Vasa Park in Mt. Olive, NJ. What a random little spot for a killer moe. show. Who knew? An afternoon with moe. and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Good fucking times. Vasa Park is a NJ State Park and thusly had it's fair share of not only older-volunteer-types, but also reasonably priced concessions, and some po' po' wandering around (providing security and such).
It was definitely a family-friendly affair and I believe there was even a spin-art station. I could be making that up... Hm.
I headed in fairly early and ended up wandering around and taking some random pics. Some hippie girl wandered into the woods to pick raspberries and the security guy didn't know what to do with her. Onlookers warned her about poison ivy, Jersey pumas, and the chupacabra but I guess some people just have a death wish.
Ryan Montbleau Band opened up the show and were pretty chill. The music had a swing feel to it which I didn't expect, but really enjoyed. There was a fair crowd for them, but people didn't really wander in til after they finished. Kinda lame. I was afraid they would be Dave Matthews-y, but to my delight they were good! Also, I dig the drummer's hair. Twerk it.
I can't seem to find a link to the Ryan setlist or recording. That means it's up to YOU to find them both and post them in the comments section of this entry.
Shortly thereafter, moe. rocked the fuckin' park. The first set featured a cameo by Ryan Montbleau and his percussionist, Yahuba Garcia on Harder They Come. Ryan's dancing was kind of spastic and Chuck was totally laughing at him (with him?). Wicked Awesome-> Wormwood->Okayalright, The Road- all nice. Tubing-> the Pit. Great. Hearing the Pit made me feel less guilty about leaving early at Bonnaroo. There seemed to be a lot of those fervent kiddies at this gig but it didn't get to the amateur hour point which was nice. Kids today with their pants and their the moe..
For Set 2 I stood out in the wings on Chuck.side, it was quite roomy and nice. Some dude climbed a giant tree and the band did a public service announcement asking him to be careful and saying Hodges would catch him. I screamed "jump" and repeatedly taunted him. He is still up there, Wookie In the Tree. Some say if you go out during a full moon and listen closely you can still hear his haunting cry, "Plane Crash, bruh! Plane Crash!"
Let's pause for a minute to discuss al's rockstar-guitar-god poses. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, and Eddie Van Halen, he's gotten pretty damn good at them over the past 3-4 years. He's learned to stand on just about every piece of equipment that gives him additional height and pushes him closer to the heavens**. He's also perfected the art of stepping closer and leaning out over the audience to create a piranha-like feeding frenzy of moe.rons before him. Chuck answers with his own poses & drum riser climbs and I love when he pulls them out because they command attention and seem slightly more of the metal variety, like he is summoning demons from the depths of hell, but al. really utilizes the power of the rockstar-guitar-god pose in a family-friendly all-ages-audience type way. Nicely done, al.
Moth -> Jazz Wank, totally teasing Yodelittle from the very start- finally, Yodelittle back into Moth. It was a giant happy sandwich w/ bacon, if Yodelittle were bacon. Blammo, Rebubula-- awesome. Finally, more relief of my Bonnaroo survivor's guilt. They belted it out, it really got the crowd riled up, very cool. I heart it. Oh, and al has this crazy double neck guitar and the top neck is a mandolin. It's very Rick Nielsen of him.
The encores were special requests from a few of the many little kids that were running around. One made a sign which was a picture of a "blue jeans pizza" (cute) and the other was a fancy little sign begging for Spine. The band is now accepting all song requests that are made through glittery signs and/or macaroni art. I think there's an age limit on that though, like 12 and under? That won't stop me. Anyways, still not in love with Blue Jeans Pizza, but I do love Spine and was psyched to hear the regular version and not the bizarro new one where the end of the song starts it instead of the chanting at the beginning (and no chance for them to fuck up the counting like they usually do). Wind It Up's just a warming, loving song. A nice last encore.
Mmkay! moe., w/ Ryan Montbleau Band, 7/5/09, Vasa Park, Mt. Olive, NJ: 9 HUZZAHS! Gorgeous day, great music, chill crowd, TREEEEES! Awesome. Got to hang out with some very cool people during the show and made a few new friends. The perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon in July.
SET I
Crab Eyes
All Roads Lead To Home
The Harder They Come *
Wicked Awesome ->
Wormwood ->
Okayalright
The Road
Tubing The River Styx ->
The Pit
SET II
Moth ->
Jazz Wank ->
Yodelittle ->
Moth
Rebubula ->
Cathedral ->
Rebubula
E:
Blue Jeans Pizza %
Spine Of A Dog %
Wind It Up
* = w/ Ryan Montbleau (vocals) & Yahuba Garcia (percussion)
% = by request after some kids made signs asking for them (even though they were just played 2 nights before)
DL THIS SHOW! (thanks again/always to Scott Bernstein for taping!)
** and learned his lesson at snoe.down 2007 when he climbed a monitor and fell flat on his back after losing his balance in the middle of a solo--- but he KEPT PLAYING! Now, that is rockstar.