Watch Gov’t Mule Cover Jerry Garcia Live Repertoire Staple With Tash Neal & Ron Holloway At Island Exodus 14 Finale

Gov’t Mule closed out their Island Exodus 14 destination event in Jamaica last night with a show featuring guest appearances by saxophonist Ron Holloway, bassist Ron Johnson and guitarists Tash Neal, Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton. Neal and Holloway each contributed to Mule’s first performance of “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” — a song originally released by Little Milton that Jerry Garcia covered over 200 times between 1974 and 1995 — since Island Exodus 13.

The band comprised of guitarist Warren Haynes, multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis, bassist Kevin Scott and drummer Matt Abts paired originals from various eras of their 30-year career with choice covers to form Wednesday’s setlist. Originals included a reggaefied “Soulshine,” “Peace I Need” off 2023’s Peace… Like A River LP, the title track from 2017’s Revolution Come…Revolution Go and fan-favorite “Blind Man In The Dark.”

While the end of the night saw Gov’t Mule bring out one guest after another, they went it alone for the first set and the start of the second set on Wednesday. The quartet’s third of three 2024 shows at Jewel Paradise Cove Resort began with oldie “Bad Little Doggie.” Next came Shout! standout “World Boss” before they tore through frequently-played numbers “About To Rage” and “Lay Your Burden Down.” A “Game Face” encompassing “Mountain Jam” followed along with “Peace I Need” as well as covers of Soundgarden’s “Fell On Black Days” and Bob Marley’s “Lively Up Yourself.” The band ended the frame by performing “Revolution Come, Revolution Go.”

Gov’t Mule kicked off last night’s second set by linking the ZZ Top tune “Blue Jean Blues” with Grateful Dead classic “Fire On The Mountain.” Haynes then led his band mates through the lush “Beautifully Broken.” The guest spots started with Holloway and Nash coming out for the aforementioned “That’s What Love Will Make You Do.” Ron Holloway contributed sax to “Reggae Soulshine” next ahead of Fish adding to covers of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City.” The former saw Ron Johnson take over bass duties from Kevin Scott.

Ron Holloway returned for the “Blind Man In The Dark” that closed the final Mule set of Island Exodus 14. The saxophonist also added sax to the “Going Out West” (Tom Waits) encore. Jesse Dayton sat-in on the finale as well. View audience-captured video of Neal and Holloway joining Mule on “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” below:

Gov’t Mule kicks off their winter tour on February 8 in Vancouver. The band then heads down the West Coast before making its way to Texas to end the jaunt late next month.

Setlist (via Gov’t Mule X)

Set One: Bad Little Doggie, World Boss, About To Rage, Lay Your Burden Down, Game Face > Mountain Jam > Game Face, Peace I Need, Fell On Black Days, Lively Up Yourself, Revolution Come, Revolution Go

Set Two: Blue Jean Blues > Fire On The Mountain, Beautifully Broken, That’s What Love Will Make You Do%&, Reggae Soulshine%, I’d Rather Go Blind#@, Ain’t No Love In The Heart of The City#, Blind Man In The Dark%

Encore: Going Out West%!

• % with Ron Holloway
• & with Tash Neal
• # with Samantha Fish
• @ with Ron Johnson
• ! with Jesse Dayton