Gov't Mule 11/11/08 Royal Oak Music Theatre

[DiazDude]

I got in this morning at 2am and after a few hours sleep my ears are still ringing..in a good way. Warren, Matt, Danny and Jorgen put on one of the most intense shows I've ever seen Mule do last night.
First let me mention the opening act, Back Door Slam. Three young men from The Isle of Man and they can play BIGTIME. Put this name on your "be on the lookout" list..Davy Knowles. This young man plays guitar with power & taste and has scary good chops. He more than held his own when Warren sat in with them and when Davy sat in with Mule & did "Almost Cut My Hair" later on.

Mule took the stage @9:10pm and came off @ 1am with only a short 20min break. They opened with "Bad Little Doggie" and never looked back. Warren's tone was as good as Ive ever heard and his chops were jaw dropping as usual. His rig was the Diaz CD100 w/Tone Tubby 4x12, Soldano SLO100 w/Engl 4x12, Fender reverb unit on the SLO & Bradshaw system for pedals (couldn't see them..in rack).
Jorgen (FNG :D) did a fine job. You can tell he's still learning some stuff as he got caught a couple of times on some of the more complicated arrangements. He alternated between P-Bass & Thunderbird and used a bouble SVT rig.
Highlights...really damn near everything was a highlight. Don't Step On The Grass Sam, Painted Silver Light, 30 Days In The Hole, Fallin' Down & edit: Kind of Bird all stood out.
Matt & Danny are stellar players in their own right too but hell I'm a guitar player.
At the end of the night the band was joined by Detroit's own Jim McCarty (Cactus/Rockets) on guitar & John "Bee" Badanjek (Mitch Ryder/Rockets) on drums for some blues & "Let it Rock" for an encore.
A great night and one of the best (and longest) Gov't Mule shows I've seen inquite awhile. :AOK

[duanesworld]

nice. The setlist seem extremely good of late. A real nice mix. And Matty sounds like his old self, just leavin your jaw dropped.

[Franklin]

I really enjoyed Mule last Sat.

[mprvise]

Thanks for the review. Hope to catch them with the new bass player soon.

[MK.II]

I got in this morning at 2am and after a few hours sleep my ears are still ringing..in a good way. Warren, Matt, Danny and Jorgen put on one of the most intense shows I've ever seen Mule do last night.
First let me mention the opening act, Back Door Slam. Three young men from The Isle of Man and they can play BIGTIME. Put this name on your "be on the lookout" list..Davy Knowles. This young man plays guitar with power & taste and has scary good chops. He more than held his own when Warren sat in with them and when Davy sat in with Mule & did "Almost Cut My Hair" later on.

Mule took the stage @9:10pm and came off @ 1am with only a short 20min break. They opened with "Bad Little Doggie" and never looked back. Warren's tone was as good as Ive ever heard and his chops were jaw dropping as usual. His rig was the Diaz CD100 w/Tone Tubby 4x12, Soldano SLO100 w/Engl 4x12, Fender reverb unit on the SLO & Bradshaw system for pedals (couldn't see them..in rack).
Jorgen (FNG :D) did a fine job. You can tell he's still learning some stuff as he got caught a couple of times on some of the more complicated arrangements. He alternated between P-Bass & Thunderbird and used a bouble SVT rig.
Highlights...really damn near everything was a highlight. Don't Step On The Grass Sam, Painted Silver Light, 30 Days In The Hole, Fallin' Down & Theolonus Beck all stood out.
Matt & Danny are stellar players in their own right too but hell I'm a guitar player.
At the end of the night the band was joined by Detroit's own Jim McCarty (Cactus/Rockets) on guitar & John "Bee" Badanjek (Mitch Ryder/Rockets) on drums for some blues & "Let it Rock" for an encore.
A great night and one of the best (and longest) Gov't Mule shows I've seen inquite awhile. :AOK


I was there too. Great show! It was great to see McCarty and Johnny B. jam with them for the enchore. The local boys did good, they smoked! I seen McCarty jam with them two years ago and that was great too! FWIW, Mule didn't play 'Thelonius Beck' last night. I think that you might be mistaking the title of 'Thelonius Beck' for the song, 'Kind of Bird', which they did play last night.....I agree, 'Back Door Slam' was pretty good too.....All in all, it was a great Mule show, as usual. Definitely worth the price of admission!

[DiazDude]

I was there too. Great show! It was great to see McCarty and Johnny B. jam with them for the enchore. The local boys did good, they smoked! I seen McCarty jam with them two years ago and that was great too! FWIW, Mule didn't play 'Thelonius Beck' last night. I think that you might be mistaking the title of 'Thelonius Beck' for the song, 'Kind of Bird', which they did play last night.....I agree, 'Back Door Slam' was pretty good too.....All in all, it was a great Mule show, as usual. Definitely worth the price of admission!

Yep you're right it was "Kind of Bird" ..still kind of fuzzy from the show..really my fav jam of the night. Very dynamic. I really liked the tone on the blonde/natural (couldn't tell from where I was sitting) 335 Warren used on "Almost Cut My Hair". And the Fuchs/Tone Tubby rig that Davy Knowles & Jimmy McCarty used sounded great too.
Knowles Strat tone with Back Door Slam was damn powerful..I was impressed with the young man.

[louderock]

Just checked the schedule. Next Wednesday in Anaheim at House of Blues!!!! Did you see the line-up for the Christmas jam? Pretty great.

http://www.xmasjam.com/

[DiazDude]

Just checked the schedule. Next Wednesday in Anaheim at House of Blues!!!! Did you see the line-up for the Christmas jam? Pretty great.

http://www.xmasjam.com/

Yeah..GREAT lineup. I'm going to have to get down there one of these years.

[MK.II]

Yep you're right it was "Kind of Bird" ..still kind of fuzzy from the show..really my fav jam of the night. Very dynamic. I really liked the tone on the blonde/natural (couldn't tell from where I was sitting) 335 Warren used on "Almost Cut My Hair". And the Fuchs/Tone Tubby rig that Davy Knowles & Jimmy McCarty used sounded great too.
Knowles Strat tone with Back Door Slam was damn powerful..I was impressed with the young man.


Yeah, I had never seen Warren with a bonde/natural 335 before, just his red '61 (or '60?) and his red 355. I didn't know what kind of cab was under the Fuchs head until your post. I wonder if Gov't Mule owns that rig?

[DiazDude]

Yeah, I had never seen Warren with a bonde/natural 335 before, just his red '61 (or '60?) and his red 355. I didn't know what kind of cab was under the Fuchs head until your post. I wonder if Gov't Mule owns that rig?

I wouldn't be surprised if that's their Fuchs rig..I think I saw it onstage when I was watching their Rothbury set online.
Last time I saw Warren's Red 335 was with ABB a couple of years ago and on the Beacon Video.

[BIGGERSTAFF]

For those of you that have seen shows with the new bass player- what's your overall impression on his style vs. with Andy Hess(Dave Schools, etc...)? Is it a better fit, or just different?

[DiazDude]

For those of you that have seen shows with the new bass player- what's your overall impression on his style vs. with Andy Hess(Dave Schools, etc...)? Is it a better fit, or just different?

He's obviously still in the learning stage so it's kind of early to tell how it'll turn out. I will say overall the band was more agressive than I've seen with Andy. But not near as agressive when Dave Schools or even George Porter Jr. was aboard.
His playing doesn't seem as articulate as the others as well..quite a bit of sliding up & down the neck. With 2 SVT's I expected a more ballanced bass sound but it was on the muddy side and the venue is on the bright side soundwise.
Gotta give him some time..his 1st gig with them was less than 2 weeks ago.

[B_of_H]

I was looking forward to their show sunday but I injured my achilies the other day and i'm stuck in a boot with crutches for a few months. No mule for me. :(

Good to know the new bass players is working out. I was a big AW fan and I love David Schools (perhaps my favorite rock bass player ever).

[BlueHeaven]

I would have loved to have gone but what's up with no seating at that venue? I saw Robin Trower there 2 yrs (?) ago and vowed I'd never go back . I'm 53 w/arthritis in my back and it killed me to stand for 3 1/2 hrs on concrete. What a shame.

[DiazDude]

I would have loved to have gone but what's up with no seating at that venue? I saw Robin Trower there 2 yrs (?) ago and vowed I'd never go back . I'm 53 w/arthritis in my back and it killed me to stand for 3 1/2 hrs on concrete. What a shame.

I know what you mean. The group I was with snagged one of the few tall tables with chairs. They still have reserved seating in the balcony for a extra $25. I wish they would go back to the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor..GREAT venue.

[MK.II]

I know what you mean. The group I was with snagged one of the few tall tables with chairs. They still have reserved seating in the balcony for a extra $25. I wish they would go back to the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor..GREAT venue.


We were pretty much in the middle of the main floor where we got 2 of those tables and chairs. There was 5 of us. We were almost right behind the guy with the recording setup and mics.....I've seen Gov't Mule at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor twice and at Royal Oak Music Theatre 3 times. Personally I think the acoustics are better at the Mchigan Theatre.....I agree with you about Jorgen being more agressive than Andy. I thought that it was a little easier to hear what Jorgen was playing compared to Andy. Jorgen played fingerstyle and with a pick. Maybe with a pick a little more than fingerstyle.

[Jazzydave]

Did anyone hang around and meet the band? They played Sundown in the City (Knoxville, TN) last year and a few of us (less than 10) hung around after the show. They stayed on the bus forever and then when they finally DID come out Warren wouldn't even talk to anyone. He just quickly scribbled a few signatures down and moved on.

I was disappointed bc there were only a few of us. I can understand it to a certain extent when there are 100s of people wanting autographs but these guys were hardcore fans! They all had Gov't Mule shirts, etc. I just thought it'd be cool to get him to sign my Gibson shirt...haha. I asked the bass player to sign it and he looked at me like I was asking him to let me have his bass or something!

I don't know...maybe it was an off night for them or something happened on the bus before they came out but it was still rude. Sometimes you have to put your feelings aside and appreciate those who appreciate you - I thank the people who come to my shows every time. No, I'm not a superstar but I know how important it is to me that they are there.

[DiazDude]

Did anyone hang around and meet the band? They played Sundown in the City (Knoxville, TN) last year and a few of us (less than 10) hung around after the show. They stayed on the bus forever and then when they finally DID come out Warren wouldn't even talk to anyone. He just quickly scribbled a few signatures down and moved on.

I was disappointed bc there were only a few of us. I can understand it to a certain extent when there are 100s of people wanting autographs but these guys were hardcore fans! They all had Gov't Mule shirts, etc. I just thought it'd be cool to get him to sign my Gibson shirt...haha. I asked the bass player to sign it and he looked at me like I was asking him to let me have his bass or something!

I don't know...maybe it was an off night for them or something happened on the bus before they came out but it was still rude. Sometimes you have to put your feelings aside and appreciate those who appreciate you - I thank the people who come to my shows every time. No, I'm not a superstar but I know how important it is to me that they are there.

I didn't hang out Tues..it was 1am when they got off stage and I was tired!!I've been able to meet the band several times over the years, Woody era into Andy's and they've been nothing but super cool and very personable.

[MK.II]

I didn't hang out Tues..it was 1am when they got off stage and I was tired!!I've been able to meet the band several times over the years, Woody era into Andy's and they've been nothing but super cool and very personable.

That's was my experience with them too the one time that I met them. In the spring, two years ago, my brother and his family were coming home from a Florida vacation and stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel just outside the state line. My brother was outside having a cigarette when, much to his surprise, Warren and Matt came walking up to the restaurant. He said that the expression on Warren's face looked as though he might have thought that my brother looked familiar, but he doubts that. (My brother had already met them a couple times after shows.) So anyway, my brother just said "Hi!", they shook hands, then Warren and Matt went into the restaurant. My brother was thrilled (as usual)! My brother finished his cig., went back inside and found Warren, Matt, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi sitting at a table right next to his family! He said that no one else in the restaurant seemed to have a clue as to who they were, including his own family. He said he talked with them a little bit and they were very friendly. He didn't ask them for their autographs or anything like that, but they asked my brother what his name was anyway (although he knows that they'll never remember it if he were to ever meet them again). My brother isn't one to over stay his welcome so he told them that he hoped he wasn't bothering them and apologized to them, but they wouldn't hear it! They acted like he was their buddy! They even posed for a pic or two with my brother and his 5 year old daughter sitting at their table with them (just for the pic)! My brother said they just seemed like normal, everyday people.

[Jazzydave]

Like I said, maybe they were just having an off night or something happened after the show.

[mprvise]

I'm sitting here listening to soundboards of the Halloween show a buddy just gave me - WOW! Wish I could have been in the audience for that one.