moe. 2007-12-31

moe. 2007-12-31 Radio City Music Hall New York, NY (Download)

New Year's is one of my very favorite holidays, right up there with those that allow me to use a tenuous connection to my ethnic heritage as an excuse to drink heavily during the daytime (St. Patty's, I'm looking at you). I always welcome the opportunity to look back, smile about the good times and make constructive observations about the not-so-good ones, and then wipe the slate and try to do better. That's what New Year's is all about. Well, that and some heavy imbibing and rabble-rousing of course...

The New Year's show: It's a very unique experience when a band works a set around a climactic moment in time which itself is unrelated to music. Musicians (and drugs, for that matter) are typically at their peak quality, and when the event is done properly it can be a musical journey different than any other. Having your year end reflection accompanied by a bitchin' live soundtrack amongst good friends is an experience I can't recommend enough, if you haven't done it already.

So if you're feeling anything like me and New Year's just isn't coming fast enough for you, let's have an impromptu year end experience right now with moe. Screw the calender, tell your mother I said it's OK.

moe. is a band that has always kept my attention by constantly crossing the figurative line between rock & roll and whatever "jam" is. I was a late adopter when it comes to the jam and festival experience, and moe. was one of the bands that definitely helped me dip my toe in. I was introduced to moe. long before Government Mule, Widespread Panic, and many other touring regulars who have been around longer. The first time I heard "Plane Crash" and "Timmy Tucker", I was blown away. Other than Pink Floyd, I had never heard something so explorative that still managed to have a distinctly rock & roll feel to it. Unfortunately, neither of these made the cut for this show, but it's still a classic.

I'm going to pretty much let this one speak for itself, after trying and failing to pull favorites out of such a solid trio of sets. Here's the setlist in full:

1: Recreational Chemistry > Blue Jeans Pizza > Recreational Chemistry
2: Not Coming Down > Wormwood > Wind it Up, So Long > Rebubula
3: Lazarus > New Years Countdown [banter], Raise a Glass, Brent Black > Lazarus > Brent Black, Letter Home, Spine of a Dog > Plane Crash
E: New Year's Day > George

Sound quality is an A-, occasionally the levels are just a bit off, but it sounds great even using the live stream. Thank you to Alex Prestin for taping and transferring. Photo credit goes to Joseph Vala.