moe.down 8 : Outstanding Festival

My favorite band performing live currently is moe. That's m-o-e-period. No one knows why the period is there or why the band name is spelled out lowercase.

If you're not familiar, moe. is from the area. They are from Buffalo and Utica and used to play around here A LOT in the 90's. moe. is a jamband in the same vein as the Grateful Dead and Phish in that they use their studio album recordings as a jump off point for their extended live, improvised performances. They now play all over the world. Check them out at www.moe.org or www.myspace.com/moe

moe.down is a 3 day festival moe. throws every year on Labor Day weekend in Turin, NY- north of Rome. I go every year. It's a nice wrap-up to my summer. Working at so many concerts makes it almost impossible to see live music as a patron. I make time for moe.down.

This year, I went with my buddy / business partner, Yates and my girlfriend, Danielle. Yates loves moe. more than anyone. Last year, I got him in VIP and I think he started hyperventilating backstage. This year, we got the VIP again and met up with our buddies, Joe, Willie and Chrissy.

moe. plays SIX sets over the course of the weekend. Other acts play on two stages when moe. is not melting faces. This year, the other acts were Lotus (my other fav's), the Roots (the best hip hop on the planet), Perry Ferrell's Satellite Party, Medeski, Martin & Wood w/ John Scholfield, Peter Prince & Moon Boot Lover, Strangefolk, The Meat Puppets, Uncle Earl and The Brakes to name a few. No matter if I have heard of the other acts playing or not, I always love all the music at moe.down.

You camp out at moe.down for the three days and get DIRTY. Last year it rained. Mud everywhere. Cars stuck all over. People covered in disgustingness. This year, no rain... but DUST. Covering everything. Nasty. People bring tents and tarps and set up little communities of hippydom. We brought our pop-up camper and went to the RV section. Love the pop up.

Danielle had serious knee surgery in May and has recovered nicely but is not 100% yet. I was worried about her walking and standing for long periods of time. I was WAY wrong. She bounced (on one leg) for the entire Roots performance, ROCKED with me in the front row for Lotus and danced at all of the night time moe. appearances. Incredible. She now has bruises on her knee that appeared from the INSIDE. Gross.

The best part about moe.down might be the patrons. These are serious music fans that get down and party like no one else. Beer flows like water. And so does everything else. But it isn't ever out of hand. Everyone seems to be getting along like we're friends. We camped out next to "The Red Team" (pictured left). The Red Team set up a disco ball under a shelter and had a dance party Sunday night. And people walk around and sell the weirdest shit. Rocks. Jello Shots. Hemp Jewelry. Baked Goods. Glass art. Other art. Pickles. Yep, Yates and I saw someone set up with a little table with just condiments on it, presumably selling them. "Deli Style" we chanted for a good day and a half.

We also saw signs that read: "DO NOT EAT THE MUSHROOMS PER THE MEDICAL STAFF"

There's also some weirdos. They're harmless for the most part... but weird all the same. We had these numbnutts set up a giant generator next to our camp so their 3/5ths of a band could practice at 3:00AM on Sunday night. WEIRD. There was a guy with a megaphone shouting strange montras like "Please be advised, tomorrow is labor day, you dont have to work, get crunked" He started every announcement with "Please be advised" and ended with "lets get crunked" At 8AM Saturday, there was a guy being dragged around on a rickshaw, throwing fortune cookies, with a trombone shouting "REVOLUTION!!" And the people selling condiments.

They have a mayor of moe.ville election that candidates campaign for all weekend. It's pretty silly. Last year, I think a picture of a squirrel humping a can won the election. There are people trying to get your "vote" all weekend via campaign posters, debates and flesh pressed begging. This year someone named "Hodge" won and quit after 4 minutes in office to give the seat to Perry Ferrell.

Fireworks wrap up the weekend after moe. plays their sixth set on Sunday night. It's pretty much my idea of a perfect weekend. I highly recommend moe.down.

Pictures by Myself, Jeff Rhodes, Mike Yates and Danielle Ruhlen. Check out all of Yates' pictures from moe.down at: CHUCK SIIIIIDE.
































Setlists:

8/31/07 Snow Ridge Ski Area - Turin, NY
	Stranger Than Fiction, Bearsong, Bullet > Tailspin, Kyle's Song, Opium > lylelovit., She > 32 Things
E:	Don't Do It*, She Sends Me
	* First time played.

9/1/07a Snow Ridge Ski Area - Turin, NY
	Buster*, The Road, Shoot First**, Down Boy, The Ghost of Ralph's Mom , So Long#, Mexico##
	* With The Kid Zone Buster parade to the front of the stage. ** Rob on upright bass, Al on acoustic guitar. # With "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Pink Floyd) intro. Al on acoustic guitar. ## With Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets on guitar.

9/1/07b Snow Ridge Ski Area - Turin, NY
1:	Lazarus > Skrunk, Ocean Size*, Okayalright > Wind It Up, Plane Crash
2:	Big World > [Meat Puppets] > Big World, McBain > George, The Faker > Timmy Tucker
E:	Spine of a Dog** > Spaz Medicine
	* First time played. With Perry Farrell on vocals. ** With Al solo intro.

9/2/07 Snow Ridge Ski Area - Turin, NY
1:	Crab Eyes, Hi and Lo > Kids, Tubing the River Styx > The Pit > Tubing the River Styx > Meat, The Weight*
2:	Blue Jeans Pizza > Recreational Chemistry**, Not Coming Down > Wormwood > St. Augustine > [moe. crew] Everybody Knows This is Nowhere# > Rebubula
E:	Akimbo, Letter Home
	Fireworks followed "Letter Home" with Rainbow singing "The Star Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America". * With KC Groves, Kristin Andreassen, Abigail Washburn, Bryn Davies of Uncle Earl on backing vocals, Rayna Gellert of Uncle Earl on fiddle, and Zach Djanikian of The Brakes on vocals. ** With Chuck on bass guitar and Rob on guitar for part. # With Jeff Waful on Chuck's guitar and vocals, Frank Robbins on Al's guitar, Hector Jimenez on bass and vocals, Steve Young on keyboards, Cass Libbers on drums, and Ken Richman on percussion.