moe. Perform Without Rob Derhak On Vocals, Salute “Casey Jones”

Photo by Chris Paul

Bassist Rob Derhak, who doubles as one of moe.’s lead vocalists, is currently suffering from vocal problems. Though he performed with moe. over the weekend, he did not sing for the majority of Saturday night’s performance at Chicago’s The Riviera. moe. focused on songs featuring the other members of the band on lead vocals for most of the night, but also switched things up at several points during the show.

The group opened their set with a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Money” featuring guitarist Chuck Garvey on lead vocals. Then, guitarist Al Schnier sang Derhak’s lead vocal parts on the originals “St. Augustine” and “Haze.” Later in the set, Schnier also dusted off his ‘90s tune “Again & Again” for the first time since March 4, 2012.

The group’s second set started with a surprise as well. moe. kicked things off with a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones” featuring drummer Vinnie Amico on lead vocals. The only other time moe. covered the song was on August 18, 2005 during a stealth show in Troy, NY billed as The Vinnie Amico Experience. Later, the group opened their encore with a version of “Farmer Ben” that referenced “Paper Dragon” and “New York City” during the song’s jam sections and moved into “Rebubula.” After refraining for singing for the entire night, Derhak stepped up to the microphone during ““Rebubula” to sing the classic moe. number.

Derhak only sang one song last at Lafayette, IN’s Lafayette Theater: Near the start of the show he and Garvey split vocal duties on “Blue Jeans Pizza,” a song they usually sing together. The rest of the evening also featured several songs which feature lead vocals by other members of the band. Of note, at the start of their second set, moe. busted out a cover of Sublime’s “What I Got” that featured Amico on lead vocals. moe. has not played Sublime cover since the same The Vinnie Amico Experience show where they introduced “Casey Jones.”

Here’s a look at this weekend’s setlists as they appear in our Box Scores section

Saturday, February 9, The Riviera, Chicago, IL

Set I: Money > St. Augustine*, Haze*, Shoot First, Gone, Again & Again# > Puebla, Akimbo

Set II: Casey Jones##, Silver Sun, Tailspin > Kids, Where Does the Time Go?, Head. > The Road > Head.

E: Farmer Ben > Rebubula > Farmer Ben

(*)with Al Schnier on vocals

(#)last time played March 4, 2012

(##)Last time played August 18, 2005

Sunday, February 10, Lafayette Theater, Lafayette, IN

Set I: Skrunk > Y.O.Y., Blue Jeans Pizza, Lost Along The Way, Chromatic Nightmare, Rainshine, Mexico > Seat Of My Pants

Set II: What I Got* >Hi N Lo > Moth> Interstellar Overdrive > Moth > Assfinger > 32 things

E: One Life, I Wanna Be Sedated

(*)Last time played August 18, 2005