Warren Haynes Kicks Off Outdoor Concert Run In Connecticut With Danny Louis

Warren Haynes got his outdoor concert run underway on Saturday at South Farms in Morris, Connecticut. Longtime Gov’t Mule multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis joined Haynes for most of the show.

Warren got the show started solo with some situationally appropriate songs in “Don’t Know Where We’re Going (But We’ll Get There)” followed by “New Year’s Eve,” which got a rise out of the socially distanced crowd on the line “this party wouldn’t be so damn lame.” Haynes continued with George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” and “Company Man” before Louis joined him for “Hattiesburg Hustle” and a cover of Gillian Welch’s “Everything Is Free.” Warren then turned to material he wrote for the 2002 Phil Lesh & Friends album There And Back Again with “Patchwork Quilt.” Billy Cobham’s “Red Baron” with Louis on Fender Rhodes came ahead of set closer, the Gov’t Mule tune “Banks Of The Deep End.”

Haynes returned to There And Back Again material with “The Real Thing” to kick off the second set followed by a cover of the Eagles’ “Wasted Time” from the band’s legendary 1976 album Hotel California. After “Hallelujah Boulevard,” Louis accompanied Warren on Bill Withers’ “Hope She’ll Be Happier.” Haynes and Louis then paid tribute to reggae pioneer Toots Hibbert, who passed away on Friday, with the Gov’t Mule song “Scared To Live” (Toots sang on the Mule original). The song saw Haynes and Louis stretching out a bit — including a lovely bit of Rhodes from Louis that got a smile out of Warren — before heading into Leonard Cohen’s iconic song, “Hallelujah.” Duke Ellington’s “Thing’s Ain’t What They Used To Be” encompassed Bobby Bland’s “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” ahead of the first Allman Brothers of the night, “Come And Go Blues.” The Jimmy Cox blues standard “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out,” which featured a slick Rhodes solo from Louis as well as some great interplay between the guitarist and keyboardist, would close out the set. Warren and Danny would retake the stage for an encore of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer,” which saw Louis joining Haynes on guitar.

Watch audience shot video from the show below via Sean Roche:

New Year’s Eve

Wasted Time

Scared To Live > Hallelujah

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out

Cortez The Killer