moe. Terminal 5 2/13/2009 review

Checked out moe. at Terminal 5 this past Friday in NYC.
This was my first trip to T5 and was pretty happy with the venue.  Plenty of space on the three levels, multiple bars (no real wait, like at Roseland) and friendly to smokers with a really nice smokers patio.

This was my first moe. show since seeing them at Ives Center, CT (another great venue).  Boy did they look GREAT! The looked well rested, slimmed down and ready to get at some serious jamming!  As soon as I hit the floor, I noticed some new lighting and was interested how that was going to look.  There seems to be a lot of back and forth on line with people who like/dislike the new lighting, long story short I liked it.  Certainly different, and obviously something different for moe.

Now onto the show.  The boys came out and jumped right into with the MC5 cover, Kick out the jams, what a show starter!  Seemed like a lot of people were looking around trying to figure it out, but there were enough people who were totally stoked!!!  NYC seemed a little early in the show but still good to hear. Almost immediately I notice how Rob looked out at the audience, he was into it, looking focused and having fun  The last few times I had seen him on the east coast, he just seemed not as into it when the shows started, but that's just me.The rest of the first set was solid for me, love the Deep This Time, with one of my favorite lyrics,"looking at forty/acting like a child". Story of my life.
Set break seemed a bit long but had plenty of time to fuel up for the next set.  Kicking off with another favorite, McBain, gave me the chance to eat up some of Jim.  Jim is one incredibly talented musician, love the chance to watch him work.. He left us talking post-show at J Mac's about the need for more xylophone in music. As the second set moved on, their surprise jam band cover was Panic's Space Wrangler.  Similar to the opener, I thought the audience was a little stunned, many of them either not sure what they were listening to whether it was Coconuts or Wrangler, it confused me for a second like they were going back and forth.  It was a nice surprise maybe not as crisp as some other choices but a classic jam band song, and I'd love to hear them play it again.  Timmy Tucker > Tailspin was freakin' amazing.  They were completely shredding in mid-tour form and it was great.  The encore was a solid meat, could have used some more but moe. always leaves me wanting more.  Love to watch al. go crazy, could have used some more Chuck up front but hey can't wait for the summer.......