This Friday jam stalwarts moe. will bring their What Happened To The LALAs? Tour to the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, a city the group first played nearly 17 years ago. Friday’s concert marks only the second moe. show within city limits since 2008, so we wanted to celebrate this rare appearance by looking at the band’s history with The City of Brotherly Love.

The Upstate New York-based band made their Philadelphia debut at J.C. Dobbs on South Street on September 21, 1995 with new drummer Mike Strazza and returned a few months later on February 16, 1996 sporting a different drummer (Chris Mazur). J.C. Dobbs was sold shortly thereafter, so moe. headed to the Middle East in March, May and September of ’96. In 2007, moe. stepped up to the much bigger Theater of Living Arts on January 23 and did so well they booked two shows at the 1,000-capacity venue that May. Clearly a band on the rise, moe. headlined the large Electric Factory on November 28, 1997,  just over two years after first playing in Philly.

moe. in Philadelphia: Venue Segues

J.C. Dobb’s (09/21/1995, 02/16/1996) > Middle East (03/29/1996, 05/17/1996, 09/20/1996) > Theater of Living Arts (01/23/1997, 05/08/1997, 05/09/1997) > Electric Factory,  (11/28/1997, 06/12/1998, 12/31/1998, 10/30/1999) > Tower Theater (10/31/2000) > Electric Factory (04/19/2002, 04/20/2002) > Theater of Living Arts (04/21/2002) > Tower Theater (12/27/2002, 12/28/2002, 12/30/2003, 11/05/2004) > Festival Pier (07/23/2005) > Electric Factory (01/20/2006, 01/21/2006) > Festival Pier (06/09/2006) > Electric Factory (02/10/2007, 02/01/2008) > Tower Theater (10/09/2010) > Electric Factory (03/09/2012)

Capacities: J.C. Dobbs (190), Middle East (?), Theater of Living Arts (1,000), Electric Factory (3,000), Tower Theater (3,119), Festival Pier (6,500)

Only includes shows open to the public within city limits

Including Friday’s show, moe. will have played a total of 11 gigs at the Electric Factory over the years. In April ’02  the group followed two sold-out performances at the Electric Factory, which featured special guest John Popper, with an undersell at the much smaller TLA. For Halloween ’00 moe. performed at the Tower Theater for the first time and covered Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd while The Wizard of Oz was shown on large monitors. The Tower also housed a pair of moe. shows towards the end of 2002, one at the end of 2003, a November 2004 gig and most recently the band’s last Philadelphia performance on October 9, 2010. Penn’s Landing’s Festival Pier hosted the only two outdoor moe. shows open to the public – a set opening for the Allman Brothers Band in 2005 and a co-bill with the North Mississippi Allstars in 2006.

Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston and spent his elementary school days in the area before his family moved to San Diego. Vedder returned to the Chicagoland area in the early ’80s, where he earned his GED, attended community college and took various jobs as a waiter, only to head back to San Diego in 1984. Eventually, Vedder hooked up with Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament to form Pearl Jam. The rest, as they say, is rock history.

For this edition of Venue Segues, we’re examining the Seattle rockers’ history of performances in Chicago. Despite the singer’s connection with Chicago, Pearl Jam has only headlined 15 shows in the area over the past 20 years. According to the band’s official setlist file, their first Chicago performance took place on July 21, 1991 at The Metro. Pearl Jam returned to the venue the next March (although there’s some confusion as to whether there was one Metro show or two) and by the time they came back again, in March of 1994, they were big enough to sell out the largest arena in town – Chicago Stadium. In the span of two years they went from selling a thousand tickets to selling 20,000 tickets.

READ ON

We’re bringing back an old feature today called “Venue Segues” that examines a band’s history of performances in one city. In honor of the announcement that My Morning Jacket will return to Madison Square Garden on December 14, we wanted to trace the road which the Kentucky-based band traveled to get to “The World’s Greatest Arena.”

According to the band’s archives, where we got all our dates from, My Morning Jacket’s first NYC gig was at the now defunct Brownie’s club in the East Village on June 16, 2001. From there, MMJ established a long lasting relationship with promoter Bowery Presents by playing five shows at the cozy Mercury Lounge and six performances at the larger Bowery Ballroom between late 2001 and September 2003.

MMJ in NYC: Venue Segues 2001 – 2011

Brownies (6/16/2001) > Mercury Lounge (11/19/2001, 02/21/2002, 03/29/2002, 04/01/2002, 02/01/2003) > Bowery Ballroom (8/17/2002, 11/02/2002, 05/01/2003, 08/09/2003, 09/06/2003, 09/07/2003) > Webster Hall (10/22/2003) > Irving Plaza (06/01/2004, 06/02/2004) > Webster Hall (10/18/2005) > Roseland Ballroom (11/30/2006) > Radio City Music Hall (6/20/2008) > Madison Square Garden (12/31/2008) > Terminal 5 (10/18/2010, 10/19/2010, 10/21/2010, 10/22/2010, 10/23/2010) > Madison Square Garden (12/14/2011)

Capacities: Brownie’s (200), Mercury Lounge (250), Bowery Ballrom (575), Webster Hall (1400), Roseland Ballroom (3500), Radio City Music Hall (6000), Madison Square Garden (20K), Terminal 5 (3000)

Note: Only headlining performances within city limits were examined for this article

Towards the end of 2003, MMJ’s star was on the rise and they moved to Webster Hall for a CMJ showcase and then a show of their own in 2005. In between the Webster appearances, Jim James and Co. was part of a ridiculous triple bill that included fellow HT (and Jeff Greenblatt) faves Dr. Dog and M. Ward on June 1 and 2, 2004 at Irving Plaza near Union Square. By 2006, Z had picked up steam and the group was able to fill Roseland Ballroom. Less than two years later, My Morning Jacket’s popularity had soared, and 19 months had past since their last NYC performance, allowing them to play the historic Radio City Music Hall in June ’08.

Remember that relationship with Bowery Presents (BP) that MMJ formed early in their career? It paid dividends for both organizations when My Morning Jacket became a big draw and was able to headline Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve ’08-’09. When the quintet was looking to play a special run of “album” shows last October, they turned to their friends at BP who provided Terminal 5 for the five-night stand. On Dec. 14, the band will perform their latest and hopefully greatest New York City gig at Madison Square Garden, along with Band of Horses, in a show promoted by…you guessed it – Bowery Presents.

For an example of how the Phish fanbase grew exponentially in 1994, you need to look no further than at the venues the quartet played in New York City that fateful year. In April of ’94 the band sold out three shows at the 2800-capacity Beacon Theatre. Just eight months later, Phish sold out the 20K-capacity Madison Square Garden in a matter of minutes.

[Kenny's Castaways - Home of the First NYC Phish Concert]

While Phish went from a theater act to an arena act over the course of eight months, they were far from an overnight success in the Big Apple. The group first performed at Kenny’s Castaways in 1988 and slowly built their audience over the next six years before the explosive success of ’94.

Phish in NYC ’88 – ’94: Venue Segues

Kenny’s Castaways (5/12/88) > Tramps (6/23/88) > Wetlands Preserve (3/04/89, 06/03/89, 9/02/89, 10/26/89, 12/30/89, 3/03/90, 6/09/90, 9/13/90, > Ukrainian National Home (12/15/89) > The Marquee (12/28/90, 02/16/91, 05/18/91) > The Academy (7/15/91) > Roseland Ballroom (3/14/92, 2/5/93, 2/6/93) > Beacon Theatre (4/13/94, 4/14/94, 4/15/94) > Madison Square Garden (12/30/94)

Capacities: Kenny’s Castaways (250), Tramps (400*), Wetlands Preserve (500**), Ukrainian National Home (1200***), The Marquee (?), The Academy (1279), Roseland Ballroom (3500), Beacon Theatre (2894), Madison Square Garden (20K)

* – approximately, ** – 500 is official capacity. They probably jammed between 7 and 900 people in there for the Phish shows though, *** – w/ Blues Traveler

Phish has gone on to perform a total of 13 concerts at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” starting on that cold December night in 1994 including four New Year’s Eve shows. By the time this week is over the band will have completed their 16th show at the venue. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another seven years for the next ones.

• Venue Segues: Phish in Cincinnati, Phish in Philadelphia
• Phish Fall Tour Reviews: Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia Night One, Philadelphia Night Two, Albany Night One, Albany II