moe. Comes Back To Colorado For 3 Shows At Boulder’s Fox Theatre: Night 2 Recap & Photos
The band held its first concerts in Colorado in over two years.
By Wesley Hodges Nov 7, 2022 • 11:44 am PST
Photo by Wesley Hodges
Following cancellations of 2020’s snoe.down ski festival and last year’s slated run at Frisco’s 10 Mile Hall, moe. made their long-awaited return to Colorado this weekend, playing their first three-night venue run (anywhere) in nearly a year at the Fox Theater in Boulder (which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary in 2022).
The band’s last show in the state was on March 10, 2020, in Telluride, which also marked the end of the pre-COVID era for fans and band alike. Demand for these shows at the dank and intimate Fox Theatre was sky-high and Saturday’s mid-run performance was packed in well before the re-tooled sextet took the stage just after the official showtime of 8 p.m.
Photo by Wesley Hodges
With Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros playing just down the road at Denver’s Mission Ballroom, moe. kicked things off with a riotous Grateful Dead cover of the Cali blues-tinged “West LA Fadeaway” to launch into a deep-cut heavy opening frame (on the heels of a greatest hits night one filled with old standards).
The remainder of set one represented a tour through moe.’s three-plus decades, with “Johnny Lineup” (debuted live 30 years ago in fall 1992), the sentimental and nostalgic “Letter Home” (from 1998’s tin cans & car tires) and a sprawling 30-plus minute “Silver Sun” > “Lazarus” frame that hinted at the set composition and serpentine playing that would follow in the second half.
My home, my heart, my best friend
Life has been pretty good
Who am I kidding it’s been grand– moe. “Letter Home”
Opening with the rare, punk-injected improvisational rocker “Head,” moe. blasted off out of the gate, gliding through an improv-and-instrumental heavy set, only taking a short breather between the half-hour “Timmy Tucker” before the start of Saturday’s show-closing instrumental portion “McBain” > “Interstellar Overdrive” (Pink Floyd) > “McBain” after bassist Rob Derhak signaled some possible vocal strain toward the ending “Timmy Tucker” refrain.
Photo by Wesley Hodges
Flanked by new members Nate Wilson (keys and flute) and Suke Cerulo (also on guitar) while founding member Chuck Garvey continues to rehab and recover from a stroke, guitarist Al Schnier was as fiery as ever in set two. Schnier fiercely traded lead musical director duties with Derhak, running through tenacious and accordant peaks alongside Cerulo, oscillating back into a series of mid-tempo bubble funk grooves led by the big man on bass at the center of the stage. Albeit an unavoidably different band with the absence of Garvey, set two tapped and tweaked the vintage moe. sound and style in splendid fashion, retooling each song’s melodic and tonal heart to spotlight the new lineup’s strengths.
Nearly 20 years to the day after my first moe. show and putting an end to four-and-a-half years not seeing the trusted jam vets, spending a Saturday night in friendly confines with moe. fit like an old glove and made me eager to see what the future may hold.
Other wonders, I can’t explain
As I fall into this life again– moe. “Head”
[At the conclusion of moe.’s show at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, the band confirmed Chuck Garvey will perform for the first time since his stroke as a special guest at their upcoming New Year’s Eve concert in Philadelphia. Click below for details.]
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Saturdy, November 5 Setlist
Set One (8:09 – 9:24 p.m. MT): West LA Fadeaway (11), Johnny Lineup (6) > Sensory Deprivation Bank (7), Letter Home (6), ATL (12), Silver Sun (18) > Lazarus (16)
Set Two (10:13 – 11:37 p.m. MT): Head (13) > Tubing The River Styx (5) > The Pit (15) -> Timmy Tucker (30), McBain (6) -> Interstellar Overdrive (8) -> McBain (6)
Encore (11:41 – 11:48 p.m. MS): Al.nouncements, Good Guys and Bad Guys
