I should be able to ramble on for a while this time, I have 2 hours to kill before my shuttle to the airport. And since I’m dressed in “back to bad weather” attire, I’m not going to the beach. Update: and of course I ran into folks and didn’t actually finish this post until I arrived home.
So yesterday was the final day of the 1st Annual (confirmed, it will happen again next year) Gov’t Mule Island Exodus. And it ended in fine style.
Lets start at the beginning of the day. The usual – enough coffee to drown in, head to the beach. Stake out my spot in front of the stage (yeah, I’m one of them) and hit the (non-alcoholic) frozen umbrella drinks to keep hydrated. Lots of water too. I finally had some time to read one of my books as there weren’t any events I was interested in until 4PM.
At 4, “Farmer Says” turned into “Road Stories with Farmer”, which was really a Q&A. He apologized profusely for some ‘issues’ the day before (you’ll read about the phrase “It’s all normal, now”) soon. Then launched into some very entertaining stories about a show w/ Phil Lesh, his time w/ Johnny Cash, a few of the bands that Mule has toured with, and how he got into being a guitar tech. He was quite animated and appeared to be having a good time.
Then the weather threatened to rain again. It briefly came down in dribs and drabs, but quickly stopped. Potential disaster averted.
Around 7:30PM Grace Potter and the Nocturnals hit the stage. They did a few new tunes, a few old, and a couple covers. It seemed to me to be a slightly shorter set, but that may have just been time flying by when you’re having fun.
The Mule crew quickly went into action and set the stage up. Tonight there was an outdoor dinner w/ tables right on the beach, so the walk to eat was even shorter than normal.
9:00PM’ish, and Mule hit the stage. The setlist is below, but I’ll comment on a few of (my personal) highlights. Monday Morning Meltdown was better than usual, and it’s usually pretty damn good. Beat It was over-the-top fun, with Jorgens son on stage dancing throughout (see picture below). Shattered was every single bit as much fun as it was on Halloween. Drums w/ DJ Logic was neat, but he was a bit hard to hear. I suppose they’re not entirely used to hooking up turntables. Somebody to Love with Grace was hands down as much fun as it was w/ Dana Fuchs on New Years Eve. And the closing Southern Man was better than the last time I’d seen it with Grace and Scott sitting in. On the whole, this was my favorite Mule show of the trip.
Set 1:
Hammer and Nails
Time to Confess
Painted Silver Light
Wandering Child
Monday Morning Meltdown
Forevermore
Rocking Horse
Beat It (instrumental, and yes, the Michael Jackson song, w/ Ron and Sean Carlsson – Sean danced on stage throughout the song. Sean being Jorgens 7? 8? year old son)
Reggae Soulshine (w/ Ron)
Devil Likes It Slow (w/ Ron)
Set 2:
Shattered (Matt vocals, Jorgen drums, Danny bass – no banana)
New World Blues
Effigy > Folsom Prison Blues > Effigy
Slackjaw Jezebel
Drums >
Drums (w/ DJ Logic spinning)
Play With Fire (w/ Ron and DJ Logic)
No Need To Suffer
Money (w/ Ron)
Encore 1:
Many Rivers To Cross (w/ Ron and Grace)
Somebody To Love (w/ Grace)
Encore 2:
Southern Man (w/ Grace and Scott)
