moe. played their last live performance of the year last night as spontaneous celebrations broke out across the nation. The show, part of the Showtime At The Drive-In series in Frederick, MD served as not only a farewell to the stage for the year but also as a “Goodbye & Good Riddance!” to outgoing president Donald Trump. Though the band obviously couldn’t have guessed their show would become the score to hundreds of parties across the United States, they clearly enjoyed the chance to have something positive to sing about after this nightmare year.
“What a great day it was today” observed Al Schnier as he and the band took the stage and prepared to fire up the mighty moe. music machine. “Captain America” was an almost too perfect a fit, lyrically, as the show opener on the day the 2020 election results were announced. “May be right…may be wrong…I’m in the middle anyway” is a spot-on summation of what America chose to do electing a centrist. After four long years of dealing with a far-right hate machine, a little down-the-middle governance doesn’t sound bad at all.
There was nothing safe about the deconstructive jam moe. used to flow across the sonic border into “Mexico”, however. It featured some lovely melodic counterpoint work between percussionist Jim Loughlin‘s always-impressive vibraphone work and guitarists Schnier and Chuck Garvey. While Schnier did double-duty on vocals, the song was a perfect example of how the pair compliment each other on their shared instrument.
Their willingness to trade lead and rhythm duties on the fly and fit themselves into the same sonic space so selflessly is just as impressive as their fretboard fireworks. Together, they lead the tune’s central, Allman Brothers-esque twin-guitar onslaught, Garvey’s solo building into a beatific harmony duet before Schnier closed out the jam with his own big swings. These are the kinds of moments that made moe. the 30-year-and-counting fan-faves they are and it was a good sign of the music to come on this chilly night.
Bassist Rob Derhak‘s singing voice on “The Pines And The Apple Trees” was as smooth and endearingly emotive as ever. While his slapping solos and irresistible grooves rightly get a lot of attention, his ability to connect a wide range of emotion to his vocal delivery is a key element of the band’s sound. After his successful battle with cancer, it is always so gratifying to hear him in such fine form.
Loughlin had his number called next and quickly showed off his impressive versatility on “Don’t Wanna Be”. Alternating between fiercely-sung indictments of following dark paths and lilting sections of intricate mallet work while the more cutting aspects of the band curled and snapped just below the sonic surface perfectly demonstrated the sonic agility Loughlin possesses. The follow-up, a crashing and thundering “Down Boy”, saw the first instance of cheeky lyrical changes of the evening. As they sang the new verses (“Four long years, four too long”), the cheers from the audience echoed those from seemingly every city in the United States.
“Bullet” gave the band’s frontline of vocalists a chance to fire up their impressive three-part harmonies. Garvey did some impressive atmospheric work that flowed smartly alongside a rolling percussive ebb and throb provided by Loughlin, Derhak, and drummer Vinnie Amico. Amico roared to the front of the mix alongside Garvey for the flashy conclusion of the song’s extended instrumental passage.
Having already warmed up their harmonies moe. decided to deliver a bouncy and breakneck “Down Boy” that had the crowd flowing and head-banging and back again. To close out the set came the extremely expansive and explorative “New Hope For The New Year”. The song is clearly constructed as a vehicle to showcase the band’s dimensions in their widest aspects in as quick a succession as possible. When listeners are given such a procession of everything that is best about the band, from their epic highs and psychedelic lows, it is a gratifying reminder of what moe. is all about. The manic cheers as the song faded out were truly earned and well deserved.
After warming back up with a somewhat perfunctory “Screamin’ And Kickin'”, moe. got back down to business with a deliberate take on “Waiting For The Punchline”. Steve Kornacki—the NBC political commentator who has worked seemingly around the clock since early Tuesday—got a quick shout-out from Schnier for the effort before the song revved into its twangy whirlwind of an outro.
Given the political nature of the day, it was a safe bet that “Tailspin” was gonna make an appearance on the set list. Originally a repudiation of the George W. Bush administration, it certainly describes the last four years as well. moe. couldn’t have known this when they were planning out their show, but the long, winding jam that anchors the center of the song perfectly coincided with President-Elect Joe Biden‘s address to the nation. In my defense, I would have likely tried to hear some of this historic address if I was physically at the show, and it was over before the band decided they needed to throw a lil “Meat” to the ravenous crowd.
Derhak and Amico took advantage of the wide-open nature of the beloved “Meat” to go on a far-ranging musical walkabout that was equal parts funky and psychedelic. When Garvey and Schnier brought the spacey background work they had been doing to the fore it was some of the finest jamming the band has produced in this COVID-stunted year.
moe. came barreling back into the more structured finale of the tune before juking left into a most welcome “Don’t F*ck with JOE!”, changing the lyrics to fit the momentous change of presidential guard with quips about it being a “rigged election” thrown in for good measure. They even squeezed in a too-short, exuberant “Runnin’ With The Devil” tease to honor the late Eddie Van Halen. Al Schnier’s keyboard has long featured the late guitar hero’s trademark red, white, and black striped motif which has stood for years as a testimonial and it was nice to hear the whole band musically bow their heads in respect, so to speak.
The band left the stage with no pretense of saying good night at the close of the second set. Strict curfews thanks to quarantine regulations have led to that tired convention hopefully being retired by bands for good. Schnier returned to the stage with a clutch of al.nouncements to the delight of the crowd and the comical annoyance of Derhak. Though the bassist makes mild protest at the tradition of reading fan-service notes during the show, the practice has cemented the circle of love. Hearing stories of birthdays and valiant cancer battles has made their fanbase into a family…excuse me…a famoe.ly…that exists long after the last song of any concert.
Sadly, the venue was forced, through non-negotiable quarantine permits, to pull the plug at the literal dot of 10 p.m. which cut short a nearly-complete and up-’til-then, at least, very enjoyable “Seat Of My Pants”. Having their one last jam cut short might seem like insult to injury or just par for the course of 2020, but I like to look at it a different way. To me, it is just a pause. Speaking as someone who would be working in the live music industry if there was such a thing right now, I’m as certain the music is coming back as I am that moe. is always gonna come back out for an encore.
Shows like these drive-in/livestream broadcasts aren’t ideal, but they are lifelines to the fans and the bands in this dangerous time. As the band noted through their musical cues and lyrical chicanery, there has been a paradigm shift in the way the health concerns that have shuttered the concert scene and much of the service industry. The chances to get control of this crisis, either from a public health or economic assistance for a society increasingly desperate for help seem higher under a Biden administration. I dearly hope that to be true. We don’t just love live music…we live for it, after all.
So, until next year when the world starts to hopefully be a safer place for us all, moe. has a song hanging in the air unfinished. In their 30 years of existing through good times and bad they’ve been known to go to great lengths to finish what they started. I hope we are all there together to see it happen! Thanks to the band and their hard working support crew for giving us a much needed soundtrack for the nationwide party that broke out.