Went to last night's Gov'tMule at the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford, CT. It was only me and the Gator going last night last year's participants, Adam is in exile in upstate New York most likely involved in treasonous activity and Matt was predictably unpredictable. I had spoken to Alfred earlier in the week. Alfred stated, in his particularly abrasive style, that he would not pay to see a band that that "pot head white boy" liked. As I am the designated driver for these shows I was a bit discouraged as I figured the entertainment quotient of drunken friends would be significantly impaired. Gator though filled the void admirably. More on that later.
Opening for the Mule was this Brit three piece band called Back Door Slam. They all looked to be about 15 and Gator thought (from looking at there MySpace page) that they were some sort of jug band. They were however an impressive power trio whose influences were clearly Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughn & Robin Trower. I would encourage people to check them out. One thing though was that I could not understand the lead man as he was talking between songs. Gator as only he could put it said "The f**king Brits can't even speak their own language!"
I probably should have mentioned our seat location. If you were up top facing the stage we were in the right wing (I do not belong in the left wing) technical in the front row as the real front row consisted of a single seat. I had the base drum pounding at me all night long but I did get used to it.
The Mule was very good although they seemed to be a bit different. Gator agrees and since he has seen them more than me he could probably articulate the difference better. Anyway I don't know the titles to the bands songs but I did note the covers below which were very good (and eclectic):
All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
St. Stephen (Tease) - Grateful Dead
Sugaree (full song)- Grateful Dead
How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin
Stay with me - Rod Stewart
Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young (Warren was joined by the lead guitarist of Back Door Slam for this one.
Mule played for about three hours and it was a very good show. During the intermission as Gator was out "recreating" one of the roadies walked over to where I was sitting and gave me the set list for the first set. I gave it to Gator for a keepsake.
As for Mister Gator he was in rare form last night. He started off slow, couple of Long Hammer IPA's. He did disappear several time when I suspect some dabbling in substances of a recreational nature were occurring. Towards the end of the show Gator wanted to get his groove on. I thought he was going to jump on the stage! There were three security guards he was pushing the envelope with. They finally relented and let him dance in the aisle. That wasn't good for me as Gator stepped on my foot in his haste to his dancing stage. No harm though I still have all five toes. After the show there was the obligatory experimenting with Nitrous Oxide and we left Wallingford with Gator (passenger side window down) howling at the moon on the ride home. I did get some good Gator philosophy on the ride home on the meaning of Christmas which was pretty much a meld of Santa Claus & Grinch philosophies!
Anyway it was a fun night, hopefully the reader has enjoyed this and I look forward to Mule 2009!
