Early September brings to mind memories of moe.‘s moe.down music festival. The event was held at Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, New York over Labor Day Weekend from its inaugural outing in 2000 through 2009 before moe.down moved to Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, New York for the same weekend in 2010 and 2011. moe.down returned to Turin 2012 but was held earlier in the month marking the end of the festival’s Labor Day Weekend runs. Last year’s event took place over the Fourth Of July Weekend.
On October 21, 2004 moe. presented the live debut of “The Pit,” a song that quickly became a staple and has been performed well over 200 times since. The band included the track on 2007’s The Conch, a live/studio hybrid album. moe. first played “The Pit” at moe.down in 2005 and performances of the song at the festival have been a regular occurance since. Check out a particularly dirty version from moe.down 9 on August 30, 2008 above.
moe. dressed to impress for their moe.down XI finale on Sunday, September 5, 2010 at the event’s short-lived home of Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, New York. The band kicked off the evening’s second set with “Moth” and then lit into “Queen Of Everything,” a song sung by bassist Rob Derhak that moe. released on their Sticks & Stones LP in 2008. “Queen Of Everything” is a hard-driving number which incorporates country, psychedelia and good ol’ rock and roll. Watch the quintet tear through the tune above.
Fans were alerted something was up when the members of moe. assembled at the front of the stage to start their encore on September 3, 2011 at moe.down XII. The band left their usual instruments behind and performed the classic “Crab Eyes” on iPads during the final moe.down held in Mohawk. moe. was repeating a feat they had pulled off the previous May at the Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, Illinois. Jay Blakesberg and Jeremy Sewell created a video of the iPad-fueled “Crab Eyes” which includes a number of extreme closeups.
moe. original “Opium” is often a highlight in any set at which it appears thanks in part to the interplay between guitarists Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey. An example comes from August 11, 2013 at moe.down XIV, where Garvey put a slide to great use throughout the 11+ minute version of the tune penned by Rob Derhak, which can be viewed above.
A one-year moe.down hiatus ended in 2019 as the band brought the festival back to Snow Ride Ski Area July 4 – 6. moe. played three sets on the second night of the event with the first frame taking place during the afternoon. The afternoon set included a stellar rendition of Derhak’s “Happy Hour Hero,” a song which dates back to 1995 and was recorded by moe. for their 1998 studio album — Tin Cans And Car Tires. Chuck Garvey patiently worked through his solo and employed a talk box ala Peter Frampton. Watch pro-shot video of “Happy Hour Hero” from July 5, 2019 above.
