The Birmingham News
The band moe. took to the stage at WorkPlay Friday night to the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey." It was an appropriate introduction - the next four hours were stellar.
The band kicked things off with "Cathedral," the opening track from its newest album, "Sticks and Stones." The spectacular light show, combined with smooth jam-band riffs, had everybody in the audience swaying from the get-go, from young men with dreadlocks to senior citizens with canes.
Moe. established a rather slow pace during the first hour-long set with low-key improvisations between classics such as "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Mexico." Although it was clear from the beginning that the band had a great deal of talent, its mediocre performance during the first set was not the way to prove it.
A 45-minute intermission was time well spent by the band, because the second set was light years away from the first.
The second set picked up the pace instantly with the opener "Head." Rather than just playing the song, the band moved into an instrumental jam complete with drum and xylophone solos, dueling guitars and even parts of other songs. It was a long song, but the crowd loved every second of it.
Moe. gave its audience more of the same during the rest of the set as band members more often than not let their instruments, not their voice, do the talking. Songs such as "New York City" highlighted the show as the crowd danced along into Saturday's early hours.
For an encore, moe. brought out an acoustic guitar, mandolin and stand-up bass to officially retire "Raise a Glass" in honor of a friend's birthday. "In celebrating birth, we must also celebrate death," guitarist Al Schnier said as the band let a few people from the crowd onto the stage. "Tonight we mark the death of this song."
Although moe. started out slowly, the band sped things up at the right time and kept the crowd entertained over a four-hour span. Bassist Rob Derhak put it best when the band came out for its encore: "You guys wore me out."