In the wake of the retirement of Phish - the band that shaped and ruled the neo-hippie music movement for two decades - other established ?jam? bands are trying to fill the hole left in the scene. One such group is moe., a 14-yearold quintet that has been receiving its fair share of attention lately in an apparent bid for the jam band crown.

The members of moe. began their 18-date tour fresh off the heels of a charity concert to fund tsunami relief in Asia. The Feb. 10 event saw several world-class musicians joining moe. on stage for renditions of both original songs and crowd-pleasing covers, like Eric Clapton?s ?Crossroads.?

The guest lineup included appearances by mandolin player Sam Bush, keyboardist John Medeski and most notably, guitarist Trey Anastasio of the now-defunct Phish for the entire second set.

?We were really honored to have those guys come do that with us,? Garvey says of the benefit. ?We rehearsed with Trey for a couple of hours and he was really pumped about it. He said he felt really bottled up, like he had to get out and tear ass a little bit, and he got us really fired up about it. It was one of the best things we?ve done in a really long time.?

All proceeds from the event were matched by the Dave Matthews Band and went to the Bama Works Village Recovery Fund, a charity established by Dave Matthews to help rebuild a village devastated by the tsunami. Moe. already has plenty of big names to drop, including Matthews and Anastasio, but now the band can add one more to the list - Carson Daly.

Starting Feb. 16, moe. was the house band for three nights on Daly?s late-night talk show, playing short song segments every time a guest was introduced or the show went to or returned from a commercial break.

For a jam band used to extending songs into half-hour improvised epics, Garvey says playing 20-second bursts of material was a new exercise in discipline. Although moe. didn?t get to improvise on TV, the band still does so extensively at its shows, which Garvey says keeps the whole experience fresh and interesting.

?My theory on improvisation is, especially when you do it as an ensemble, it?s exciting because it?s something that?s never been done before. It?s not like a specific play in football where you rehearse, rehearse, rehearse,? Garvey says. ?It?s spontaneity and it?s fun for everyone. I think it?s one of the best things that can happen in music.?

Right on, Chuck. 18 groove. Moe. showed up Tuesday at the Val Air Ballroom with a tour bus, two semi-trucks and an uncanny amount of energy. Fresh off a concert with Trey Anastasio and a stint on ?Last Call with Carson Daly,? the band was at the top of its game, despite playing to a smaller crowd than usual.

However, guitarist Al Schnier made a good point after the show. ?For a Tuesday night in Des Moines, it was a damn good crowd,? he said. Moe. knew how to get the crowd going, with unearthly, energetic jams and a dynamic light show to match. The crowd seemed bigger than it was - dancing, cheering and drinking without hesitation throughout the performance. The Val Air was a bit of a mismatch for moe.?s blossoming arena rock sound, with its retro, dance-floor style. Guitarist/synthesizer wizard Schnier even noticed the odd feel of the place.

?It?s pretty weird,? Schnier said. ?It looks like a roller rink from the ?50s.? The venue may have been old, but the crowd was not. Most of the audience was made up of high school- and college-aged kids, proving even after 14 years, moe. still knows how to keep things fresh. Adding to the sound were two new songs: ?She? in the first set - being played only for the second time - and making its debut during the encore, the tentatively titled ?Tijuana Donkey Show.?

The first set was a little slow, as moe. got used to the energy of the venue and the crowd, but still included several crowd favorites like ?Captain America? and ?Y.O.Y.? There seemed to be no limit to the number of colors and effects the show?s lights could produce, perhaps the reason that moe. hauls them from town to town.

Moe. is a band that is all about setting the mood, and the lights aided that cause - as did the band?s uncontrollable energy. Bassist Rob Derhak was bouncing up and down for almost half of the concert, and the guitar players joined him several times throughout the evening.

The band?s second set was a monster. Instead of taking song breaks, moe. just improvised segues from one song into the next, creating one long, epic piece of music. The second set opened with the unbearably catchy ?Spine of a Dog? and returned to the song two more times before the set was over, stopping at the mellow ?Mexico,? the zany ?Yodelittle? and the definitive moe. song ?Plane Crash? along the way. The set closed with a triumphant jam into ?Buster,? moe.?s ode to a flying pig.

This article originally appeared in groove magazine. For songs, see the setlist from 2/22/05 at: www.setlist.com