Gov't Mule - Saturday Night - Ventura Theatre

Posted on Jun 30, 2008 12:00 pm
TallChap
Answer:On a good day, lipstick.
Member Since: Jun 24, 2004

So tickets say "7:00" - the Mule are known for long gigs, so we turn up on time...
That's the doors open time. Doh.
There's a support band - rock band from San Diego - didn't catch the name. Not bad at all. Rubbish sound in the theatre, but nothing new there. All lyrics are unintelligible....

So onto the Mule.
Stage set up is conspicuously absent of the keyboards. We scratch our heads. Power trio? Yes. So there's no keys, and they play from the first three albums.
Stunning. Ended with Thorazine Shuffle. Played for probably an hour and a quarter. Few breaks between songs, and little chatter. This is the first time since 2000 that they've played as a trio. Moment of silence here for Alan Woody.........Thank you......
Warren Haynes plays the LP for a while (especially on the slide stuff), but switches to the non-reverse Firebird with the mini-humbuckers. Probably my favourite guitar sound. Matt Abst is, of course, phenomenal (there was actually a cowbell solo......I've got a fever!) and plays with such poise and precision. Great sounding kit. Loved that he pulled the snare for his solo (not a big drum solo fan at all).

So the house lights come up and we're all standing there amazed at what we just witnessed. The road crew hit the stage and we notice that they are not breaking down. They are adding keyboards (nice: B3, Rhodes, Clavinet...)!
My buddy asked the sound guy about the keyboard player: "He had a gig with Cheap Trick in LA, he just got here.."
The Mule come back on: All the High and Mighty stuff, plus a few other favourites. It's now a lot more song-based. The playing is still quite spectacular. Ended with "30 days in the hole" - great song and well done (I used to go to see Steve Marriott in London a lot before he died, and I never though anyone could really play it like he did. Gov't Mule don't do a bad job at all!).

Got home (only three miles away) just before 1 AM.

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