson is: This is exactly why I don't do acid anymore. It was fucking weird enough without it. The dude sitting directly in back of us spent most of the set with his head in his hands, between his knees. That looked awesome.


Weaved in between all that madness- moe. played a fucking killer SET II. This included an EPIC Meat -> Mar-Dema (new Vinnie song that blew everyone away) -> Meat. I'm unsure if Mar-Dema was written specifically to sammich into Meat, but it fit perfectly. The Meat sammich was energetic and intense. The room was rocking and the weirdness onstage only magnified the experience. Silver Sun, a new Al tune, starts off quietly and kinda spacey with keys, stays sweet until about 2/3's through when you hit the dark path where things get EVIL. Driving rhythm, screaming lead guitar, all leading back to it's sweet beginnings. It totally harnessed the Late 60's UK Psychedelic Rock theme.



The aforementioned Rec Chem was your classic moe. balls-out rocking Albany excellence. Definitely a highlight. Super energy, madness onstage. It was stellar way to end the set. A lovely Mexico encore, sans hats, masks, & Stilted Monkeys. This tied it all in a bow and began to re-acclimate the crowd of moe.rons for the world outside. Smart move.



It didn't quite work for everyone, though. When I got outside, El Herno was screaming like a lunatic and Matt was laughing so hard that tears were forming in his eyes.
Lynn: ... the fuck?
Matt (laughing): (El Herno) just spilled beer on himself and blamed some guy who was walking by.
CUT TO: El Herno returns with the most magically adhesive, coagulated, multi-toned, Super Loogie that you've ever seen-- gleaming across half his chest.
El Herno: I got spit on!
L: How is it possible that you've never been punched in the face?
EH: I don't know!!

Seriously, it was perfect-- like a rubber cement prop. Pumkin would be real proud, I tell you whut.



All in all, it was a mischievous moe.schief night experience. For journalistic integrity, I checked with some folks who took part in the Electric lemoe.nade Acid Test, moe.'s little Gerbil-Children if-you-will. Word on the street was it all went "fucking awesome!" - That Dosed Up Guy I Asked.


Sunday AM, we headed out to breakfast at the lovely Cafe Madison (where I ate at least 1 of Corinne's Spiced Oatmeal Raspberry Pancakes and ohhh the bacon, the bacon!). Matt (who was still laughing) walked in and said something along the lines of, "So (El Herno), do you remember when you spilled beer all over yourself and then blamed some guy and he spit on you?" Which led me to invite El Herno to compose an open letter of apology for the total verbal lashing he gave to a complete stranger.
Dear Angry Cast Member of "It's A Small World After All",

It's a world of laughter%
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes^
And a world of fears#
There's so much that we share*
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

Indeed. As I'm sure you recall you and I had an altercation on Saturday night (perhaps it was Sunday morning, my memory is hazy). Gentle ribbing and an exchange of ideas occurred. I accused you of spillage, you called me fat, I called you short and it spiraled from there until another epithet was used casting aspersions on your preference of sexual partner, to which you clearly objected.

Though I was not aware of this, and was having a chuckle% at your cowardly retreat# you apparently found some reserve of midgety resolve and ran back to "hock a loogie" on my face. Except that you didn't hit my face. Spitting up is hard and gravity's a bitch, eh?

In any event you're lucky I'm not physically violent (merely verbally abusive) because surely it must be hard to run away from a normal sized man on those vienna sausages you call legs. Being the bigger man, and in the spirit of the season of peace and forgiveness I'd like to paraphrase Roger Ebert's response to Vincent Gallo - "I may be fat but I can lose weight, but you'll always be the shitty little midget who spit and ran!" But I forgive you, because you undoubtedly have more than enough sorrow in your life, what with all the things in supermarkets you can't reach (not to mention the breasts of most women).

Merry Xmas.

- E.H.

*P.S. I am not sure it dates to this event but I'd like to thank you anyway for the case of Wookiebola that I've come down with since the weekend. Way to share, brah.

Well, there you have it, folks! Let's just slide the Cafe Patron into the Gin (aka OFF LIMITS) Category on the El Herno Drinkability Chart. No more of that, eh? We live, we learn, we laugh, we hock.

I love moe.. Great fucking show! Glad they were able to reschedule! Glad I snuck in a flask! moe.schief night, 12/4/10, Washington Ave. Armory, Albany, NY: 9.5 HUZZAHS!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

SET I
Chromatic Nightmare #
Not Coming Down ->
Wormwood ->
Interstellar Overdrive ->
Moth
Suck A Lemon ##
Plane Crash

SETBREAK: USB advert / Cheech & Chong cover performed by Crew members Frank, Steve, Hector, Steve, and Cass
Earache My Eye

SET II
No Refrain -> **
Buster
Meat ->
Mar-Dema -> ^^
Meat
Silver Sun -> ^
Recreational Chemistry

ENCORE
Mexico

# - First Time Played (Jim instrumental)
## - First Time Played (Chuck song)
** - First Time Played (Rob song)
^ - First Time Played (Al song)
^^ - First Time Played (Vinnie instrumental)

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW! Thanks, Marcus! http://www.archive.org/details/moe.2010-12-04.albanyarmory

GALLERY & HI-RES SLIDESHOW!

Andrew Hill took some awesome pics for State of Mind Music, ch-ch-ch check it out!

moe.lloween, 10/31/09, albany, ny

moe.lloween, 10/31/09, the washington avenue armory, albany, ny


Sometime before moe.down x, moe. sent out an email asking some of their most moe.ronic fans to step up and nominate 1 song for moe. to play "to create the ultimate setlist". Since I met the qualifications, I ransacked my brain* to try and think of ONE song- an original, a cover--- but ONLY ONE SONG to nominate. Why do you toy with me like this, moe.? One song??? Ugly American**? Rebubula? Eventually I settled on one of my most favoritest songs in the world- Sweet Jane, originally by Lou Reed, but by far the most outstanding version I've ever heard is by Mott the Hoople.


At the very end of moe.down they announced song nominations would go up as a poll on jambands.com and asked everyone to go vote, because the winning songs would be incorporated into their Halloween setlist. No shit.

Of course I voted for Sweet Jane, but I also voted for Faith No More's Epic because that is just a flat-out fucking brilliant idea. Everyone had to wait for the show to find out the winners, so the excitement multiplied as Halloween approached.

On the ride up to Albany, el Herno and I discussed how this moe. show could very well suck, but in it's suckingness, it would be awesome beyond our wildest dreams. We knew the band were "rehearsing", but that's a lot of shit to remember and Chuck has enough trouble with his own lyrics. What would moe. dress as? We were hoping they would take our suggestion and go as Slutty moe.***. One Thing was certain: it was going to be a fun fun night.


We got into the Armory and were met by a wall of anticipation... & smoke. A wall of anticipation & smoke. As for costumes- there were plenty! Regulars Bender & moe.bot showed up, and why not? If you're gonna wear a cardboard costume for the entirety of moe.down weekend, Halloween would seem like a breeze. There was a Bob's Big Boy, Lady GaGa, an Annoying Boom Mic Guy (he nailed it), the characters from Where the Wild Things Are, & a whole lot of slutty ____'s. I was (live action) Master Shake. With some last minute alterations to the complimentary sleep mask in the Crowne Plaza goodie bag- Hern became Dr. Hamburgler, and Metzger, c4d, & Heidi pussied out and were dressed like a whole bunch of douchebags that didn't dress up.






The stage was dressed with spooky trees and a gorgeous haunted backdrop. I was afraid to go pee, lest I miss Sweet Jane. At long last, moe. rose in a cloud of evil from the depths of hell. They were dressed as skeletons which was all sorts of more spooky and stuff. They busted into TGORM and promptly fucked it up. It's moe.lloween, betches!

Godzilla is so huge and evil, I love it and wish they played moe.'s version at Yankee Stadium for Hideki Matsui. Farmer Ben was a fun treat, Jimmay owns that act. They did a monster-medley inside it- w/ Frankenstein club sandwiching: Werewolves of London, Munsters, Addams Family.


please note: rob. is wearing shorts over his skeleton suit as not to offend any moe.ron's sensibilities.


Then al. on lead for Paul Simon's You Can Call Me (al.). Wow, it was gorgeous! They had all the layers working. It was impressive to begin with, but then al. pulled out a trumpet and started playing the horn section- 10 HUZZAHS for al.'s Mad Trumpet Skillz!


The sheer insanity of it all began to sink in. They did We Got the Party, by Miley Cyrus. Interesting and sounded kinda like the Go Go's, but I won't be buying her fruit snacks. George reminded people they were at a moe. show and brought it back to Earth.

Echoes is getting it's own paragraph and tangent. I don't remember what year it was, but I had gone to see Ominous Seapods play Bogies up in Albany on NYE. It was fucking freezing. We all crashed at the Grunge and around 7am, the Dark Horse took out Echoes (on vinyl?) and we all passed the fuck out. I mean-- really, it cleared the goddamn room. I always thought that was on purpose and kind of Evil Genius of him.

Anyways, moe. played Echoes and it was cool--- but it was also long. And I may have yawned. (...Twice.) And they hadn't even finished it!




I don't recall much about setbreak. Echoes left me confused, but shit was just about to go cuckoo-insane. To begin SET II, moe. broke into Phish's Stash and the place went absolutely berserk! Every second of it was mind-bending. They nailed all those little humorous twists and turns that makes Stash such an enjoyable song. Jim rocked Page's line.


hey, wait a minute- what's jim holding that 3rd mallet with?

meat rules and the floor was bouncing up and down, very cool. Eyes of the World, sure, cute. -> Echoes, very cool. Rebubula, now we're talking- can't go wrong. The show was a classic Albany freakshow. A vibe that cannot be described without using the words "craziness", "North Country", and "madness". -> Dark Star -> Rebubula. Awesome.




This is as good a time as any to discuss my new favorite moe.ron friend, who I got to rock out with down front on chuck.side. He was dressed as a McChicken Sandwich**** (Daniel?). He picked up a glowstick-necklace off the floor and wiped it down with his shirt before putting it on me. Who says chivalry is dead?

who is this moe.ron?

For the encore, chuck. serenaded us with the sweetest version of Fuck Her Gently you'll ever hear. The thought of chuck. balling anything discreetly brought a single tear to my eye. Just one. They blew the top off of Don't Fuck w/ Flo, as classic a moe. tune you'll ever get. That's a song you play for your friends who have never heard moe. because you're hoping it will make their head asplode. Crab Eyes, great song- was that really voted into the setlist? Hmm...





The Yankees (who we were following all night via text updates) defeated the Phillies to win Game 3 of the World Series as we filed out. I got slammed with a migraine and couldn't make it to U-Melt.



When I woke up it was morning and it was time for breakfast at Cafe Madison. I dragged the skeptics along and forced them to dine on the best breakfast this side of the Hudson. Happily, it didn't disappoint. Apricot-cranberry stuffed french toast, betches... w/ bacon. *POW!* The perfect capper to a moe. filled Albany weekend.






LET'S RECAP: classic invigorating Albany freakshow, Halloween madness, North Country vibes, McChicken Sandwich Dude, setlist insanity, Slutty moe.. They didn't play Sweet Jane, Epic, or, Ugly American, but I still left a very happy moe.ron. moe.lloween, 10/31/09, Washington Avenue Armory, Albany, NY: 9.25 HUZZAHS! Thanks for an awesome time!

UPDATE: Since I'm allergic to beer I was unaware at the time that the venue ran out of beer well before SET I even ended. Apparently the only alcohol left on premises was Bacardi Malt Liquor. As my new theory goes, I believe the Malt Liquor for mass consumption was a heavy contributing factor in the sheer madness of the crowd.

SET I:
TGORM
Godzilla
Farmer Ben
You Can Call Me Al
We Got the Party
George
Echoes

SET II:
Stash
meat
Eyes Of the World ->
Echoes
Rebubula ->
Dark Star ->
Rebubula

ENCORE:
Fuck Her Gently
Don't Fuck With Flo
Crab Eyes

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW! http://www.archive.org/details/moe2009-10-31 (thanks, rob clarke!)

SLIDESHOW & HI-RES GALLERY.


State of Mind Music Magazine's Andrew Wyatt has some great pics of the night and some of the funnier costumes here: http://www.stateofmindmusic.com/entry/812/moe./

*It's still a mess in there. Vacuum broke in the flood.
**I miss this song!
***Slutty al. shops at Joyce Leslie and wears too much eyeliner.
****Someone had already eaten the bread off his hat.