We sent our NYC correspondent, also named Dan (pen name “Chad Popular”), to experience Gov’t Mule with opening band Wolfmother over the weekend. Here’s his review.
-amit
Gov’t Mule with special guest Wolfmother
September 9, 2006 @ McCarren Park Pool, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Let me start this by saying that it was my roommate’s birthday the night before this show and I did not sleep the night before. I was hungover and tired and honestly, pounding decibal levels rattling my brain via my earholes was the last thing I wanted to experience. However, having been to the McCarren Park Pool before, I knew that it was an incredible venue - a drained Olympic-sized pool in which the audience literally stands. The band plays on an elevated stage above the deep end. I was in for an experience.
I had never really heard Wolfmother. They were just a cool new band that I had downloaded on iTunes in hopes that someone would come over and be like, “Dude, you like Wolfmother?”? and I would reply, “Who doesn’t?”? Any reservations I had about my mood and physical state were diffused as I entered the venue and heard the pleasing sound of what could have been a Black Sabbath reunion concert. But alas, it was the Australian band, Wolfmother.
They are awesome.
With their screeching guitars and crushing drums and a voice that I swear came from the Prince of Darkness himself, I was in. The crowd provided an interesting mix, with retired hippies running amock with rednecks, frat boys, and, of course, Williamsburg hipsters. They are a very fun band, and you know they are rocking when you see notoriously immobile indie rock fans, who generally don’t move a muscle except to light their Parliaments, banging their heads and rocking out. I saw scores of people throwing up devil horns with their hands - the first time I had seen that in a while. They are a nostalgic band, but they don’t bring the ironic bullshit cheese we get from the Darkness. It is genuinely good rock in which I heard traces of everything from the Who to Floyd to Zeppelin, and at one point, I even closed my eyes and imagined lead singer Andrew Stockdale as Robert Plant up their singing, and it kind of worked. The sun was setting, and as they crushed through their single, “Mother,”? and sang about goblins and elves and everything D&D stoner-rock, I had a great big smile on my face.
Gov’t Mule. Where do I begin? First, they have a very loyal fanbase, many of whom seemed to be in attendance. I’ll be honest: I haven’t really listened to that much Gov’t Mule and I didn’t have the first clue as to what I was in for. I saw them at Bonnaroo a while back, but who remembers Bonnaroo? My brother, on the other hand, who has 27 different bootlegs of the same show (Orlando, 2002) is one of these fans.
As darkness fell, we were were finally introduced to the band by a guy onstage announcing that Warren Haynes had been named in the top 25 of the top 100 guitar players ever, any premonition that I had that I was going to see some crappy jamband vanished. Mule is way more than a jamband. I will start with Warren Haynes. He has such a presence on stage from the moment he walks out. He is a big guy. His voice is both commanding and soothing. He is a great songwriter whose lyrics rarely venture into the “listen to the wind and it will tell you”? cheese, although when he does indulge, it is intensely gratifying. This is a rock band with so much experience and talent in their storytelling that you would be an idiot not to listen. They are wise, political, and inspiring, especially at moments like when Haynes howled “don’t jail my fellow man.”? When Haynes sings, you listen, and when his guitar speaks, you get chills down your spine. The first set went from organ-infused gospel/blues jams to good, old-fashioned, hard, gritty southern rock-and-roll to mellow, psychedelic jam- outs with so many different musical stylings infused along the way, I can’t even begin to describe. However, each rollicking, monstrous song in the first set seemed at times a bit repetitive. This band can sneak up on you though, especially when it comes time for one of Haynes’ solos, which made the songs sometimes seem as if they were simply an excuse to jam until Haynes rocked his solo. The songs were great fun and made me yearn to be in a barfight in some steamy bar in Alabama.
The band has these inspiring build-ups and it’s as if they are about to explode with light shooting out of their eyes, but instead are somehow able to suppress this. You get blue balls. That is until Haynes explodes into a solo of epic proportions. I heard everything covered from Chicago’s “Saturdayâ€? to the Police’s “Message in a Bottle”? (albeit these comprised a total of ten seconds, still….got me going nonetheless) to a five minute jam of Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”? However, it’s his original solos that put you in a trance, and all you can do is squint your eyes to try and see him plucking the strings of his guitar because it seems so impossible to create something so powerful in sound with human hands. He explores so many sounds that it is hard to keep up because he does it all in such a short amount of time. The hippy next to me who was most likely tripping on acid was dancing as if he could decipher or decode what Haynes’ guitar was saying, like it was commanding his body. I was sober and his guitar playing made my jaw drop. In fact, after the show I looked at my notepad and saw that all I had written was “awesome solo”? 18 times, as if I was in a coma.
I do not want to get stuck on Haynes. Matt Abts crushing drums (great solos), Andy Hess’ on-point bass, and Danny Louis having a blast on the keys. They seem so experienced and wise because they know exactly what they are doing and make it look so easy, yet they seem so excited to play the music for us. And the fans returned the favor with much applause. You can see where many a group on the jamband circuit take their cues, as they should. I am proud to say that after the two sets and an encore, I am a converted fan.
Both of these bands were very exciting to watch, and you can’t go wrong in a venue this great. I would have gone to see Cher’s Farewell tour here and had a good time. I don’t mean that. But on a beautiful Saturday evening, when the hackysackers met the hipsters on this very special occasion, everyone seemed to be feeling it. The hipsters turned their frowns upside down, and the Mule fans danced and had a raucous time and tryed not to spill their beers, and all was well in Brooklyn. I think a fan’s shirt said it best, quoting “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”? The beatings of these bands’ music were hypnotic and unyielding, and I left the better for it.
Not that I have any room to talk, but if you don’t have a Gov’t Mule album yet, move out of your mom’s basement. Buy the Wolfmother album as well. But for the full effect, take the freakin’ headphones off and go see them live. My words do no justice.
Setlist
(Photos courtesy of Mule.net)
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great review man, i wholeheartedly agree re: warren.. he’s one of the most incredible guitar players to watch live (aside from trey, of course). hopefully i’ll see you at the next show soon!!
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September 18th, 2006 20:32