moe.

I went to see the band moe. play in Manhattan this past weekend, and they were great. They played two nights, and I went to both. I went down with my friend Brad and we stayed at his friend's place in Brooklyn. The first night was a benefit concert to fight hunger, and there were a lot of musical guests - Butch Trucks on drums, Marco Benevento on keys, David Sandom on sax, Jeff Austin on the mandolin (awesome) and David Barnes on banjo. It was a good show, and I had a really good time, but sometimes it was like too many cooks in the kitchen. the crowd was good as well, which always enhances any show. Our friend DV came to meet us in Brooklyn from the airport, and we had his driver bring us over to the show in Manhattan. It was the most entertaining ride ever. The driver (who knew our friends) was really funny and took us on a nice ride so we could see all the sights like the Statue of Liberty and a good view of Manhattan. After we just went home to Brooklyn and hung out all night. I finally went to bed around 4 or 5, but the guys stayed up the entire night and just powered on through the next day.... I could have never done that!

The second night was just moe. by themselves, and I liked this show much better. They played Letter Home, Johnny Lineup, Shoot First, Mexico, Dr. G, Buster, and a lot more. They just jammed for like 20 minutes at a time, and the first set was amazing. It was definitely the standout of the night. After the show we met up with some other friends, hung around after the show, and then took the longest cab ride ever back to Brooklyn. We wanted to go to the Brooklyn Bowl but there was a cover and we were all pretty much broke at that point. So we went to this bar where there were some pretty colorful characters. I just sat with my ice water and people-watched the entire time, and ate a million peanuts. There were big baskets of peanuts everywhere, and the five of us downed like three of them, they were so good and sooo addicting. One guy at the table next to us was wearing cowboy chaps, a huge fur coat, and a full-size American flag draped around his shoulders. No shirt. With eyeliner. And I think that was his regular uniform. Others had crazy, asymmetrical, hipster hair; there were some biker characters in there, and some with black shapes painted on their faces. We all just watched, it was very entertaining. Then we got 3 am pizza and walked like 20 blocks back to the car to go home, and then stayed up til the sun came up. We listened to this really awesome group, Pretty Lights. You can go on their website and download their albums for free. I haven't been able to stop listening to them since I got home.

So that was my weekend, and I loved it, and never wanted to leave. Brad is going to see moe. this weekend in Boston, and I'm so jealous.