Gov’t Mule Teams With Members Of Promise Of The Real At Byron Bay Blues Fest

This year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest is well underway at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay, Australia. One of the acts performing multiple times at Byron Bay Bluesfest ’18 is Gov’t Mule, who played a set at the event down under on Thursday.

Gov’t Mule began their Australian Tour earlier this week with performances in Melbourne and Sydney. Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real opened both shows with Lukas collaborating with Mule during the encore of each concert. Warren Haynes & Co. welcomed both Nelson and POTR percussionist Tato Melgar for a Neil Young cover on Thursday.

Lukas Nelson and Tato Melgar emerged towards the end of Gov’t Mule’s first Byron Bay Bluesfest ’18 set for a take on Young’s “Southern Man.” Neil Young has been backed by Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real for tours in 2015 and 2016 as well as his set at last year’s Farm Aid with future performances planned. Gov’t Mule has covered “Southern Man” dozens of times since 2000 including a version in January at their Island Exodus event in Jamaica.

The collaborative “Southern Man” came nine songs into Gov’t Mule’s 10-song set on Thursday. Haynes and his band played the title track off the recently released Revolution Come…Revolution Go as well as “The Man I Want To Be” off the LP. The quartet’s set also included a take on “Mule,” longtime staple “Banks Of The Deep End,” The Allman Brothers’ classic “Dreams” and more. Gov’t Mule said farewell for the night by closing with “Thorazine Shuffle.”