moe. And Mike Gordon Team For ‘In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed’ At Red Rocks

By Ming Lee Newcomb Jun 2, 2019 10:37 am PDT

On Saturday night, moe. headlined the legendary outdoor venue Red Rocks Amphitheatre, with support from Mike Gordon and White Denim. During their two-set show, the New York jam act took advantage of the special guests on hand, welcoming the Phish bassist for a blistering Allman Brothers Band cover.

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The fan-favorite five-piece kicked off their performance with an extended take on “Timmy Tucker.” The propulsive, 17-minute tune was used to briefly detour through a laidback “Tubing The River Styx,” which highlighted Jim Loughlin on the xylophone. From there, Rob Derhak held down the low-end during a hard-edged take on “The Pit,” with the bassist continuing to shine during the blistering 12-and-a-half minute rendition of “Dangerous Goods.”

After the four-song, non-stop opening segment, moe. turned to their new catalog, offering up “Jazz Cigarette,” which was debuted in February during a show at Portland, Maine’s State Theatre. The group then threw it back with “Water,” offering up a 10-minute take on the long-standing favorite. To close out the set, the band welcomed Mike Gordon to join them for a sprawling 20-minute rendition of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” the Allman Brothers Band’s celebrated classic off their 1970 sophomore effort Idlewild South.

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For the second frame, moe. focused on extending their improvisations, offering up six songs — the majority of which rang in at over ten minutes. To kick off the first three-song combination, the group used a high-energy take on “The Road” to segue into “New Hope For A New Year,” with the latter debuted during their triumphant return shows at The Capitol Theatre last year. After the 13-and-a-half “New Hope,” which marked the second longest song of set two, the group moved into a patient and precise “Bullet.”

moe. finished off the second set with another three-song segment, starting with “Crushing,” a newly penned Al Schnier tune that was debuted during last week’s Summer Camp Music Festival. From there, the group used “George” to transition into a triumphant set-closing take on favorite “Rebubula.” For the encore, the band offered up a cover of The Vapors’ 1980 new-wave smash hit “Turning Japanese.”

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Listen to full-show audio of Saturday’s Red Rocks performance below, courtesy of marcus:

Setlist

Set One: Timmy Tucker > Tubing the River Styx > The Pit > Dangerous Goods, Jazz Cigarette > Water, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

Set Two: The Road > New Hope for a New Year > Bullet, Crushing > George > Rebubula

Encore: Turning Japanese

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