moe. is a jam band

Cody Elam
Bernell Dorrough

There is always something that stands out as the best part of a show, whether it’s the sweat on the guitar player’s face, or the drummer trashing his set, or the bassist taking a stage dive. For me, at moe., it was percussionist Jim Loughlin’s xylophone solo. It was, by far, THE BEST xylophone solo I’ve ever heard. Okay, you’re thinking, how many xylophone solos have I heard outside of a second grade music concert; the answer is, none. However, I do know that for five minutes, Loughlin’s xylophone had my complete attention, as he hammered intensely at the keys, producing an endless stream of sixteenth notes and rock licks.

To clarify, moe. is a jam band. They improvise off of simple grooves and chord progressions with countless guitar solos, rhythm changes, and dynamic variations. Also, they’re a band whose music is much better translated live than through headphones. Tuesday night at the Pageant, moe. proved that their music and their art as a band is in their live performance. With lights coruscating through the fog, smoke drifting overhead, and tons of wiggly bodies intermingling below the stage, moe. showed that they create not just a sound, but an atmosphere for listening to music.

However, it a mistake to say that moe.’s sound can’t be defined or categorized. With their two-pronged guitar attack, they showed prowess in their ability as a rock band. Where they excelled was in their use of their talents to explore the various forms of rock, such as hard rock, funk rock, folk rock, blues rock, jazz rock, space rock, and let’s not forget about plain old American traditional rock. So, really, moe. is an electic multidimensional rock band, excelling in live performance; this is what we call a jam band.

On their fifth show of their 15-date winter tour, moe. displayed versatility not only in genre-bending, but also in their musical talent. Whether clean or distorted tones, both guitar players riffed endlessly on blues and rock solos. And when lead guitar player Al Schnier grew tired of playing guitar, he stepped in front of a synthesizer to send off swirling sounds. For the most part, moe. played heavy rock songs, and traded solos between members, until returning back to the songs for a last chorus. However, each of their one-hour-plus sets settled into grooves that were a bit too cozy and easy-going. While they may have appeased drug-influenced fans, half-hour long spacey jams are not all too exciting. While their pop tunes (“New York City,” “Tambourine,”) weren’t received in the same sing-a-long respect as a Billy Joel song, they can be forgiven for the fact of being musicians first and songwriters second.

moe. entertained a crowd well beyond their seventeen dollars worth, and kept dancers’ feet moving. It was probably a good thing for the lazy-looking twenty-something concertgoers, because I doubt they get much other exercise in the winter months.

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