Never ceasing to amaze, the always-dependable-rock-band-with-the-funky-punctuation once again brought the house down Saturday night at ATL’s famed Tabernacle, a venue in which the band has a rich and storied history (see Warts and All Volume II for reference).
This was my 25th time seeing moe. and it was clear as day right out of the gate that the familiar quintet meant business with an intense and meandering “Time Ed” that surprisingly came in the third slot out of the Big World > Rickey Marten opening sgment. Percussionist Jim Loughlin’s extensive vibraphone workout was the first massive improvisational standout during a night that would be chock full of them. The Conehead Buddha horns section made their first of many appearances for the latter half of set one, joining moe. for the slap-happy “Akimbo”, “Happy Hour Hero”, “Wicked Awesome” (with Terry Lynch on trumpet and free-style rap verse) and a well-received cover of Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon”.
After the break and with horns in tow, another highly sought after cover opened things up as moe. and Conehead tackled The Rolling Stones’ classic “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” (with a heavy “CalifornIA” tease (as per my request perhaps?)). Classic fare was the name of the game for the majority of set two that saw the appearances of “New York City”, “Plane Crash” (truly a monster with the added horns) and “Nebraska”. Finally, a reprise from the most recent New Year’s Eve show made an appearance as Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” (again with horns) capped off an extremely enjoyable second set before the three-song encore.
Establishing that they still meant business after Al Schnier read off the fan notes that made it to the stage, a fairly quick “Brent Black” started off the encore before Chuck’s wistful “Where Does The Time Go?” (a personal favorite from The Conch) opus. Finally, the horn section returned for their encore and sat in on a cover of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” to sign off on a memorable show.
Even after 12 years of seeing these guys playing together, the thrill of catching a moe. show amongst good friends in the best indoor venue in the country hasn’t tapered. Watching this band at The Tabernacle in ATL should be bucket list material for any longtime fan. There’s undoubtedly a certain level of comfort zone for those guys when they hit that stage that you just don’t see at other venues.
If fans keep coming out in droves with palpable enthusiasm as they did last night, perhaps we’ll luck out and get a New Year’s show in the venue (now wouldn’t that be fun)? Either way, I’ll be back the next time this idyllic pairing of band and venue presents itself again.
SETLIST: moe. at the Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA | Saturday, February 1st, 2014
I: Big World > Ricky Marten > Time Ed, Akimbo*, Happy Hour Hero*, Wicked Awesome**, Spanish Moon*
II: Can’t You Hear Me Knocking^%, New York City^^, Chromatatic Nightmare, Spaz Medicine*, Plane Crash*@, Nebraska*, Not Coming Down*+, Haze@, Late In The Evening*
ENCORE: Brent Black, Where Does The Time Go?, The Wizard*
{* w/ Shannon Lynch on saxaphone, Terry Lynch on trumpet, & Shaun Bazylewicz on
trombone
** w/ Terry Lynch on trumpet and free-style rapping on vox
^ w/ Shannon Lynch on tenor saxaphone
^^ w/ Shannon Lynch on flute
@ al. on double-neck Gibson
% CIA tease
+ Wormwood tease}
