moe. – 25th Anniversary Show: Stone Pony Summer Stage

Photos by Kimberly Wessels, Words by Kenny Pete

moe. 25th Anniversary Show at The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, NJ

It was a breezy Sunday afternoon when festival stalwart moe. rolled into Asbury Park coming off of a short run of shows in New Hampshire and a two-night stand in Burlington, VT. There was a comfortable crowd starting to build when TAUK took the stage to open up the evening. The instrumental quartet weaved their way through a tight set of groves before wrapping up the set with the most brilliant cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom” this side of El Nordzo. They were the perfect choice to get the stage warmed up & are definitely worth checking out if you haven’t done so already at http://taukband.com/.

When it came time for moe. to take the stage, the crowd was ready. I remembered seeing them on the summer stage in 2004 for The Great Bamboozle, during a torrential downpour where the band cheated death by playing a few songs for us that day. No such obstacles on this day as it was a beautiful evening & the buzz in the crowd was palpable.

moe. played the kind of set that I was exactly looking for from them, starting out strong & keeping the heat on. The first 45+ min brought out the non stop, funk-rock fusion that has built the band a loyal following in the jamband community for over 20 years now. The segues were smooth & the extended jams were really polished, in a musical way, not in a rehearsed way. Closing out the first set was a transition into the Pink Floyd classic “Time”, which harkened me back to the first time I saw the band on NYE 2001 a few hundred yards up the boardwalk at Convention Hall. That was a really cool moment for me personally & was glad to see them give a nod to one of the memorable performances they have given Asbury Park over the years.

After a brief intermission, the band was back to deliver a really fun second set with more exciting segues and exploratory jams that fans have grown to appreciate. Closing out the set with one of their biggest songs “Rebubula” really put an explanation point on the evening. By the end of the second encore, both the band and the crowd were fully satisfied with the evening’s presentation and another memorable performance was in the history books. It was most certainly, one moe, for the good guys.

“Down Boy”