moe., 7/4/10, the stone pony, asbury park, nj

moe., 7/4/10, the stone pony, asbury park, nj


I call this one, "the Gotti".
Here's the thing about The Stone Pony on any regular night--- it's full of townies. They've never heard the band they're about to see, but they're gonna sit at the bar, drink more than you, and scream when they feel like it. That's just how it is. Just let it go.

Here's the thing about moe. at the The Stone Pony on July 4th--- besides the moe.rons, it's also full of townies, tourists, and Jersey Shore extras. These people really do exist and they are going to the show with you... and you just need to let it go. Accept it and move on. Even if-- and I want to make this absolutely clear--- even if Snooki Lohan is standing 5 feet away.


Though it was my 4th moe. show that week, I was still excited to see how they would top themselves. Cuz those 3 prior shows were pretty killer, but moe.'s 4th of July Stone Pony shows have a reputation for kicking ass.

SET I. Crab Eyes (har har), Yodelittle -> Four -> a phat rockin' Johnny Lineup with a dark dark groove. It was all coming together. But shit, I'm just gonna skip to the most important part of SET I (maybe the most important part of the night?? most important part of summer tour??) which was this...

The quick little intro caught me completely off guard and it took a few seconds to register... and then I just didn't fucking believe it--- I turned around to Mark in disbelief--- "is this??? ... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME*???" He smiled and pointed me back in the direction of the stage where moe. had just broken out UGLY AMERICAN, for the first time in like for-fucking-EVER. I mean we used to scream for it til our throats were dry and we eventually stopped cuz it became a losing battle-- but it freakin' just happened!! THEY FINALLY BROUGHT BACK UGLY AMERICAN!!!!!! Sure, rob's commitment to learning the lyrics is as questionable as ever, but who fucking cares!? UGLY AMERICAN!!! WOW. It made my night. They could have played an hour long Plane Crash after that... Glad they didn't though. -> George and the pretty dueling Asbury Park fireworks closed out the set.


they mostly dressed-down due to the heat

business casu.al





I'm not sure if the Jersey Shore extras were the ones who started the "U.S.A." chants, but they were definitely the ones who carried that torch through the rest of the night. Ahh, just let it go.

It was a bit warm out when the show began, but the lovely ocean breeze took care of us. It also blew rob's hair around like a rock video. This is where we pause a second to appreciate rob's hair in the ocean breeze...


SET II was a hot, loud, meat sammich dripping with gravy! meat -> Dr. Graffenberg -> Spine -> meat! Works for me!

See that asshole on someone's shoulders? Of course you do-- everyone does- because she's blocking the entire crowd's view of the band. Try to let it go... If that doesn't work, throw a floor-glowstick at her. It will make you feel better... Trust me.


The encore was a beautiful Faker -> Tailspin, which sounded nice while standing outside on a warm summer's night. A nice feeling to end a triumphant 4 show week.

moe., 7/4/10, The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ: 9.6 HUZZAHS--- SOLID SHOW! and seriously--- UGLY AMERICAN**???!!!!! YESSSSSSS!

SET I
Crab Eyes
Yodelittle ->
Four ->
Johnny Lineup ->
Puebla
Awesome Gary ->
Billy Goat ->
St. Augustine
Nebraska
Ugly American -> ^
George %

SET II
meat ->
Dr. Graffenberg ->
Spine of a Dog ->
meat

ENCORE
The Faker ->
Tailspin

^ = last time played 03/18/99 (1071 shows ago)
% = w/fireworks, then fireworks a few random times during the 2nd set

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!! Scott Berstein taped-- thanks, Scott!
http://www.archive.org/details/moe2010-07-04.tlm170.flac16

SLIDESHOW & HI RES GALLERY



* If you listen to Scott Bernstein's recording of the show, you can hear some other moe.rons freaking out when it starts. :)
** I might not have forgiven myself if I had missed this.

moe., 7/3/10, theatRE at westbury, westbury, ny

moe., 7/3/10, theatre at westbury, westbury, ny


That's "theatre" with an "re", you fucking animal. This Westbury shit's classy. And nothing screams "class" like a rotating stage, I tell you whut.

I drove into the parking lot at Westbury TheatRE and headed over to the shaded area because the sun frightens me. As I opened the car door (before turning off the ignition), I heard, "sssssssssssssss......". To which my immediate reaction was to shut my door, lock my door, and go park in the sunny opposite end of the lot (where within 5 minutes I was offered "chawww-clates."). Ahh, Long Island. Here we go.




A large security guy named Brutus in a screen-printed polo got agitated when I tried to bring in cookies to give the band. Of course by "give" I mean "throw at al while he's playing". What's the problem?

Let's ignore the "rotating stage" for now. The show started out strong with Second Cousins -> Happy Hour Hero, which I know Brandon Devito really really wanted to hear at the Waterhole, so I tried to enjoy it for him. Bearsong, always a highlight, but as Chris 4dice recently pointed out, I could do without all the "woos" during the song verses.




SET II. Awesome set. Nonstop. Water -> Shoot First -> a freakin' stellar Punchline (cathartic-- I needed that!). Brittle End, Sensory Deprivation -> SOMP. HOT DAMN. And then a Timmy & Farmer Ben encore--- what??? Left-Right-Left, BODY BLOW.


The killer setlist almost made up for that annoying rotating stage. What bothered me the most was that except for a portion of 1, I had to watch chuck's back during every single fucking one of his solos-- because that motherfucking stage never stops spinning and always seemed to be opposite where it should have been for my optimum enjoyment during important points in each song. Billy Joel Medley inside of Farmer Ben (yes!!!)? The view for 1/2 of it was the band's asses. I almost forgot which blog I was taking pictures for. And there were freakishly tall, stinky LI Frat Wooks, singing loudly, off-key in at least 3 of the sections we tried to get comfy in.



I just cannot get behind (no pun intended) this venue's novelty appeal. Giving any old band access to a rotating stage is just plain irresponsible. I've seen the Masters do it and I'm talking about Def Leppard. They invented "in-the-round" (after the Romans). So, I can say from experience that moe. definitely pulled it off. But imagine how much shittier a band like Nickelback (it's hard to imagine them any shittier, isn't it?) would be when you just add a simple element like a rotating stage. Carnage. Melted souls. Elephantiasis. Fucking terrible.

This was another show where the band's performance made up for the bummer of a venue. I would still go back to see them there-- cuz it's moe., but I might wear rollerskates to chase chuck's solos around the room. DANGER DANGER! moe. kickass!

moe., 7/3/10, theatRE at westbury, westbury, ny: 8 HUZZAHS!

SET I
Second Cousins ->
Happy Hour Hero
Bearsong
One Life
New York City ->
Plane Crash

SET II
Water ->
Shoot First ->
Waiting For The Punchline
Brittle End
Sensory Deprivation Bank ->
Seat Of My Pants

ENCORE
Timmy Tucker
Farmer Ben *

* = w/ Billy Joel Medley: Captain Jack, My Life, and Piano Man

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW! Scott Berstein taped-- thanks, Scott!
http://www.archive.org/details/moe2010-07-03

SLIDESHOW AND HI-RES GALLERY

moe., 6/30/10, peekskill, ny

moe., 6/30/10, paramount center for the arts, peekskill, ny


Sooo many more shows to review, let's keep this one short and sweet. It's always a little upsetting to leave Saranac Lake, but I had another moe. show to see that night, which helped ease the sads.

The Paramount Center for the Arts is an old school, 1930's movie theater in downtown Peekskill. It's listed on both the NYS and National Registers of Historic Places. It's a gorgeous room with grand ceilings and great sound. There was a nice crowd, but the fact that the show landed on a Wednesday night probably didn't work in moe.'s favor- it definitely wasn't sold out. Security was a bit uptight, but there's a parking lot next to the theater and re-entry is allowed wink wink nudge nudge.

Skrunk-> Brent Black -> Cathedral -> So Long. That was SET I. 4 songs. And despite having a setlist this night, the boys were rocking the segues again. Brent Black was full-on shredding and balls-out awesome. They freakin' nailed it. So Long had the enjoyable and haunting Middle Eastern-y accent going for it (similar to Ithaca back in January) - diiiiig.





SET II. Bring It Back Home got the crowd pumping again -> a KICKASS Dr. Graffenberg. I love It, I love chuck. Went upstairs to the Mezz during Blue Jeans Pizza and the sound up there was just incredible. Wish I wandered up sooner! From there, Mark and I rocked out George, Daydreaming -> Rec Chem. Rec Chem was great, I've been wanting to hear it for months now-- but it was faster than usual and I wasn't sure if that was because the band actually played it faster, or if it just seemed faster due to the incredible lack of smoke in the venue throughout the night and especially for the duration of Rec Chem. Geez--- when did everyone get so old?

Down Boy was a spirited encore and then I went home to eat cereal & milk. NICE.




moe., 6/30/10, paramount center for the arts, peekskill, ny: 8 HUZZAHS! That's not a low number and sometimes I gotta keep the HUZZAH levels down to earth. Look for a similar perspective in the upcoming Westbury review.


SET I
Skrunk ->
Brent Black ->
Cathedral ->
So Long

SET II
Bring It Back Home ->
Dr. Graffenberg
It
Blue Jeans Pizza ->
George
Daydreaming ->
Recreational Chemistry

ENCORE
Down Boy

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW! Scott Bernstein taped-- thanks, Scott!
http://www.archive.org/details/moe2010-06-30

SLIDESHOW AND HI RES GALLERY!

moe., 6/29/10, the waterhole #3, saranac lake, ny

moe., 6/29/10, the waterhole #3, saranac lake, ny
For those of you either unaware or cautiously ignorant of Ominous Seapods folklore, you may have never heard about a little jewel of a venue, tucked away deep within the Adirondack North Country. I speak of course about The Waterhole #3- the upstairs music lounge: a room built for sound. A bar that BEGS for live music to come hither and DESTROY.


She's all, "please live music, sully me good!"
Back in the day, Ominous Seapods used to play regular gigs at The Waterhole, which inevitably led to scenes like this:


Current Waterhole Manager & Master Mixologist Brandon Devito has been pulling in extra special acts this year to celebrate the bar's 40th Anniversary. The idea of booking moe. to play The Waterhole has been a twinkle in his eye for quite some time. The reality that he actually made it happen had moe.rons in a nauseas tizzy.


The show was announced on short notice and the limited tickets were only available at the bar itself. This left moe.rons within driving distance going ape-shit at the prospect of seeing moe. play in such an intimate venue-- and moe.rons further away, completely powerless & utterly devastated. Nice touch.

It's the first time I've been able to catch moe. since snoe.down in March and I was definitely jonesin' for a fix. There wasn't enough room on stage for the band to wear suits, so they dressed down for logistical reasons. It's all about surface area.


There also wasn't enough room on stage for setlists, so moe. built the setlists on-the-fly, round-robin style, where each song segued into the next, and band members took turns calling the next song. moe. opened the show with Head -> Kyle's -> meat.. meat., in an intimate setting--- is massive and fun (and I would appreciate it if you do not take that statement out of context). -> YoY -> Time Ed, hit the spot, -> Head to close out the set. I loves me a sammich.



The moe. show brought in a mix of people. Most were there to see the band, but a handful of others seemed to be there for the sole purpose of getting shitfaced and being obnoxious. During Head or meat., I was maimed by beer bottle shrapnel that left a gaping wound in my left ankle, from which blood spewed (at least) like a geyser*. Then I sliced my finger open whilst attempting to wipe said glass out of my sock. Despite the altercation with some idiot's flying glass, and a beer bottle that twice missed my pretty face by mere inches, and the fact that my running crew had long since retreated backways, I refused to budge from my sweet spot, right in front of al.


However, it did get rowdy enough on the floor that during setbreak we all moved upstairs. There was at least 1 fight instigated by the aforementioned shitfaced folks. Maybe I'm getting old, but it just seemed like pretty disrespectful behavior to pull on such a special occasion.

Shit-- how did I end up all the way up here on this soapbox? SET II. Consider this my public endorsement of Puebla. -> Tailspin was fun, but it didn't seem to work as well in that room as I've seen it before-- the ripping guitars need more echoey space to bounce around in. It kinda felt hollowed out. -> St. Augustine... "Fuckin' a right, Buckshot." - I'm sure someone said this because St. Augustine tore it up. -> an absolutely scorching 32 Things -> a raging Don't Fuck With Flo -> the best or 2nd best Buster that I've ever seen**. An appropriately wild Awesome Gary encore was the icing on the cake.






I feel privileged to have been an eye-witness to this show. Brandon Devito did a fucking fabulous job getting moe. to rock The Waterhole. Thank you, Prince of Saranac Lake.



A hearty thank you and shout out to Billy Allen, the Pope of Saranac Lake, with whom I got to catch up with after all these years. I'm psyched you made it out of the woods for this one, Billy.


And of course, thanks to moe., for making haste through the hostile streets of Lake Placid to show the fine people of Saranac Lake what respectable and upstanding citizens they actually are (and that moe.rons are for the most part, pretty harmless).

moe., 6/29/10, The Waterhole #3, Saranac Lake, NY: 9.5 HUZZAHS! It was EPICALLY EPIC in it's EPICNESS! Let's hope they get the opportunity to do it again someday!


SET I
Head>
Kyle's Song>
Meat>
YoY>
Time Ed>
Head

SET II
Puebla>
Tailspin>
St. Augustine>
32 Things>
Don't Fuck With Flo>
Buster

ENCORE
Awesome Gary

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!!! Matt Falise taped-- I don't know you Matt, but thanks!
http://www.archive.org/details/moe2010-06-29.flac16

SLIDESHOW & HI-RES GALLERY


* Or at least dripped on my sock a bit.
** Please see moe., 1/23/10, roseland ballroom, nyc

God Street Wine To Rock Irving Plaza

Reviews to come, but the immortal God Street Wine rocked two sold out shows at the Gramercy Theater last weekend and will continue the vicious cycle at Irving Plaza **THIS WEEKEND**, with TWO MORE shows on July 16th & 17th.

Tickets are still available for both shows- so, get them before they sell out!! All proceeds from these GSW shows are going to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society-- that said-- this will be the easiest charity work you have *ever* done. I promise you this: If Mother Teresa were still alive, she would want to get shitfaced and rock out to God Street Wine at 1 or more of these 4 shows. The do-goodness will cancel out the fact that you're an asshole the entire rest of the year.

BUY TICKETS FOR FRIDAY, 7/16
http://www.livenation.com/event/0000446CA516989F

BUY TICKETS FOR SATURDAY, 7/17
http://www.livenation.com/event/0000446CA52F98BC

If you weren't lucky enough to attend the 7/9 or 7/10 show, here's a quick taste of what you missed:


And if you're new to the God Street Wine experience, please check out this show on the archive. 1/6/94, 7 Willow Street, Portchester, NY. It's a gem. You can stream the audio in the player embedded on the top right, or you can download the VBR ZIP file in the table on the left. When you've finished DL'ing the file, decompress it and drag the mp3 files into your itunes, etc. to enjoy the show! IT'S JUST THAT EASY!

QUICK RECAP: GSW this Friday and Saturday at Irving Plaza. Mother Teresa loved the wine. You're mostly an asshole... mostly.