Joey's Collection
moe. 11/08/2003
State Theatre, Portland, ME
| Source | Neumann KM-150 >Apogee MiniMe (24b/48kHz) > Apple iBook |
| Media | flac 2 discs |
| Notes | moe. 2003-11-08 (SATURDAY) State Theater; Portland, ME recorded by: Gary Comley, Portland, ME source: Neumann KM-150 > Apogee MiniMe (24b/48kHz) > Apple iBook lineage: Tracked, fades added, dithered, and resampled in Peak DISC ONE (set one) 01 Threw It All Away 02 St. Augustine 03 Captain America 04 Kids> 05 Moth* DISC TWO set two 01 Brent Black> 02 Time Ed> 03 Yodelittle DISC THREE (set two) 01 Timmy Tucker (encore) 02 Not Coming Down * with Jon Trafton of Strangefolk on guitar TAPER'S NOTES: Possibly my favorite moe. show ever, certainly from all of 2003. Sadly, the 24-bit files of this performance were corrupted and lost forever. The following is a review of the show which I posted in two parts to the moe. L mailing list in 2004: PART I moe. 2003-11-08, State Theater, Portland ME Since many of the folks to whom I've given this show usually go completely apeshit for it, I thought I'd send out a nod to anyone out there in moe.ville who still hasn't heard it. This miracle from moe.ville has gotten countless hours of play around my pad (and in my Jeep, FedEx van, iPod, etc.) in the 10 months since it was played. What can I say? It was a jaw-dropping show having no peaks or valleys, just one solid, balls-to-the-wall performance. moe. have been on fire many times in my experience, but it is not often that they drop a nuclear bomb. This was such a night! The State Theater is typically jovial when moe. comes to town. It is appropriate that moe. should play such great shows in what was previously a porno theater. I suppose the fact that Rob lives about ten minutes away helps the band feel like they're home when playing there. The anticipation of a show happening in your town is grand, especially if the venue is within walking distance (you can get stinking drunk if you want)! The previous November, the band had played on the same day the Portland Expo was hosting the Maine Brewers Festival. I had a newbie with me for that show, too. After four hours and forty four-ounce beer samples at the brewfest, we were lit and ready to explode. The band didn't disappoint, and gained a fan in my friend Terry. One year and one week later, I had two newbies on-hand for the show--old Deadhead peeps who liked a fun-loving crowd and a jammin' band. Phish never worked for them, so I told them I had just the tickets they needed. We walked down from my apartment in what had been the first really cold day of the season in Maine, they treated me to Greek food and we drank lots of local beer. As a taper, I'm usually in line early. Meeting and greeting was as usual around the other tapers who were there, so nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. Our expectations weren't even close to what was about to be delivered from the stage. Inside the State Theater, you realize right away that the place is just the sort of old, dumpy place you find all over the country. It holds about 900-or-so for a GA show and has a small balcony up on top. It is most like the New Daisy Theater in Memphis, but about twice the size and having a much higher ceiling. The acoustics are nice, unless you're under the balcony (of course), and are especially welcoming to percussion. I suppose that is why, then, that Jim and Vinnie treated us to three drums/percussion solos that night. I have to admit that besides moe.down, I've never seen so many tapers at a moe. show. There must have been fourteen stands. Jim Ratner, Bill Martin and Jon Merin were there, along with other New England regulars and some I'd never met before. My friends parked themselves at a table in the front of the beer section (right behind the tapers), and kept smuggling beers for us all night. The usual New England faces were all present. moe. hit the stage, and gave us Threw It All Away. They tore it up! They were playing top-shelf moe. from the very first note. TIAA had come back into rotation only recently, and I expected some flubbing, but there was none. The show off to the races. I had dreamed about TIAA popping up at the show in the days and weeks leading up to November 8. To get it first, and to have it played so well, was a harbinger. St. Augustine came next, very matter-of-factly. I was, at that point in my moe. history, growing terribly weary of St. Auggie. I'd heard it so much in 2002 and 2003 (between moe. and Swampdonkey), and it was getting to be hum-drum. It was a great song getting killed by repetition. I knew right away, from Chuck's wailing slide, that this one was gonna change all that. Accompanied by Al's perfect guitar fills, Chuck ripped the intro for some three minutes, before the breakdown led into a pre-jam drum solo from Vinnie. Chuck, back on slide, just let his part fade, coxing the drums to take over at about the 6:30 mark. Vinnie kept his solo in time, so when Jim chimed in on the timbales soon after, the whole building just crackled with a sound unmistakably St. Auggie. The acoustics are nearly perfect for percussion instruments, and this groove was three minutes of bliss for the audience. The newbies were absolutely loving it!! Once the guitars take back control, again with Al laying perfect fills for Chuck, the jam goes for outer space and hits it right around the 12:00 mark when both guitars just explode, leading us to the outro. Rob introduces Jim and Vinnie, commenting on Jim's newly broken drum (yep, the jam was that good). The boys kid him about it for the next few minutes, and then Rob asks: "All that crap you have and all you can play is that one drum that's broken?" Seconds later, Rob starts Captain America. As hit-or-miss as I've found this song to be, it has always worked when they keep it short. This Captain is like most of the rockin' short versions, until the 2:45 mark, when Chuck shifts it into high-gear and we're back in outer space. Rob didn't waist much time coaxing the show forward when he began the bass lines to Kids. Now, I got a little anxious when Kids began, because I find it is usually hit-or-miss, as well. Clearly, this set wasn't to feature the tunes I usually look for first in a moe. show, but the performance had been so hot that I would've taken anything next. This Kids was flawlessly executed, with Jim's MalletKat ringing out loud and clear through the theater and Al opening up the hose on his guitar. When the breakdown out of Kids came at the 16:30 mark, I can assure you no one expected Phenomena. I mean, I remember this crazy song from Sesame Street! It was pretty far-out when I was five--this show was just not letting up! The acoustics of the theater allowed that eccentric vocal jam to bounce around the room, causing much joyful disorientation. After fucking with us for six minutes, the familiar hints of Moth swirled in. As guest musicians go, it either works or it doesn't. When Jon Trafton walked onstage to take the first solo in Moth, it worked. I'm not much of a Strangefolk fan, so I won't claim to know anything about his skill or style, but he really played his ass off. Beginning at 8:10, Trafton did his very best to excite the moe.rons, and I thank him for it. His nearly five-minute jam was inspired for a guest, fitting like a glove, and continuing our trek through the solar system. Not to be outdone by a scab, Chuck and Al took to dueling each other for several minutes to fill out what was surely one of the most exciting moe. sets I had seen in a while. That was one sensational first set. It was only a teaser. Set two took off where the first set had left us. We were, by that time, at the edges of our solar system. The show went to warp with the opening drums of Brent Black. Holy shit, Batman! This Brent Black kicked soooo much ass!!! Most likely the best I've ever heard, certainly the best I've ever seen. PART II Sweet Jeebus! Remember in part one I wrote that the first set "wasn't to feature the tunes I usually look for first in a moe. show, but the performance had been so hot that I would've taken anything?" Well the second set was exactly the tunes I usually look for in a moe. show. The only difference was the performance. It was better. In Star Trek speak, Warp 10 is a theoretical impossibility. It would allow a traveller to occupy all points in the Universe simultaneously. When Chuck hit the button around the 9:30 mark of Brent Black, the State Theater did just that. I wanted to be nowhere else in the Universe at the time, but such is moe. music. Sometimes it takes you there without realizing it right away. Had I known that the relentless ride would last for the next sixty-seven minutes across just three songs, I might have wanted my pockets stuffed with hash and my head full of acid when I left my pad. My newbie friends were having the best time they'd had at a show in years, moe. had been in top form for set one, and I was just thrilled to have it happen in my own backyard. The second set put me in my own Universe, where I was all that existed except for the music. If you want to know why I love this band, look no further. With the second drums/percussion solo of the night careening around the venue, the first of three full Space exercises, and guitar work for the gods, Brent Black was a grand and exciting gift from the band. It contained six distinct parts: the usual intro (up to 3:45), Chuck's jam (to 9:45), drums/percussion (to 12:50), space (to 20:00), the return/reprise (to 24:45):, and an outro segue into Time Ed (ending at 27:20). Not so different than others, but performance is where it counts. For daring and audacity, this Brent Black sits among the finest moe.ments in my history with the band. I was tuned into them completely, nothing else mattered at the time. How fitting that when Time Ed began to ring in, I turned to Jim Ratner to tell him that so far, this was my dream set. I don't like it when the band seems to just go through the motions. Time Ed is a tune they've got to be on every time. I've noticed, because of that, they always seem to play Time Ed as part of a really kick-ass show. We'd have never gotten a Time Ed in Boston back in June, for example. The vibe just wasn't compatible. To add some zest to the lyrical portion, Chuck (and Al) decided to give Rob a hard time. They were nonchalantly singing the chorus at inappropriate times, and got Rob all confused, causing him to flub on his timing. He gave Chuck the finger, which was acknowledged verbally. If you hear a confused Rob, followed by Chuck saying something about "flipping me the bird," that's the story. Coming out of drums/percussion solo three for the evening, we found ourselves entranced by a Floydian Space jam from the top-shelf. After coming out of Brent Black's Warp 10, the band took us back to exploring far away places at mere light speed. Jim's MalletKat solo was the start, ringing about the theater's awesome acoustics. I felt for my moe.ron friends who couldn't be there. Really, I even thought about projecting the vibes for all to feel. We're talking about a jam with the feel of A Saucerful of Secrets, but definitively moe. The fact that coming out of Time Ed was a gargantuan Yodelittle with an even better Space was, of course, unknown to me at the time. Yodelittle had the raw, old-school thump, with Rob hitting way below the belt. Now clearly my dream set, the State Theater's patrons were taken up in a rapture. After Chuck and Al roll us through the deepest reaches of their skill, Space #3 begins around 8:25 and becomes one of the most interesting and invigorating jams I've heard moe. perform. Al infuses it with layered riffs and sounds fitting seamlessly with Rob's wet, thunderous bottom-end (no laughing). Around 13:00, it transitions into a sort-of pre-landing routine. We feel ourselves being pulled back down into the Theater. We're back in Maine when Yodelittle fades away at 16:00, only to crescendo once again for the end two minutes later. It's been 67:00. Thank you for flying with the Starship Flo. In true moe. fashion, however, they dug their heels into the earth for one last 14:00 with Timmy Tucker. I'm surprised at the fact that after the previous three mammoth jams, this Timmy jammed just as hard as all the rest. It's your usual kick-ass Timmy Tucker. They went for it, keeping the energy firmly kindled, and did not surrender. For an encore, and surely just to prove they could still play with the same level of energy, they spent the 4:30 they legally had left on a swift, furious album-version of Not Coming Down. Had they not encored would have been fine, though. I already had what I came for. It was as if the uproar from the crowd as the last note was played was a warning to the people of moe.ville: ANOTHER KICK-ASS MOE. BOOTLEG IS ABOUT TO ARRIVE. I've seen lots of moe. shows from 1995 to the present. This was the best of 2003. Favorites come and go, but ever since the first hours after the gig, I keep coming back to the recording again and again. In closing, get the show. You owe it to yourself to hear (or hear again) this truly stellar gig. For me, it doesn't get much better than this. I told the newbies that the only downer about having been at this particular show for your first was that you may never see a better show. Though they don't travel far for shows, they have high hopes. |
| Tech Notes | ALL |
| Trades Allowed | Yes |
| Reference / Generation | 0006490728 |
Owned by Joey
· Last Updated May 23, 2023
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