I didn’t know anything about Moe. before 7.30 p.m. tonight. It was hot as hell at Boarding House Park, and Moe. brought out the mellowest crowd of the year. The first half of the concert featured the highly anticipated long jams and as soon as the sun set a light show with multicolored spirals, amoeba shapes, and gear-wheels circulating on the face of the Boott Cotton Mills behind the stage. I’d judge tonight’s to be the youngest, hippest audience of the summer so far. Couples and singles, including lots of blissed-out looking young women and guys, were kind of swimming through the park as they slowly danced down the paths between the sections of lawn.

Emcee John Marciano delivered his pre-concert house remarks with just a bit more verve than usual, asking the crowd to help out by watching their neighbors in the heat. “If the person next to you suddenly starts talking about his or her childhood, please check to see if that person is properly hydrated,” urged John. He actually called our city “L-Town.”

We had people with psychedelic hula hoops, toddlers with heavy-duty earphones on for protection, all kinds of crazy hair, intermittent retirees in plaid lawnchairs, excess tie-dye and dreads, and standees in the first tier who all knew the words when there were words in the songs. The beautiful people were in the house. And that was only the first set.

Moe. at the Lowell Summer Music Series in Boarding House Park (phone-cam photo by R. Noon, slightly edited by Joe Marion)