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?
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!)
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.