After The New Pornographers’ set, Face and I were tired. However, I still wanted to shoot moe.’s last performance and the crazy crowd they continually attract. As with most of the big name acts on the bill, I was only able to shoot the band for 15 minutes, and that was fine. In fact, I didn’t even take that long.

I got a couple good shots of the band and of the audience, which had grown significantly, yet was more subdued. Everyone seemed at the end of their rope, and moe. asked them to go for that final lap with them.

The band sounded good playing a cover of The Police’s “Synchronicity II” as I was walking to the car. It was a good ending to a tiring but rewarding weekend.

This booking was a poor choice on Jay Goldberg Events & Entertainment’s part. The New Pornographers are one of the best rock bands going these days, but a jam band/psychedelic/anything the majority of the festival crowd would be interested in they are not. The audience was, while dedicated, a very small one. Where Girl Talk converted a lot of people through his high-energy show, The New Pornographers did what they do: played their songs, played them well, and left. It didn’t lead to many new converts.

Still, the band was on for most of the set. They opened their set with “All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth” from their latest album, Challengers, and from there they just kept going. Between songs, the band continually goofed around, playing snippets of The Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun,” Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.”

That was the problem though. For about a third of the show, the band was just not playing the show like it needed to be: big. The songs were played well, but they were unfocused. Lead singer/guitarist Carl Newman would continually flub lyrics or parts, and would laugh it off. He didn’t seem like he was concentrating, and was just goofing off. That’s all well and good, but for that reason, something didn’t click for a while.

The band did pick it up though, and versions of Twin Cinema’s “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Bleeding Heart Show” were played to reach across the three-fourths empty field. They played as if it was full, which was exactly the kick in the pants they had to have if the set wasn’t going to peter out.

The New Pornos closed their set with a cover of ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” and left the stage. They came back for one encore, a very fast, very energetic “Letters from an Occupant,” sang by keyboardist Kathryn Calder. They left the small audience wanting more, but they closed the set 10 minutes early, presumably to allow the audience to get over to the Moonshine Stage to watch moe.’s final set of the night. Good show though.

moe. performed a solid set with a wild light show. G Love joined them on stage at one point with a harmonica. They also covered Peter Gabriel. Awesome! All photos by me except for number 7, Mr. E Heisig.

After O.A.R., I wanted to see moe. at least once (they played five sets during the festival, so the odds were in my favor), so Face and I made it over to the Moonshine Stage to watch them. When Face and I got to the front of the stage to shoot them, we realized the crowd was crazy. Flaming Lips had a good crowd, and sure they were nuts, but I have to hand it to moe., they had them beat. The whole audience was with them, in whatever state they were in at the time.

The band started, and off they went. I think in the 105 minutes they played, they got through about five solid songs (one of which was Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” which was awesome).

Maybe I’m not the biggest fan of moe., but it seemed like they were a little off. A lot of times, their jams went nowhere, and while there were sections of songs that were cool, only the opener “St. Augustine” really grabbed my attention. The band was on, they were focused, and the music was intense. They were all on the same wavelength, playing as hard and as good as they could. The set started on such a high that it was impossible to top it, and unfortunately they didn’t.

The crowd ate it up though. Every minute of it, in whatever state they were in (altered or otherwise). Seriously, that was one of the best crowds I have ever seen at a show. There were balloons, blown-up animals and lots of other things going high above their heads (as well as some smoke…a lot of smoke…). It really was a good way to end Saturday night (oh, last thing, moe.’s light show was really really good), and was good to be able to relax a little bit before going to bed and such.

Plus, Sunday had Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and The New Pornographers. Stay tuned…