Gov't Mule brought their Halloween Extravaganza from the East Coast to the East Bay last week and played our newly re-opened and fabulous Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. It was the Mule debut for my friend Wayne and he brought with him the guitarist from local rockers The Real Nasty. We knew we were in for something special (3 yearsago they covered Led Zep's "Houses of the Holy" record, then a Pink Floyd spectacular in 2008 and a bunch of Rolling Stones last year.) Who would it be this year?

The answer is: yes. Following their Brits on Halloween tradition, they covered The Who's "Who's Next" in its entirety, starting w/ Baba O'Riley and ending with Won't Get Fooled Again. They had a mod version of their Mule logo on a giant backdrop (circles and arrow) and Warren Haynes had two mic setups... one for Roger's parts and the other for Pete's lines. Danny Louis played trumpet on a track and their new bassist -- who I was seeing for the first time -- delivered the Entwistle rumble. The Fox was packed and about half the folks were in costume. Lots of dancing, at least from my vantage point on the back center rail (just behind the soundboard and VIP dance pit.)

Their Who rendering was impressive and I especially enjoyed the upfront bass, which I thought was lacking in the Andy Hess days. Hess was a great player but Jorgen Carlsson has an aggressive style that recalls the glory of Allen Woody. The song Bargain was a highlight for me along w/ 2 songs I didn't really know before... The Song Is Over and Getting In Tune. The drums were somewhat squashed in the mix though and it was very clear to me that this didn't really sound like Mule, sonically speaking.

Well at setbreak, they took a good 35 minutes to completely switch around the rigs. Jorgen and Haynes flipped sides and when they fired up the engines for Set II, it was the full sonic assault I had been hoping for. They opened up with a couple of new tracks and then a few originals from the first album. I had promised Wayne that we'd get the "hard bop" tune -- sounds like Charlie Parker and Duane Allman have merged -- in the form of a gigantic Trane medley (complete w/ St. Stephen and Third Stone) which was really the meat of the night.

The final encore was Tom Wait's "Goin' Out West" which is a complete delight for me. Nothing I would rather sing along too. You can download the audience version of the show (the Neumann source sounds killer) or the crispy official version from the links below.

Little Pheat

I stopped following Phish at least 15 years ago but thought I'd check in after hearing they covered one of my all-time favorite albums on Halloween. For the middle set of a 4.5 hour show, they played Little Feat's double-live album "Waiting for Columbus" and they pulled it off better than anybody could (including the current touring version of Little Feat.)

Phish added a 5-piece horn section and a percussionist and really did re-create the sound and arrangements of those records. I should know, I wore that wax out in college. It's especially evident during Dixie Chicken and Sailing Shoes. I did manage to listen to the Phish sections of the show too (and don't necessarily need to hear it again) this middle set will probably get a lot of play in the car. Worth the 12 bucks right there.