Recap: A Weekend long moe.day Celebration at the Palace Theatre in Albany, NY

February 27, 2023

3–5 minutes

Photos: Frankie Cavone

moe. returned to the Palace Theatre in Albany, NY for the first time in 5 years celebrating moe.day and were even given their own street, moe.street. This was the first time Chuck Garvey has been back in the area as the band toured with master shredder Suke Cerulo the previous year while Chuck was getting healthy. The band came off a hot two night run the previous week at Portland, ME’s State Theater and a very memorable New Year Eve performance in Philadelphia, PA.

The celebration began early in the day on February 24th with the band receiving their “moe.street” sign during a public press event right in front of the venue. It was great to see the city of Albany, NY continue to recognize one of the bands that helped shape the area’s music scene. Later on, fans filled the Palace eagerly waiting for two sets of top notch music. The band kicked off night one with “Billy Goat” which had a seamless transition into an aggressive “Bear Song”. Up Next, moe. selected “Crushing” from 2020’s This is Not, We Are and followed it up with fan-favorite “Blue Jeans Pizza.” The set ended with an intense and jammed out “McBain” receiving tons of energy from percussionist Jim Loughlin and also featured a sit-in from Suke Cerulo. We have to tip our hat to Suke for holding it down for nearly a year taking his style and sound to moe. original tunes.

What is great to see the most is how well the band has adapted their newest permanent member Nate Wilson to the band. The group is improvising in refreshing ways and making best use of having the added sounds from the keyboard. The second set on night 1 kicked off with “Again and Again” which went right into a top-shelf version of “Faker.” This was one of those songs that the band took Nate Wilson’s talents by adding a nice touch to an already powerful song. Later in the set, Vinnie Amico took charge with “Water” receiving much love from the crowd. The set ended with “The Pit,” a straight up rock and roll song that best displays the incredible Chuck Garvey style that we have all missed. It almost felt like the energy peaked once Garvey went into his solo part towards the end leaving fans wanting more. What did the band do? Give the moe.rons a two song encore featuring “Letter Home” and “Captain America.”

Night 2 began with a bass heavy set from Karina Rykman. Rykman has been rising the ranks with her own act and it showed with fans showing up early for her set. Vinnie Amico and Jim Loughlin even joined in on the fun and sat-in on “City Kids”. It wasn’t the last we would see of her either. moe. came out and opened their set with a mellow “Lazarus” and then completely flipped the mood with an always head banging “Seat of My Pants.” The song segued perfectly into “Sensory Deprivation Bank” easily one of the highlights of the night. After a couple drags off a “Jazz Cigarette,” it was time to catch a buzz with “Happy Hour Hero.” The set ended with a very much bass led “Meat” featuring a sit-in from Karina Rykman. The song even featured a “Bass-off” with Rob Derhak and Rykman throwing bass licks back and forth with each-other.

Set 2 opened up with an over 20 minute “Waiting for the Puchline” which was followed up with incredible version of “Kyles Song.” After a rocking “Peubla,” the band went right into “Rebubula” closing out the second set on a high note. Their four song second set allowed for a lot of jamming in between with the members showing off what the band does best, improvisation. The weekend long celebration ended with their signature tune “Plane Crash” sending all the moe.rons home “too f***king high.”

What did we gather from this weekend? moe. is not only fully back in the swing of things, they are taking more chances and risks than they ever have before. Having Nate Wilson in the band was a great decision breathing new life into already incredible songs. What made it for us was once again hearing the guitar tones from master shredder Chuck Garvey which have been absent for some time. It was a true honor to see him go out there and see him be himself again in front of dedicated fans. It is truly inspiring. Check out the full set list and gallery from both nights below: