Fall tour started for moe. with two nights at the Concord Music Hall in Chicago, Illinois this weekend, playing both Friday and Saturday nights in the Windy City. With support from The Werks on night one and Mungion on night two, the stage was set for two great performances from moe. The band, in turn, delivered two barn-burning performances for the fans.
From the first notes of night one, the energy was palpable. Highlights from that first set were generated in “Akimbo” and in a lengthy improvisation in “Recreational Chemistry.” Guitarist Al Schnier switched out for the double neck guitar on “Haze,” made an impressive jump off the speaker, and later changed out for his mandolin. They closed out with “Silver Sun,” a psychedelic tune from their recent No Guts, No Glory album.
The second set’s intriguing seamless transition from “Shoot First” to “Lazarus” is a must for re-listening, as well as the all-out jam session in “Timmy Tucker,” which featured Jim Loughlin on the xylophones playing off of both Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier on guitars. The first night concluded with a jumpy bluegrass number, “Time Again,” and jokes about the band playing a second day.
24 hours later, it was Rob Derhak’s thumping tones of “Billy Goat” that started the day on the right foot, before the band dove into their funky tune “meat.” The song would be left unfinished, as the seamless segues continued through the first set with “Tubing The River Styx,” “The Pit,” “Y.O.Y” and “Montego.” After “Puebla,” the band went back into “meat.,” but never finished it and closed out the set with “Queen Of Everything.”
Set two saw moe. dig into their catalog, with big versions of “Spine Of A Dog” into “Plane Crash” to open the set. The band also covered Gov’t Mule’s “Thorazine Shuffle,” and played fan-favorite “She.” After “Down Boy,” moe. returned once more to finish the song “meat.,” putting an incredible cap to the set. The bouncy “Threw It All Away” finished out the show.
Check out both setlists in full, posted below, as well as a full gallery from Tara Gracer Design & Photography.
Setlist: moe. at Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL – 9/23/16
I: Defrost > Akimbo, Recreational Chemistry, Tambourine, Lost Along The Way, Haze, Silver Sun
II: Paper Dragon, Shoot First > Lazarus, Rainshine, Opium, Skrunk > Not Coming Down > Timmy Tucker
Enc: Time Again
Setlist: moe. at Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL – 9/24/16
I: Billy Goat > meat. > Tubing The River Styx > The Pit > Y.O.Y. > Montego, Puebla > meat. > Queen Of Everything
II: Spine Of A Dog > Plane Crash, Letter Home, Thorazine Shuffle, She, Down Boy > meat.
Enc: Threw It All Away
