moe. at Minnesota Zoo, July 12, 2010

I saw moe. at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines in March of 2001, and they rocked. I’ve been a huge fan ever since.

However, I hadn’t seen them live for almost a decade (TRAGEDY).

Last night I had the good fortune of seeing them at one of the best venues in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area — the outdoor bird sanctuary stadium at the Minnesota Zoo.

First off, the venue is gorgeous. There are 1400+ seats curved around a stage architected to allow toddlers intimate experiences with low-flying raptors. The audience is almost sitting on top of the band in a small semi-circle, and the word intense doesn’t begin to describe the experience — particularly after the sun set, the fog machines cranked up and the lights began their dance on the bouncing crowd.

Secondly, the band was totally tight and on-point. In the blinding daylight of 8 p.m. in July they were a bit reserved at first, but as the evening set in and the crowd became more lubricated, everyone cast off worries and jammed out.

I should mention we couldn’t actually see any animals at the zoo from the arena nor the walk to it. The snow monkeys (Japanese macaque) were in their dens, the tigers weren’t out and all exhibits were closed.

But as the band segwayed into “Water,” one of the gems off the band’s 2001 release, “Dither,” a giant trumpeter swan flew over the adjacent lake as a symbol of the band’s oneness with nature as the guitar solos reached for the setting clouds. DIVINE OMNISCIENCE IN ACTION!

The best song of the night was the gritty and driving “Bearsong,” from the band’s 2005 release, “Okayalright.” And this was totally cheesy, but as we were walking back to the parking lot with ringing in our ears, we could hear the grizzly bears roaring in the distance for more.

Set I: Bring It Back Home> Spine Of A Dog> Darkness, Threw It All Away> Crab Eyes, Billy Goat> Moth, Haze> Cathedral> Water> Bearsong; Encore: Godzilla, Meat

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