moe. Preview

moe.
Park West, Chicago
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Seems like fans of jam band extraordinaire moe. finally just digested the quintet’s two-night stand at the Chicago Theatre over Thanksgiving weekend. Ready or not, the boys are back in town.

Following a unique stretch of gigs on a Norwegian cruise ship through the Caribbean where the guys in moe. earned their sea legs, the band blast into the Windy City just in time to say goodbye to what’s left of their tans and for a healthy dose of Bears fever.

On the heels of their first studio release in four years and their seventh studio album, Rob Derhak (vocals, bass), Chuck Garvey (vocals, guitar), Al Schnier (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jim Loughlin (percussion), and Vinnie Amico (drums) must be anxious to noodle through The Conch‘s 17 tracks. On record the songs clock in at respectable lengths, some inching toward seven minutes, others in at less than a minute, yet onstage all bets are off. While not attracting the same kind of job-quitting devotion as Phish hangers-on, moe. carry the torch while producing albums sustainable away from the live concert hoopla.

“The Col” needs to find a home as a science fiction movie’s background music and “Blue Jeans Pizza” utilizes vocals not out of place on a Darkness record, which, coming from this group, may as well be the plot of a science fiction film.

In addition to frenetically paced touring, moe. host music festivals both in the winter and Labor Day weekend. Snoe.down ’07 takes place at Lake Placid, N.Y. from March 23rd to 25th with special guests including The Disco Biscuits, Little Feet, and Brazilian Girls.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly