The Ultimate New Year’s Theme: Remembering Gov’t Mule’s 2015 New Year’s Jam

A long-standing tradition will continue on Saturday, when Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule play a New Year’s show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. On December 31, 2002 Mule first played a New Year’s show at the Beacon and they have returned to the venue for each of every New Year’s Eve show since with the exception of 2008, a year the historic theater was being renovated. This year the band will also perform at the Beacon on Friday, December 30.

Most of Mule’s past New Year’s Eve performances have been centered around a theme. In 2009 the band honored the original Woodstock festival, in 2010 they presented Get Behind the Mule: Past Present and Future, while 2011’s theme was Mad Mules & Englishmen. Back on New Year’s Eve 2012 Warren & Co. paid tribute to the three kings of blues fame and the next year they honored The Doors with Robby Krieger before treating fans to a slew of AC/DC covers on December 31, 2014 with Myles Kennedy. Last year Mule took it to the next level with a show dubbed “The New Year’s Jam.”

Gov’t Mule honored “The Summer Jam,” a 1973 concert in Watkins Glen featuring The Band, The Allman Brothers Band and The Grateful Dead. It was a dream come true for many a jam fan and it’s no surprise the show sold out well ahead of time. Mule recruited a bevy of guests for a three-set performance with a set of Grateful Dead covers followed by a set of The Band covers and ending with songs from The Allman Brothers Band’s live repertoire. Warren was well familiar with the source material as a member of the Allmans, a post-jerry variation of The Dead and having made numerous appearances with Levon Helm.

The first set of the marathon show was billed as “Grateful Mule” and saw Warren joined by guitarist Steve Kimock, drummer Matt Abts, bassist Lincoln Schleifer, keyboardist Danny Louis and vocalists Machan Taylor and Elaine Caswell. Schleifer had been Haynes’ bassist for past orchestral tributes to Jerry Garcia and would reprise the role in 2016. Kimock is very familiar with the Dead repertoire from his time in RatDog and beyond.

Up first was a jazzy-jam that was dubbed “Watkins Glen Jam” on setlists ahead of a gorgeous “Bird Song.” The set rolled on with a focus on Grateful Dead originals from the early ’70s including “Tennessee Jed,” “Bertha,” “Here Comes Sunshine,” “Loose Lucy” and “Truckin’.” For the finale of the set, the ensemble reeled off an impressive rendition of the Dead’s beloved “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” pairing. The addition of the backing vocalists gave an extra depth to the covers.

Gov’t Mule’s second set on December 31, 2015 was billed as “The Mule” and was loaded with songs from The Band’s live repertoire. This time around the core band was aided by guitarist Larry Campbell, The Band drummer Levon Helm’s closest musical collaborator over the course of the final act of his career. Mule debuted Band classics such as “Stage Fright,” “Chest Fever” and “Across The Great Divide” with the help of Campbell, but also worked in songs they had played in the past including “The Shape I’m In,” “This Wheels On Fire,” “The Weight” and “Up On Cripple Creek.” A high point came when Warren put his all into a powerful rendition of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

The final set of the evening was “The AllMule Brothers,” aka a tribute to The Allman Brothers Band. Gov’t Mule was joined by former ABB members Chuck Leavell and Jack Pearson on keyboards and guitar respectively as well as drummers Paul Riddle and Shawn Pelton for the duration of the third set. Warren led the ensemble through the Mule debut of “Wasted Words” to kick off 2016 as balloons fell from the roof of the venue. The set continued with spot-on renditions of “Done Somebody Wrong” and “Southbound” as well as an exciting “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” featuring Haynes going toe-to-toe with Pearson.

As the clock passed 1 a.m. the action continued with Gov’t Mule debuts of “Come & Go Blues,” “Trouble No More” and “Blue Sky.” Abts sat out the latter two, leaving the drumming to Riddle and Pelton. Schleifer then emerged to add to “One Way Out” and “Statesboro Blues.” The set came to a close with two highlights of the evening, Gov’t Mule’s first ever versions of “Jessica” and “Whipping Post.” Leavell shined on each, especially “Jessica” when he played his signature solo. Despite the late hour Mule still had one more treat in store for their faithful fans as they returned for a “Mountain Jam” encore featuring Steve Kimock on guitar.

Considering how well played the dozens of covers were at Gov’t Mule’s The New Year’s Jam, one can only imagine all the preparation that went into the three-set performance. Yet Warren & Co. pulled it off with aplomb for a show that set the bar ridiculously high for Gov’t Mule New Year’s Eve shows.

We’ve compiled a playlist featuring 21 videos from Gov’t Mule’s New Year’s Jam at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on December 31, 2015:

Tracklist: Bird Song (Captured by Sean Roche), Tennessee Jed (Captured by Brosef Wilson), Bertha (Captured by Alex Neff), Here Comes Sunshine (Captured by Sean Roche), Truckin’ (Captured by Steve), China > Rider (Captured by Sean Roche), The Weight (Captured by Sean Roche), Stage Fright (Captured by Alex Neff), Don’t Do It (Captured by Sean Roche), Chest Fever (Captured by Paul Allegretta), The Night The Drove Old Dixie Down (Captured by Illuminated Rose), Across The Great Divide (Captured by Lumaz71), Up On Cripple Creek (Captured by Sean Roche), Wasted Words (Captured by Sean Roche), Southbound (Captured by Steve), In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (Captured by Sean Roche), Trouble No More (Captured by Alex Neff), Blue Sky (Captured by Illuminated Rose), Statesboro Blues (Captured by Sean Roche), Jessica (Captured by Brosef Wilson), Whipping Post (Captured by Steve),