The first night of Saranac Lake’s annual Winter Carnival kicked off Friday night with The Royal Noise bringing the funk to the Waterhole.
The Philadelphia-based band featured Saranac Lake native Mike LaBombard on saxophone and keys, along with Rodrigo Pichardo on bass and Aaron Zarrow on drums. The band played a free show in the Waterhole’s downstairs bar area, and it was packed with revelers honoring the outset of the weeklong winter festival, one of the oldest in the U.S., which has a theme this year of the Groovy ’60s. The Carnival queen, Linda Jackson, stopped by in her robe and crown after her coronation to celebrate with her subjects.
85 degrees and sunny for four days straight, minus a few quick rainstorms. All the jerk pork and frozen cocktails you can stomach. Reading on the beach, swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand. How could it possibly get better? Throe. into paradise a whole lot of Upstate’s finest jam band, moe.
moe.’s Tropical Throe.down festival, held Friday through Monday, Jan. 9-13 at the Grand Lido Resort in Negril, Jamaica, was an amazing experience for anyone who ventured there.
It wasn’t ugly there.
Each day in paradise was capped off with a full-length moe. show featuring the boys: guitarists Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier, bassist Rob Derhak, drummer Vinnie Amico and Jim Loughlin, who plays various key, percussion and stringed instruments. The stage was set up on the beach next to the main lodge area, with the chuck.side of the stage only a few yards from the ocean. There was plenty of space in front of the stage to get down, since only about 400 or so people were at each show, and plenty of people danced from the water as well. The resort set up three drink stations surrounding the audience area, so you never had to wait long to refresh your drink. Terry Lynch, Shannon Lynch and Shaun Bazylewicz, collectively known as the Conehead Buddha horns, joined the band intermittently throughout each show, hopping on and off stage as necessary.
Blow it!
Each night’s show was amazing, and the audience could tell the band members were having just as much fun in Jamaica as they were. Band members took their time in between songs, tuning up and bantering with the audience even more than usual.
The first night started off strong with “Seat of My Pants” into “Sensory Deprivation Bank” into “Annihilation Blues” but the first set was easily topped with a four-song second set: “Recreational Chemistry> Yodelittle> Jazz Wank> Buster”.
Two words: Chuck. Side.
Saturday night started with a fun “Billy Goat” to “Tailspin” segue, and “Brittle End,” “Plane Crash,” and the entire second set — “Spanish Moon > Puebla > Brent Black > Mar-DeMa > Brent Black, The Road” with nice stretched out drum and bass solos between “Mar-DeMa” and “Brent Black” — was high energy and super danceable.
Sunday’s highlights included “Dr. Graffenberg” ending the first set, and “Time Ed>George” then “Downward Facing Dog” to end the second, and “Same Old Story” encored, including the horns, which really round out the already-rocking song.
Why yes, that IS a penis necklace hanging from Rob’s bass.
On the final day, Warren Haynes joined moe. for a few songs — “Wormwood” into “St. Augustine” — during their second set. Haynes was about to host a Gov’t Mule festival billed Island Exodus 6 at the Grand Lido, which started two days after moe.’s Throe.down wrapped up, and he dropped by a little early to say hello. The show also featured some sweet “McBain” sandwiching and “Meat” in the first and second sets.
The Monday show was supposed to end with “Moth” to round out the encore, but instead “Rebubula” was the final Thoe.down song, reportedly because a group of women dressed as mermaids hoped to hear it.
In addition to the regular night concerts, the band played a Sunday afternoon acoustic set. It was originally billed as a private acoustic show on a catamaran for the first 100 people who booked their trips, but there were issues with the booking process. In the end, Island Gigs, the company that produced the festival, made arrangements for anyone who wanted to that didn’t get on the boat to pay an extra $20 for a van ride to the acoustic show.
I’m on a boat.
It was held at Rick’s Cafe, a popular tourist spot with 35-foot-high cliffs from which patrons jump into the ocean. The boys set up on a stage overlooking the ocean, and they played a highly memorable acoustic set. After playing a fun “Not Coming Down >Wormwood >Okayalright” sequence, Rob asked the audience if they wanted the band to play songs they are good at, or if they should just pull tunes out of their asses. The moe.rons, being the sarcastic group of assholes that they are, requested the latter. So each band member chose a song. Al started with “Johnny Lineup,” not part of the typical rotation, “That Country Tune” was Rob’s pick, Chuck went with “Willin’” by Little Feat, then Jim came forward for his “Farmer Ben” vocals. That song included parts of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” musical, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Evita” musical, a chant of “Ain’t no party like a Throe.down party cuz a Throe.down party don’t stop,” and “Powerhouse” by Raymond Scott, a song frequently used in cartoons. As if all that wasn’t fun enough, Vinnie came forward for the next song to sing “One Way Out” by the Allman Brothers, beloved guitar tech Frank Robbins nabbed Al’s guitar, Al switched to bass, so Rob was left to tap away on a tambourine.
A local raises money by jumping off the highest platform into the water, a good 20 feet or so above where they let tourists jump.
Next, when everyone was back in place, Al sang a Peter Tosh song called “Ketchy Shuby” that he said he used to listen to when he was high as a teenager in his bedroom, watching the tropical fish in his fish tank swim around. “It all comes full circle,” he said. It was the first time moe. covered the tune. To cap it all off, they played an unexpected-but-surprisingly-good “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult, which quite possibly will never happen again.
Jim raps some Farmer Ben!
The band played four raging shows, plus the acoustic set, but that wasn’t all. The festival also included opening sets Sunday and Monday from moe. guitar player Al Schnier and drummer Vinnie Amico’s bluegrass side project, Floodwood, that also includes Jason Barady, Nick Piccininni and Zachary Fleitz. The three non-moe. members of Floodwood also played laid-back a set at the beach bar Monday afternoon for those attendees who didn’t go on a day-trip to hike around and swim under a tropical waterfall.
People order burgers and drinks while the Floodwood guys croon.
Not only that, but Ha Ha the Moose made a rare appearance with an opening set Saturday night. The Moose, the gigglemetal side project of Chuck, Rob and Jim’s, consists of their alter egos Jeff VonKickass, Dr. Guano and Sludge clad in luchador masks and capes and trying to be as offensive and ridiculous as they possibly can.
Thanks for terrifying those of us with clown phobias, Jeff.
They yelled at the audience “Silence!” Dr. Guano shouted during the dim applause after their first song, played and sang sloppily, and forgot words to basically an entire song: the long-awaited “Tijuana Donkey Show” that has been played by both Ha Ha and moe. over the years. There was plenty of sweet shredding during songs like “Ha Ha the Moose Theme” and “Devil Toad” – once it gets licked, it can’t get unlicked. They treated the crowd to a raunchy new tune called “Courtesy Flush” that took the audience exactly where your mind goes when you hear the title. The set ended with ““In the Name of Freedom” in which Dr. Guano asked audience members what they would do in the name of freedom. As usual, it drew wildly inappropriate suggestions including one about Rob’s wife that ended the set with Dr. Guano giving an uncomfortable chuckle and a suggestion of a threesome.
You would do WHAT in the name of freedom?!?
The band was on vacation too, sort of, so they were seen around the resort whenever they were free, relaxing on the beach and hanging out after the shows, but they also made scheduled appearances throughout the weekend besides the shows. They golfed and went scuba diving with attendees, they snorkeled with guests who made the catamaran rides, and they held a meet-and-greet poster signing session Saturday afternoon.
Each attendee received a poster, T-shirt, pin and draw-string backpack with the Throe.down logo on them as part of the all-inclusive package. For around $2,000 each depending on the type of accommodations, it also included a room for each night, food and drinks, bus rides from and to the airport in Montego Bay (about an hour and 45 minute away), and the use of some boats.
Rumors are already starting to float around about the next Throe.down, especially now that moe.down is canceled for the year, so start saving your pennies! You won’t regret it!
A grown man dressed like a baby, nearly an hour of “Time Ed>Meat,” a bust-out, new covers and teases galore – it was definitely a New Year’s Eve run to remember at the Palace Theatre. moe. rang in their 25th year as a band with two shows at the Albany landmark that left fans exhausted and satisfied from so much smiling, dancing and partying.
There were a number of highlights throughout the run that blew fans away, but a major one was an “Ugly American” bust out, a song moe. last played twice in 2010, and before that not since 1999, when it was in regular rotation.
The Dec. 30 show started with a set from Twiddle, which drew an enthusiastic crowd. Then moe. didn’t waste any time getting into it, starting out with a cool “Skrunk” that segued into a “Timmy Tucker” that got the crowd going early. The show also included “Kids” playing into a “Bones of Lazarus” that veered back toward the old-school way of playing the song with a full into and a pause before the lyrics, though there was no “Ricky Marten” section. Many fans have been asking for old-school “Lazarus” since it was stripped down to its bones a few years back.
Farmer Satan and the gang
Tuesday was one of the first times moe. has really stretched out “This I Know” and jammed it out. The song off the band’s latest album has largely been kept around five minutes, except for on their West Coast tour this fall.
Bassist Rob Derhak’s son Zach joined the band onstage to give us more cowbell for a cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” during the encore.
“Four” and “Recreational Chemistry” were written into the original setlist, but they were both left out.
The New Year’s Eve show was all about nostalgia and celebrating the last 25 years of moe. Band members repeatedly thanked their fans, friends, family, crew and colleagues for the support over the years. They also talked a lot about how they consider Albany one of the band’s homes, since they moved to Albany in the ’90s to pursue music full-time.
“Tonight is special in so many ways,” guitar player Al Schnier said in one of his song intros.
The show began with the band rising out of the pit at the front of the stage to play a full acoustic set. As they rose to stage level, the band played an old folk song called “Low Bridge” about working on the Erie Canal. Bassist Rob Derhak said the song felt especially appropriate, since the band started in Buffalo then moved to Albany and played the circuit between those cities for years. Guitar player Chuck Garvey’s overalls and hat gave him a farmer look, Rob wore a bow tie, drummer Vinnie Amico played a wooden box with a hole in it, and percussion player Jim Loughlin was dressed in a vest, all of which made the old-timey folk tone of the acoustic set work extra well.
“Chromatic Nightmare” played with acoustic instruments sounded even more than usual like a creepy old-time carnival with bearded ladies and evil clowns lurking in every corner. The song also featured a “Carol of the Bells” tease that drew a huge cheer from the crowd. The full song was on the original setlist, but the band played a fun “Shoot First” instead.
For the second set, the band moved back into the main stage area and plugged back in. After a few hot songs, Al introduced the Conehead Buddha horns — people, he noted, that they’ve been playing alongside since the early days of the band. “This one goes about 25 years back,” Al said, and they launched into the “Ugly American” dance party.
Jim traded his normal Yankees hat for a more subdued black-on-black one for the evening.
The Conehead Buddha horns went on to prove a lot of haters wrong. Some moe.rons were growing concerned that the horns joining a performance meant the same stale setlist over and over, but they barely played any repeats from their performances with moe. over the last year, and they rocked the songs they played on for the first time.
The horn section — Shannon Lynch, Terry Lynch and Shaun Bazylewicz — rounded out “Ugly American” well and added a whole new level to “Same Old Story” to make it even better. Then they joined moe. in another new cover, “My Old School” by Steely Dan. When the horns took the stage again in the third set, they were a great fit on the super sexy “Dr. Graffenberg” that included Al and Shannon teasing “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” by the Beatles.
The CB horns were also a part of a fun family time “Happy Hour Hero” in which a handful of the band members’ children and other relatives joined the band onstage. Chuck’s nephew killed it on guitar, and the other kids added extra texture on percussion and horns.
Oh baby.
“Twenty-five years ago, they were but a twinkle in our eyes; none of these people existed,” Al said as he welcomed the kids to the stage.
The band took the stage very close to midnight unveiling a costume change: They had all put on some version of a silver jacket. Rob led a slightly off countdown, then at midnight a bald man dressed as a New Year’s baby — a diaper with a studded belt around it, a 2015 sash, a silver bow tie and a silver top hat — ran onto stage with a flying V guitar. It was Peter Prince, of Peter Prince and Moon Boot Lover, a Buffalo-based band that has been around on and off since the early ’90s. He ripped into a fast-paced and fun “Stone Free” by Jimi Hendrix, the third and final new cover of the evening, then he made the crowd join him in singing “Happy Birthday” to moe.
moe. then used up nearly the first hour of 2015 on a “Time Ed>Meat” that were super intense with lots of ebbs and flows, builds and releases, including a jam that teased “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly.
The encore of Pink Floyd’s “Time” into “Tubing the River Stix” into “The Pit” was appropriate: The first song, of course, since it time was such a big part of the night’s celebration, and “The Pit” was a good bookend to the beginning of the show with the band rising out of the pit.
Overall it was a stellar show with a number of high points and very few lows. If this is a sign of what’s to come throughout moe.’s 25th year, it’d be best not to miss a show.
Setlist – December 30, 2014
Set 1: Skrunk > Timmy Tucker, Do Or Die > Water >(nh) Puebla > Wind It Up
Set 2: 32 Things >(nh) Paper Dragon, Kids > The Bones Of Lazarus, This I Know, Buster
Encore: Don’t Fear The Reaper, Captain America
Setlist – December 31, 2014
Set 1: Low Bridge#, Queen Of Everything, Smoke >(nh) Chromatic Nightmare, Shoot First, White Lightning Turpentine, Waiting For The Punchline
Set 2: Downward Facing Dog, Billy Goat > Bullet > Silver Sun, Ugly American*##, My Old School*%, Same Old Story*, Happy Hour Hero*^$
III: Stone Free$%%, Time Ed > meat., Little Miss Cup Half Empty*, Annihilation Blues*, Dr. Graffenberg*
Enc: Time > Tubing The River Styx > The Pit
{First set acoustic
* w/ Conehead Buddha horn section: Shannon Lynch on saxophone, Terry Lynch on trumpet, Shaun Bazylewicz on trombone
^ w/ Marley Amico on sax, Madison Amico on percussion, Eddie Derhak on trumpet, Ayla Schnier on keys, Ben Schnier on drums
$ w/ Peter Prince on guitar & vox
# FTP – (cover – traditional / Thomas S. Allen)
## LTP – 7/15/10
% FTP – (cover – Steely Dan)
%% FTP – (cover – Jimi Hendrix)}
The Dec. 30 show started with a set from Twiddle, which drew an enthusiastic crowd. Then moe. didn’t waste any time getting into it, starting out with a cool “Skrunk” that segued into a “Timmy Tucker” that got the crowd going early. The show also included “Kids” playing into a “Bones of Lazarus” that veered back toward the old-school way of playing the song with a full into and a pause before the lyrics, though there was no “Ricky Marten” section. Many fans have been asking for old-school “Lazarus” since it was stripped down to its bones a few years back.
“Chromatic Nightmare” played with acoustic instruments sounded even more than usual like a creepy old-time carnival with bearded ladies and evil clowns lurking in every corner. The song also featured a “Carol of the Bells” tease that drew a huge cheer from the crowd. The full song was on the original setlist, but the band played a fun “Shoot First” instead.
