Gov’t Mule returned to Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, CT on Sunday to round out the venue’s grand opening weekend with a very special performance featuring Ann Wilson, the incomparable voice of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame outfit Heart.
Concerts have been slowly creeping back for months, though in different packaging than we were used to prior to the pandemic. Maybe you’ve seen a local act on a back patio somewhere. Maybe you’ve seen one or two members of your favorite band from a chalk-painted box on a farm field. Maybe you caught a show at a drive-in and felt thankful to be able to witness live music, even if the audio came from your car speakers.
At Westville Music Bowl, none of the typical qualifiers of a COVID-era live music experience were needed. Yes, we distanced. Yes, we masked up. But make no mistake, this was the real deal—a full-scale concert by a major touring band at a pristine outdoor venue with stadium sound and production—and damn, did that feel good.
For many in the audience—this writer included—there was an added layer of significance in seeing Gov’t Mule as our “first show back.” T-shirts from The Brothers noticeably dotted the limited-capacity crowd, and many of the people wearing them confirmed that the March 2020 celebration of the Allman Brothers Band—the last concert at Madison Square Garden before the world shut down—had been their final pre-lockdown outing, their last real concert. After saying “goodbye for now” with Warren Haynes some fifteen months ago, it was only right that he was there in May of 2021 to welcome us home.
An early-show rendition of “Soulshine”, Haynes’ signature contribution to the Allman Brothers catalog, felt like an affirmation of that full-circle notion. We’ve all been through the wringer since the night Warren sang that song with The Brothers at MSG, but we’re rounding a new corner. It may look a little different now, but it feels the same. Live music… a stadium filled (sort of) with shining souls.
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The second set opened with a thunderclap as Ann Wilson emerged to lead the charge through Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song”, putting her own trademark howl to masterful use on the Robert Plant vocal. After singing the blues on slow-shuffling renditions of Memphis Slim‘s “Mother Earth” and Willie Dixon‘s “You Shook Me”, Ann and the band moved back into Zeppelin territory for a searing “Black Dog”, with Danny Louis providing the dubbed Jimmy Page lead harmony on a second guitar. A third Led Zeppelin tune followed, as Louis’s watery keys and Wilson’s hair-raising voice connected to concoct a powerful “No Quarter”.
After a run through Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers‘ deep cut “Luna”, Wilson stepped to the microphone to set the stage for her final number: “Now, we’d like to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.”
With that, the band launched into “Magic Man”, with Haynes and Matt Abts adding a cathartic layer of grit to the classic track’s foundation. All the while, Wilson’s effortless performance made it clear that she hasn’t lost a single step since the song became Heart’s first Top 10 hit back in 1976.
The Mule remained hot after Wilson made her exit, wading into a rocking “Bad Little Doggie” and a set-closing run through Howlin’ Wolf‘s “How Many More Years” before encoring with yet another song by a legendary bluesman, Robert Johnson‘s “32-20 Blues”, complete with Beck “Loser” teases from Haynes and snippets of “Black Dog”, “Jungle Boogie”, and more from Louis.
See below for a selection of videos from the Sunday evening Gov’t Mule performance at Westville Music Bowl with special guest Ann Wilson. You can also check out a gallery of photos from the show via photographer Andrew O’Brien as well as a bonus gallery from Saturday night’s show via photographer David Gray.
Westville Music Bowl has a full schedule of socially distant shows in the works throughout the spring. Next up is a two-night run by Umphrey’s McGee this coming Friday and Saturday, May 7th and 8th. For a full list of upcoming shows at New Haven, CT’s newest venue, head here.
Setlist: Gov’t Mule | Westville Music Bowl | New Haven, CT | 5/2/21
Set One: Railroad Boy (Traditional), Thorazine Shuffle, Soulshine, Painted Silver Light, Fool’s Moon, Birth of the Mule, Stone Cold Rage, Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground (Blind Willie Johnson)
Set Two: Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)*, Mother Earth (Memphis Slim)*, You Shook Me (Willie Dixon)*, Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)*, No Quarter (Led Zeppelin)*, Luna (Tom Petty)*, Magic Man (Heart)*, Bad Little Doggie, How Many More Years (Howlin’ Wolf)
Encore: 32-20 Blues (Robert Johnson)
*with Ann Wilson (Heart)
The post Gov’t Mule Welcomes Heart’s Ann Wilson For Led Zeppelin-Heavy Set At Westville Music Bowl [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
