Gov’t Mule at the Alabama Theatre
The Mule was in town last night for a show at the Alabama Theatre. If you are anywhere near Birmingham and have a chance, go see a concert at this venue. It is a great place for a show and it sounded awesome. My brother and one of his friends came over from Meridian, as well as my uncle and cousin (althouth they were with another group).
Local group Beitthemeans opened up with a great set of punk-inspired southern rock. Gov’t Mule took the stage and opened with a strong set of Mule > Working So Hard > Mule and played great songs like Temporary Saint, Bad Little Doggie and Don’t Step on the Grass, Sam. They closed out the first set with Beautifully Broken and Soulshine.
The second set opened up with Warren’s tribute to Jerry Garcia, Patchwork Quilt and then into I Shall Return with a little bit of Dobie Gray’s Drift Away thrown in. Audley Freed joined the band on stage for a couple of tunes, then into Matt Abts drum solo. They finished strong with I’m A Ram, Into the Mystic and Slackjaw Jezebel before returning for an encore with Don’t Let It Bring You Down with Audley Freed.
All in all a great night. My second time to see the Mule this year (City Stages back in June) and it was much better seeing them run through two sets without having to worry about the time constraints of playing a festival. I thought that Oteil Burbridge might join them for a song or two seeing as how he and Warren are in the Allmans together. I saw him on the row in front of me during the first set before heading off backstage.
A special hello and thanks to the security guard chick that made me erase about 50 photos of the first set from my digital camera. Sure, camera’s weren’t allowed and I snuck it in, but waste your time picking up the drunk guy passed out in the isle and leave me alone. Sheesh.
