Peep Track: moe. and K-Dub in Alpharetta

Set I: Skrunk> Down Boy> Y.O.Y., Not Coming Down, Cathedral> Plane Crash

Skrunk was a great opener, and by the end of Y.O.Y. it was pretty obvious that moe. decided to bring their “A” game to Atlanta. On a side note, I was very impressed by the quality of the lights at this show. I don’t think there’s a band out there whose lights I like better than moe.’s right now.

Plane Crash was undoubtedly the highlight of the set, and no matter how many times I see this song played, it still blows me away sometimes. See for yourself:

At set break guitarist Al Schnier encouraged the crowd to register to vote, and personally guaranteed to buy anyone a drink that had to wait longer than five minutes to do so. The band also gave away two autographed posters in a raffle for those that registered to vote that night. I really like the engaging, non-confrontational way that moe. presents their politics, especially in comparison with certain artists who get all yacked up and decide that they are politicians instead of musicians.

Set II: Stranger Than Fiction, Celebrate Your Youth (w/ Keller), 32 Things, Meat> Kids> Time Ed> Faker> Meat

Encore: Tailspin

During the set break one of the techs was messing with a weird looking guitar that looked like it could only belong to Keller Williams, so we knew there would be a sit-in. It was a fun little Keller song, Celebrate Your Youth, that actually sounds better on tape than it did at the show. Here’s another clip:

From the minute Keller walked off the stage until the end of the set, moe. just killed it. Beginning with 32 Things the band just let loose, playing fast and hard, hitting all sorts of peaks, taking it down a notch, and then smashing those peaks again. This was moe. at its finest ladies and gentleman. Huge bass lines, dueling guitar solos, pounding drums, all intertwined with some sort of crazy xylophone.

We got a quick taste of Meat, and then a jaw-dropping rendition of Kids. This one starts out a little slow but was probably my favorite jam of the night, it had a very Phish-y sound to it and everyone was loving it. From Time Ed through Meat the band really held nothing back; giving it their all, turning the volume up to 11, shattering all of the glass pipes in the audience and making believers out of everyone there.

When it was all over, moe. had played nearly a two hour second set and still had an encore to go. They closed the night with Tailspin which was just like the rest of the night: fast, explosive, and spot-on. moe. has a pretty extensive Summer tour scheduled and will be taking an extended break for a couple of months: I would highly advise seeing them now.

• Download or Stream This Show via the Live Music Archive
• Previously on HT: moe.’s Not So Much Kidding About The Jingles and moe.ments of Brilliance moe.ments of Boredom