moe. ‘s contribution comes directly from the vault of their archivist, Dr. Stan, and is a previously unreleased soundboard recording of a fine show from Spring tour 2002. It’s a classic “moe. by the numbers” on old school covers, with a first set full of the early showings that have become, forever since, popular staple songs. It includes the very first time moe. played dual-lead guitarist Chuck Garvey’s exquisite balance of light and darkness in “Shoot First.” The first set also contained the second ever performance of “Not Coming Down,” which would appear on moe.’s Wormwood album, recorded later in 2002. The first set flowed quite well, despite containing many newly formed songs, such as the third “Conviction Song” ever played. To the chagrin of many moe.rons, this show also saw the last time the band would play “Sweet Home Alabama.” However, to balance out the covers, the set did include the fifth time ever that Tori Amos’ “Cornflake Girl” was played, as well as Steely Dan’s “Bodhisttsava.”

The second set was a non-stop, momentum freight train from the New York-based ragers of improvisational rock that further declared moe. as the epitomic owners of the segue. This five song offering of a set rounded out to just over an hour and twelve minutes with no pauses at all. Blasting out of the gate with the always enjoyed and thoroughly jammed “Bullet,” then into another fan favorite, “Kyle’s Song.” After which they went into a wonderful rendition of “Livin’ Again,” only debuted a year prior to this show. The last forty-six+ minutes of the second set was a “Timmy Tucker > CalifornIA > Timmy Tucker” sammich a trifecta of moe. classics even for this 2002 show. The synchronous and exploratory jamming, as well as the flowing of songs, only further reinforced why the five-headed improvisational rock machine known as moe. garnered much attention during this era. No to mention, facilitated them into their longevity, in a genre that has since morphed into a plethora of hybrids, even today. Wrapping up this show nicely in the encore is a cover of “Sweet Emotion” that also shows how moe. has the impressive dynamic of covering others’ songs, while still keeping their own feel to the sound at the same time.