Moby Gets Doused With Liquor in Chicago

Posted on Oct 1st 2009 10:30AM by Garin Pirnia
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Almost two hours into his Wednesday set at Chicago's Vic Theatre, Moby decided to unleash his inner rock star during a 15-minute medley encore. Comparing the journey to the point in a relationship when significant others take a challenging road trip together, he mentioned a couple of nights ago the song went on for 19-minutes, so it was okay if the audience hated him afterwards.

Moby, his full backing band, and singers Inyang Bassey and Kelli Scarr began with the bluesy 'Honey' from the immensely popular 'Play.' The epic song eventually transitioned into a cover of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' and other classic rock notables. As soon as the music stopped, Moby said to the audience, "Someone threw a drink on me. Who would do that?" Exasperated and dumbfounded, he described the cocktail as a mixture of Kahlua and Captain Morgan, a sort of "Spring Break drink." "Maybe it was a gesture of love," he said. "Like a cat bringing you a dead mouse." Slightly perturbed, he shrugged it off and continued with the set.

Throughout his extensive career, Moby has recorded tracks steeped in Delta blues, rock and techno, but the first few songs he performed were more maudlin in nature because they were off his latest record, 'Wait for Me.' It took the gospel-tinged 'Flower' to finally brighten the somber mood that songs like 'Shot in the Back of the Head' generated. "This may be the dumbest song I've ever done, but it's the most fun to play," he said before exploding into the aggressive 'Body Rock.' The first of many dedications of the night, he devoted the next song, 'Go,' to the house and electronica musicians of Chicago and exclaimed he wouldn't have a career if it weren't for those purveyors.

Later, he dedicated the crowd-pleasing 'Porcelain' to the audience and the final song, the Hacienda-inspired 'Feeling So Real,' to all the ravers in attendance. For the rest of his set, Moby performed one regular and one acoustic version of 'Pale Horses,' a throbbing and lengthened rendition of 'Raining Again' and a stripped-down version of 'Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?' that reminded the audience the potency of 'Play' a decade later.