Tuesday started off a bit rough, as once again, the winter skies opened up and gave us some more fucking snow, as if we haven't had enough. (Yeah, yeah, yeah the East Coast got 20 some inches, blah, blah, blah. The East Coast also thinks it's better than anyone else and they talk with funny accents and they're really into politics and they're often brutish, so...they can eff off.) I got my brother a ticket for a Christmas gift, so he was in town, which was cool. Cooler still, the venue was The Capitol Theater in downtown Davenport, a place I hadn't been in since grade school, which when I think about it, was like 20-25 years ago. God, I'm old.
Tuesday got better after the day went on a bit. The snow finally quit and suddenly my cell phone beeped and I had a text message from Al Sweet. "gov't mule pre-party at my house" Yay! A pre-party. This was gonna be great. Seeing some old friends, relaxin', deechin', drinking some beers, pluckin' some guitars, s'ing some d's, you know, really Americana-type fun.
On the ride to the venue my bro and I caught a lift with another party-goer. For the sake of the following story, he shall remain nameless. The ride started off dubiously. First, he was unable to get the power door locks to work on the car. Secondly, the car wouldn't start until he put it in neutral (it was an automatic transmission). Thirdly, after finally getting the car started, he couldn't get the car to shift into drive. Fourthly, I started thinking, "If I miss even 1 second of Gov't Mule, I'm going to be fucking pissed." Luckily, everything came together. Then it was brought to my attention that the driver claims to have seen a UFO in Mexico City. Yeah, a real UFO. He proceeds to tell us the story, where he saw the UFO flying at dusk as he was on the roof reading on top of a 5 story building. As chance would have it, no one was around. I did all I could not to bust out laughing, but this dude isn't one wont to lying. "Were you on acid?" I asked. C'mon, it's a valid question. "No, man. I was just chilling out and reading." I followed with, "Were you smoking pot? Were you high?" Again, it's a valid question. "Nope. I mean, I had smoked earlier in the day, but..." What do you say? In my case - nothing. I just left it at that.
After finding a spot to park and seeing who could write their name (in cursive, mind you) in the snow with a steaming stream of piss, we headed to the show.
The Capitol has been renovated fairly recently. It really is a suave place. Gold paint, arched ceilings, applied mouldings, lush draperies, pretty much a standard, old-style theatre. We stood in the lobby and halls drinking beers and halfway listening to the opening act, The Steepwater Band. How well can you judge a band through doors and walls? Not very. As soon as they stopped, we headed in to get some seats (whole concert was GA). We sat right up close, as the bad weather and false, shady rumors (please boycott RIBCO, I'm not joking) of the show being sold out rendered it a pretty sparsely attended show - maybe 800 out of a potential 1,200.
Classic Mule stage setup. No frills, black backdrop, old-school Dose symbol behind the drums. You come for the music, you don't come for theatrics. This is not Kanye West here, this is not Britney Spears, no one is trying to mask their lack of talent with assorted flavors of eye candy. Warren Haynes and the boys walk right out, laid back, probably high, and pick up their instruments for some last-second tuning. Half jokingly, me and Jimmy holler out "Bad Little Doggie". And wouldn't you know it, they opened with....wait for it..."Bad Little Doggie". Probably the only time that will ever happen.
After the excitement of that wore off, it was easy for my professional ears to determine that the sound mix was AWFUL. It was all bass and drums, and Warren's guitar and vocals, arguably the main selling point of the band, was muffled something fierce. How does a fucking local sound guy, familiar with the venue, have shit fucked up that bad? I'm not joking, it was so bad that we moved to the back of the theater. The sound was infinitely better. Eventually, we moved to the balcony where we just chilled and took it all in, but still. Concerts are WAY better when you can take an available upfront seat and stand and dance to a great band. It was not to be that way. In that regard, the show we caught a few years back at Hoyt Sherman Theatre in Des Moines was far better.
Now, let's go over the setlist, courtesy of www.mulebase.com, with my comments sprinkled in for effect:
1st Set:
Bad Little Doggie
Broke Down On The Brazos
Lay Your Burden Down
Bad Man Walking nice double bass drum fills by Matt Abts on this GM staple. Add some crowd singing, it was cool that they slowed it down a bit.
Time To Confess
Stay With Me I never would have guessed that a Rod Stewart/Faces cover could sound so good. I was absolutely doing the hippie dance to this one.
Scenes From A Troubled Mind *
Thorazine Shuffle Classic Mule, would probably be double cool on psychedelics, but Nicky says "nah, brah" to those.
2nd Set: Lola Leave Your Light On > Mother Earth
Streamline Woman > Drums
Forevermore
Mule
Soulshine Yeah, call me a douche, this is my favorite song of theirs, and I was glad they played it.
Before the encore, the crowd was going bananas cheering them on, and for whatever reason, myself, Jimmy, and Randy Leasman just started chanting "AL SWEEEEET!!!"
Encore: The Hunter >(1) 32-20 Blues (1) As much as Warren wails on this guitar-driven classic, the guy that came out from The Steepwater Band absolutely KILLED on the guitar solos. I have to think Warren held back on his end and let Massey shine, which was classy to be sure, but I would have loved to see Warren kill it here. GREAT closer.
Setlist Notes: * First Time Played ; (1) with Jeff Massey on guitar
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