Gov’t Mule Celebrates 30th Anniversary On New Year’s Eve At Beacon Theatre

On New Year’s Eve, Gov’t Mule commemorated their 30th anniversary at The Beacon Theatre in New York City. The band performed in their original guitar/bass/drums formation for the first set and loaded the show with songs they hadn’t played in years.

Guitarist Warren Haynes, drummer Matt Abts and bassist Allen Woody formed Gov’t Mule in 1994. The band persevered past Woody’s tragic death in 2000. Keyboardist Danny Louis and bassist Andy Hess eventually joined full-time a few years later. Hess and replacement Jorgen Carlsson have since left the band with current bassist Kevin Scott coming aboard in 2023.

A trio of Haynes, Abts and Scott kicked off the evening with the band’s signature and eponymous song, “Mule.” The three-piece harkening back to the band’s early days continued to focus on material from the first few Gov’t Mule albums in performing “Larger Than Life,” “Temporary Saint,” “Dolphineus” and “Painted Silver Light.”

Danny Louis then came out to join the trio lineup but stuck to playing guitar for the remainder of the first set. The four musicians initially locked in on “Shake Our Way Out” from the latest Gov’t Mule album, 2023’s Peace… Like A River. Gov’t Mule then paid tribute to one of their biggest inspirations by dusting off a pair of ZZ Top covers. “Just Got Paid” and “Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings” saw action for the first time since September 22, 2022 and September 4, 2021 respectively.

Staples “Captured” and “Monkey Hill” were trotted our next. Haynes then fronted a take on the Led Zeppelin classic “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman),” last played on July, 24, 2009. Oldie “Thorazine Shuffle” was chosen to end the first set.

Gov’t Mule went back to their current configuration for the second set with Louis on keys. While heavy rotation number “After The Storm” opened, the band then dug deep into their repertoire. The most surprising started the run of rarities as Mule broke out The Who’s arrangement of the Mose Allison-penned “Young Man Blues” for the first time since April 10, 2005. At 1,391 shows it was the biggest bust out on a night filled with them.

The break outs wouldn’t be kept to just covers as Mule followed with “So Weak, So Strong,” a song from High & Mighty that had gone missing for over two years. Haynes & Co. then covered James Brown’s “Down And Out In New York City” for the first time since April 28, 2017. From there, Gov’t Mule played the Howlin’ Wolf blues standard “I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)” and chose Peace Like A River standout “The River Only Flows One Way” as their penultimate song of 2024.

Haynes, Louis, Abts and Scott slickly segued into the traditional “Auld Lang Syne.” Mule went with an instrumental reggae-tinged arrangement of the song before Warren counted down to 2025. Balloons fell on fans at The Beacon while the band finished vamping on “ALS.” It was then back to bust outs as Gov’t Mule played “21st Century Schizoid Man,” a King Crimson cover last performed on September 2, 2010. That was the same date the band previously trotted out the Led Zeppelin-popularized “Dazed & Confused,” which ended the second set after a rare rendition of The Who’s “Listening To You.”

Gov’t Mule weren’t done yet as they delivered an extended encore. Haynes and his bandmates played career-spanning originals “Bad Little Doggie,” “World Boss” and “Brand New Angel” before triumphantly reprising “Mule” to say farewell to the well-satiated audience.

Listen to official soundboard audio of Gov’t Mule’s 30th Anniversary show below or via nugs.net:

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