Gov’t Mule made its return to The Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA this weekend, staging a special, two-night Mule-O-Ween celebration on October 29th and 30th. The weekend shows saw the band perform its forthcoming album, Heavy Load Blues, in full, on night one, in addition to a tribute to The Allman Brothers Band on night two.
As promised when the band initially announced its Mule-O-Ween shows, Gov’t Mule kicked off Friday night’s performance by running through Heavy Load Blues in order, start to finish. Announced back on September 8th, Heavy Load Blues marks the band’s first traditional blues album. Due out on November 12th via Fantasy Records, Heavy Load Blues consists of nine originals and four covers. The covers include Bobby “Blue” Bland‘s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”, Tom Waits‘ “Make It Rain“, Kenny Neal‘s “If Heartaches Were Nickels”, and Howlin’ Wolf‘s “I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)”.
Gov’t Mule – “If Heartaches Were Nickels” (Kenny Neal) – 10/29/21
[Video: Joseph Burton]
After the 13-song first set, Mule returned with “Million Miles From Yesterday”, a cut from the band’s 2006 album, High & Mighty. “Trane” followed and linked up with a cover of Link Wray & His Raymen‘s “Rumble”. The Warren Haynes-led outfit kept the jams flowing, segueing yet again, this time to a cover of James Brown‘s “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine”.
Haynes, Matt Abts, Danny Louis, and Jorgen Carlsson kept it upbeat with “Pressure Under Fire” and “Banks Of The Deep End” before throwing it back to 1999 with the Dose cut, “Thorazine Shuffle”. The deep and exploratory track led to a cover of Blind Willie Johnson‘s “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground”, ahead of a set-closing rendition of the soulful Al Green track, “I’m a Ram”.
Night two began in typical fashion with “Traveling Tune”, a slower song from 2017’s Revolution Come…Revolution Go… “Railroad Boy”, a traditional cover, followed and set up a rockin’ rendition of “Rocking Horse”. Mule returned to Dose with “Game Face”, which contained a “Third Stone From The Sun” tease, and led to a slow-building “Beautifully Broken”. Following “The Man I Want To Be” and “Painted Silver Light”, Warren Haynes and company closed the first frame with the always-appropriate “Mule”.
Gov’t Mule – “Traveling Tune” [Pro-Shot] – 10/30/21
The class of night two came in the second set when Blackberry Smoke‘s Charlie Starr and Marshall Tucker Band‘s Paul Riddle joined in for a very special tribute to The Allman Brothers Band. Here, Gov’t Mule, Starr, and Riddle performed The Allman Brother Band’s At Fillmore East live album in full, beginning with the Blind Willie McTell cover, “Statesboro Blues”.
The blues continued in full force with Elmore James‘ “Done Somebody Wrong” and T-Bone Walker‘s “Call it Stormy Monday But Tuesday Is Just As Bad”, followed by Willie Cobbs‘ “You Don’t Love Me”. Just as The Allman Brothers Band did back in 1971, Mule and friends then gave their take on “Hot ‘Lanta”, followed by “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed”, which originally appeared on the 1970 album, Idlewild South. The energetic “Whipping Post” closed out the second set. Mule, Starr, and Riddle returned to the stage, this time with Tommy Talton in tow, for an encore of “Mountain Jam”.
Check out setlists from both shows below and scroll down for a gallery of Mule-O-Ween photographs courtesy of Emily Butler.
Gov’t Mule will return to the stage at the end of the year with shows at The Met in Philadelphia, PA (12/29) and the Beacon Theatre in New York, NY (12/30–12/31). Head here for tickets and additional tour information.
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