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Part III of the Colorado trip - The Mobius Band

May 6th, 2008 Posted by: Dust Devil

Yes, yes, I know. “But Mr. Dust Devil, how can you write about Part Three if you have not posted a One or Two yet?”

Seriously folks, you will understand after reading, because Part III not only was the culmination of a great weekend, something truly amazing happened that I am still reeling over.

Years ago I used to bring a new album, cassette or CD home, play it from start to finish and study everything about the band. Nowadays I pop a disc in my player while driving or at work. I rarely play my music at home, so I rarely even know the names of the song titles anymore. A very poor habit, but I guess that is one of the hazards of always being on the go. I honestly had never seen a group shot of the Mobius Band before, and when I saw them at the Monolith Festival last year, I was so far off to the left of the stage in the jam packed WOXY.com Room that I could not get a good view of the band.

The Mobius Band was the second in a weekend series of bands I was in Denver to see. The show was way too short for my taste, the hazards of being the opening band on a good three band bill. Six songs were not enough, but that is the selfish part of me talking. The first five tunes were all off Heaven. They led off with a blistering version of A Hint of Blood and never let up from that point. The first, third and fifth songs Peter Sax sang, with Ben Sterling taking control of things on the “even” tracks.

Ben is all over the place on stage. On the songs he does not sing he is continuously dancing while playing the keyboards. Even the songs he sings, which he also picked up his guitar for, he still finds a way to play with the keyboards as well. Peter plays a heavy bass, the type that keeps a song churning along at a steady pace, keeping some order to the activity. He has a very distinct voice from Ben’s and really worked the crowd well in between songs. Noam Schatz plays the drums and has come up with a lot of the intricate tinkerings you will hear on their latest disc Heaven. Please check out their website and read the bio section to get an understanding of what went into the creation of this disc. Nothing I write could do this band justice in that respect. It is pretty amazing stuff. Noam absolutely destroys on the drums. It is a unique style. On a couple of the songs he literally was reaching over the top of the whole set to get a better angle to smash one of his cymbals. Coupled with Peter’s bass, this is a rhythm section that really grooves and keeps the flow of their songs moving along well.

A fabulous show from start to finish ended with one song off their first full-length disc, The Loving Sounds of Static. The title track is what they played and it was played in a ferocious manner. Ben was seemingly tearing the strings off his guitar, Peter was pounding away at his bass and I am surprised Noam had a drum set left by the time the song was over.

What was really special was watching this band win the crowd over in a short period of time, with more and more people coming up to the stage from the bar with each passing song, until the dance floor was jam packed for the finale. I hope the rest of the crowd realized how special the Mobius Band is.

Now, it is very important that I back-track a bit here, because as I mentioned earlier something very special happened that evening.

Saturday afternoon I leave my hotel and head into downtown Denver. I was alone, had time to kill and wanted to explore a little bit. In addition, this would give me a chance to figure out the distance in time between Coors Field since I was going to a Rockies-Dodgers game at 6:00pm and the Larimer Lounge.

When I went by the Larimer Lounge around 3:00pm it was closed, but no big deal, the show will not sell out, right? I walked over to Coors Field, about a ten minute jaunt, watched what I could of the game (that will be Part II), then about 8:10pm headed back to the Larimer Lounge.

When I arrived there was one gentleman standing outside. I turned to walk in the venue, then my heart sank. The show was sold out. I am such an idiot! All those chances I had to order online before flying out and now I am up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

By this time another gentleman had walked up. I was telling them that I had come by the venue earlier hoping to buy my ticket at that time and that the show being sold out really bummed me out since I was from out of town. The first person was telling me he could not understand why the show was at such a small venue because the three bands on the bill had been selling out every venue they had been to on the tour thus far.

I learned a valuable lesson that night; do not ever wait until the day of to purchase your concert tickets. Well, at this point since the evening was a wash, I asked the two guys I was talking with if either of them were locals and if so, what was the number of a cab company I could call to get back to my hotel. That is when the conversation took a rather interesting turn.

The first person asked me about the fact I said I was from out of town. I told him I was from Phoenix and had come to Denver that weekend to see elbow on Friday night and the Mobius Band on Saturday. Again, he asked if I really had come from Phoenix for the shows and I replied “absolutely”.

He stated, “Well, if you came from out of town to see my band play, then you’re getting in.” Huh?

He opens the door, tells the doorman my name and puts me on the guest list. Once inside, he tells me his name is Noam. Wait, I have been talking to the drummer for the Mobius Band this whole time?

I was fortunate enough to meet Peter and Ben a little later before the trio went onstage and they are three of the nicest, most down to earth people you could want to meet. Some might call it timing, others luck. All I know is I will forever be grateful for Noam Schatz’s unbelievable kindness. What a brilliant evening, and what a way to cap off an amazing weekend!

That’s all for now folks. Please, please, please, check out the two Mobius Band websites that I will list at the end and more important, if the Mobius Band come to your town, go see them and support this great band. No rockstar attitudes here, just three very friendly guys who possess a knack for creating unique and fabulous music.

Cheers!
The Dust Devil

Mobius Band Site http://www.mobiusband.com/home.php
Mobius Band MySpace Page http://www.myspace.com/mobiusband

Filed under: My Take, Event Reviews, Cheers and Jeers