Review by SpenGoesCountry, our irascible 18 year old Boulder correspondent.

Of the thousands and thousands of musicians in the world, there are only a handful who display the level of talent, creativity, and ability to play in a group, as the four members of Gov’t Mule. I have witnessed them in action on six different occasions and after the two shows at the Fillmore (April 26-27) I remain in utter admiration of the group, and especially (drummer) Matt Abts.

The first show felt almost mechanical, in that none of the musicians really got into what was going on. This is not to say the show was not good, because I would rather go see Mule on an okay night, than just about anyone else on a great night, which is saying something cause I don’t like “okay” concerts. When how much you make directly depends on how much you please, you better do a good job. Along the lines of job descriptions, I don’t see why Mule feels the need to go political, like the song “Don’t Step on the Grass Sam.” I don’t want to know what Warren’s political views are, I already have a pretty good idea that he is a liberal, I don’t need him to heavily confirm that suspicion. Although I believe that I was one of the few people in the crowd not particularly enjoying the song, if they would’ve given us some more from Deja Voodoo, we would’ve been much happier.

The second night I was expecting much of what I saw on the first night, but upon arrival, I knew I wasn’t going to have much standing room. The Fillmore was packed from end to end. The first set felt like a warm up, and you could feel the excitement building. The marvelously contrasting set list ranged from the Jimmy Page-esque “Rocking Horse” and “I’m a Ram,” to the more contemplative, “Banks of the Deep End” and “Beautifully Broken.” During “Ram” they dove into the Beatles “Love Me Do” paying a little tribute as always to the Fab-Four. Almost everything the second night went better than the night before (save for their cover of Joe Cocker’s rendition of the Box Tops “The Letter”) and the second set of the latter night blew all of it away. The last song of the first set was “Soulshine.” This is a song so dear to me that I have it engraved on the back of my Zippo lighter, and I’d never seen it done live. Needless to say I was ecstatic.

Set 2 kicked off with “Lola Leave your Light On,” another song I love, yet had never previously seen live. Then came the highlight of the show (for most people) Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter”. Danny Louis showed us what it must have felt like watching John Paul Jones under the dim purple lights at Madison Square Garden. They could’ve walked on, played that song, then walked off and no one would have complained.

The second set continued with “Lay Your Burden Down,” then later, a hot rendition of Hendrix’s “Machine Gun,” their own “Bad Little Doggie,” also “Unring the Bell” with teases of “Shakedown Street,” and “Get Up, Stand Up.” The night culminated with a Piece that Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, U2 stole it back, and Mule… well did what Mule does best, make everyone’s jaws drop with it. Danny emerged from behind the Keys strapping a guitar on, and then proceeded to blow us all away. He took lead over Warren, and then during the solos, had a guitar conversation with Haynes. I have never heard the Fillmore so loud with clapping and screaming. I didn’t even know Danny could really play the guitar. I figured he could probably fool around but being able to stick with Warren Haynes in the last solo of the regular sets… damn.

This band has been able to maintain a level of excitement in the crowd more so than I have seen in any band in my life. Nobody save for that travesty of an editor - boulder butler - has ever just “come for a set,” then left before the encores.

Altogether, as you must have noted, the second set was better. Much better. The first show was actually severely eclipsed by the second. Though nobody except for Butler left during the first show - he had some lame excuse about doing business the next day - almost twice as many people were there for the second, to wintness one of the great performances of music today. I strongly believe that Gov’t Mule is the last of the breed. The breed of classic rock virtuosos.

end.