by Michael LelloWeekender Editor
STROUDSBURG — You might call moe.’s performance Wednesday night at the Sherman Theater a tale of two sets. During the band’s hour-plus first set, the music crackled with energy and a sense of purpose, from the straight-ahead opener “Cathedral” through lengthy workouts like “Moth” and “Time Ed.” The second portion, however, squandered that momentum, with directionless jamming and an overdone percussion segment that provided little or no entertainment value.
The observation about the second set, in some ways, is moot. moe. fans, for the most part, like to party. What songs the band plays, and how it plays them, is secondary to many listeners, especially attendees whacked out on booze or other substances of their choice. Fair enough. But it’s likely that the more astute music fans in the audience were let down by the post-intermission portion of the show, which included a few high points that were too infrequent to make up for the missteps.
Playing to 1,400 attendees in a 1,500-capacity house, the stars of the show, as usual, were co-lead guitarists Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier. What separates moe. from its peers — and even its forefathers like the Grateful Dead and Phish — is a ferocious, twin-guitar act that at times has as much in common with Iron Maiden as it does with the Allman Brothers Band. Garvey and Schnier alternately traded solos, played a crunchy rhythm while the other player led or worked together to weave intricate and pleasing lattices of intertwined melodies. Together, they are one of rock’s best, and most underrated, six-string tandems.
“Cathedral,” with bassist Rob Derhak on lead vocals, provided an up-tempo kickoff and a lead-in to the stretched-out “Moth.” In “Moth,” Derhak and drummer Vinnie Amico played with simple Zen-like concentration while Schnier wrung blasts of noise from his guitar and spiraling lights — which were breathtaking all evening — enveloped the reveling audience. “Four” rode a complicated beat before classic-rock resolution during the choruses. The quintet — which also features multi-instrumentalist Jim Loughlin — countered with “Lazarus,” one of the premier songs in the group’s voluminous live catalog. The band deftly unfurled “Lazarus’” ominous melodies before blasting out some monstrous Blue Oyster Cult-esque beats and then a sharp, angular jam which led into a crowd-pleasing “Time Ed” set closer.
The moe. men, still nattily clad in dark business suits which stood in contrast to many of the neo-hippies in the theater, launched the second set with promise thanks to a fun, slinky “She” and a relatively harmless but enjoyable “All Roads Lead to Home” with guest vocalist Nadine LaFond. “Kyle’s Song” found Loughlin plunking out a bass line that complemented Derhak’s. Despite a mid-song missed cue, “Kyle’s,” which segued into “Bring You Down,” was a show highlight. Unfortunately, however, a lethargic “Bring You Down” lived up to its title.
At this point, the show was, for all intents and purposes, over. Schnier beat boxed during a knotty group jam which never took off. “Skrunk” contained a simple and pointless drum segment, with Garvey juggling guitar picks and percussion shakers, possibly out of boredom. “George” offered potential, especially with some spot-on and spongy guitar flourishes, but it was too little too late, and it was certainly not saved by the encore, a bar-band rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile,” with lead vocals by LaFond, a member of Swampadelica, a band from just over the nearby New Jersey border.
moe. is a band that takes risks and plays long shows during long tours. Therefore, it’s expected that not every show or set is a winner. It’s also worth noting, without making excuses, that the band was coming off a three-night stand in New York City; maybe fatigue began to creep in by the time Wednesday’s second set rolled around. But none of this should take away from the brilliant, tasteful and sometimes jaw-dropping performances during the first set or the overall integrity and intensity moe. enters each show with, even two decades into its existence. w
