Moe., a five-piece jam band from Buffalo, N.Y., played to a Lincoln Theatre packed shoulder to shoulder with tie-dye, beanies and flannel last Tuesday.
After guitarist Chuck Garvey said, “It smells kind of funny in here,” the band opened with, “Billygoat,” which jammed for 16 minutes, turned the crowd into noodles and segued nicely into “Stranger than Fiction.”
The band has grown a large following from its extensive touring and impressive live performances that rely heavily on improvisation and extended songs upwards of 15 minutes in length. Songs often transition smoothly into each other with no stop and Tuesday the band only paused a handful of times for almost three hours of continuous music. The performance was complimented by a stellar light show, creating a psychedelic ambiance to accompany the music.
“Moe.rons” were treated to fan favorites, “Rebubula” to close the first set and “Kyle’s Song” to end the second set. The standouts of the show were “Timmy Turner” and “Bullet.” The 27-minute version of “Timmy Turner” featured an intricate jam that both rocked and grooved, and left room for solos from all band members. “Bullet,” which lasted 19 minutes, included a jam that started small and jazzy and slowly built to a huge peak.
Moe. has a sound that is sometimes groovy, other times hard, but always precise and carefully constructed. This sound is created with two guitars, bass, a drum set and percussion that frequently uses a xylophone.
Moe. played a complete show that kept the audience dancing through the two sets and encore. While Moe.’s studio albums are definitely worth a listen, the band’s talent and atmosphere is best experienced by attending a live show.
— Dixon Ferrell
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