Warren Haynes and co. have been tearing up the road with high-caliber blues-rock jams for three decades. Even if the lineup has occasionally changed, the current Gov’t Mule tour is a celebration of this feat. Following up a Super Bowl – especially one with a West Coast team and no shortage of Taylor Swift hype – isn’t easy for any band. Luckily, the members of Mule were up for the challenge when they hit Portland, Oregon on Sunday, February 11th for a show at the Roseland.
With a line snaking around the block due to an absurdly slow security check, the band hit the stage fifty minutes past their supposed start time to give fans a chance to make it in. This fact and perhaps the loss of the San Francisco 49ers undoubtedly pissed off more than a few fans, but all was forgiven when Mule hit the stage and kicked it off with the hyper-speed rocker “Mr. Man.” From that point on, Haynes proceeded to lay down one fiery solo after another while his bandmates kept the groove always pushing forward.
The combination of “World Boss” segueing into the slow-burning blues shred of “Mother Earth” was an early highlight of the night with one of Hayne’s first big guitar bustouts accompanied by Danny Louis’s crawling lounge organ. “Unring The Bell” also shined with its dub carnival sound enhanced by Kevin Scott’s deep in-the-pocket bass and Haynes injected a tease of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street.” The band truly locked into their group jamming during the instrumental “Sco-Mule,” a jazz-leaning tune that let Louis lay down some truly impressive work on keys before completely switching gears for the slide-inflected work of Southern rock balladry “Gone Too Long,” the soul-funk of “Dreaming Out Loud,” and the set-closing rock and roll swagger of “Slackjew Jezebel.”
If set one was defined by showcasing the raw power of Mule as a four-piece, set two was all about range as they veered from an intense wall of sound (“Rocking Horse”) to mellow reggae vibes with the classic “Lively Up Yourself,” the latter interspersed with Haynes’ blazing guitar flourishes to cut through the haze. Haynes seemed hellbent on diving into more complex songs that balanced vocal prowess and musicianship, with the new song “Same As It Ever Was” being a sprawling, epic work of rock greatness. Of course, no Mule show is complete without a guest appearance or two, and Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin stepped up to the plate to lend his saxophone skills to “Get Behind the Mule” accompanied by Louis’ trombone. Legendary blues-soul drummer Tony Coleman also dropped in, taking over the skins on an especially potent cover of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s righteous heater “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City.”
Gov’t Mule has been through no shortage of ups and downs throughout their three decades as a band, and their show in Portland offered further proof that they remain as resilient as ever. Even after all this time, they still possess the ability to conjure up some of the heaviest and tightest blues-rock out there. At the Roseland, it was also clear how much these vets still love playing the exploring new musical terrain as they delivered a rollercoaster of a set that was surely a touchdown for the fans in attendance.
