While the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots were silent on Wednesday for the “days between” New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival weekends, Faugbourg Brewery was as alive as ever with day two of Daze Between New Orleans. The midweek festival came to a climax with a star-studded Gov’t Mule show featuring a parade of special guests including Chuck Leavell, Daniel Donato, Ivan Neville, John Scofield, Grace Potter, Karl Denson, Duane Betts, and Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Following a thrilling day of sets by Galactic, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Karina Rykman, and The Iceman Special, Gov’t Mule took the main Daze Between Stage amid a bucolic sunset staring out over Faubourg Brewery. The band kicked things off with the self-referential “Mule” as Warren Haynes beckoned the packed grass lawn “Where’s my Mule? Where’s my 40 acres?” The Mule was right there at Faubourg, and the core lineup of Haynes, drummer Matt Abts, keyboardist Danny Louis, and bassist Kevin Scott loaded the first set with originals new and old including “Banks of the Deep End” and “Revolution Come, Revolution Go” before bringing out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band for the two-set show’s first of many sit-ins.
Gov’t Mule – “Mule” [Pro-Shot] – 5/1/24
After the hard-rocking start to the show, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band assisted in bringing the set to a slow, bluesy crawl on the traditional “John The Revelator”. Stylistic diversity was at the forefront of set one, with Mule and the Dirty D getting funky on Herbie Hancok‘s “Chameleon”, a song the ensemble played together at Mule’s famed The Deepest End concert recorded in New Orleans at the Saenger Theatre during Jazz Fest 2003. Some 21 years later, the potent combination of players still packed a punch on the Herbie classic.
Shedding the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Haynes slipped in a relevant tease of the Grateful Dead‘s “Days Between” in the intro to “Same As It Ever Was” before the conspicuously guest-light first set wrapped with “Time to Confess”. The second set, however, would be a revolving door. Given the venue’s curfew, Haynes promised a ten-minute set break.
Gov’t Mule returned to the stage 15 minutes later with keyboardist Chuck Leavell and guitarist Daniel Donato, the latter of whom Warren Haynes had just met that day. The two gunslingers hit it off with the set-opening “Soulshine” that put everything in a joyous hue from there on out, with Warren even letting the youngin’ take a verse of his signature Allman Brothers Band tune. Though there were half a dozen announced guests for the show, it was still a shock to everyone—including some of the musicians, it seemed—when Grace Potter strolled onstage mid-verse for The Rolling Stones‘ “Wild Horses”, performed with Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell on piano and vocals. There is no onstage chemistry quite like that of Warren Haynes and Grace Potter, which justifiably draws comparisons to Fleetwood Mac so it was only fitting then that they covered “Gold Dust Woman” together.
Gov’t Mule, Daniel Donato, Chuck Leavell, Grace Potter – “Wild Horses” (The Rolling Stones) –5/1/24
[Video: Joe’s Basement]
Still more surprises were in store as Duane Betts took the stage for a tribute to his late father and Allman Brothers co-founder Dickey Betts, creating a dual guitar harmony with Dickey’s former bandmate Warren Haynes for a combination that felt so right. Mule then dipped into its latest album Peace…Like A River for the first original of the second set as Ivan Neville lent his keys to “Dreaming Out Loud” just like he did on the album.
Jazz guitarist John Scofield didn’t stray too far following his incendiary set with Lettuce which topped day one of Daze Between, surfacing again along with Karl Denson for “Devil Likes It Slow” before the set technically closed out with Little Feat‘s “Spanish Moon”. Rather than killing time taking an actual encore break, Warren told everyone to just pretend the band left the stage, and we all obliged, ahead of the festival-closing performance of “Sco-Mule” to cap off Daze Between 2024. Mule’s set was also the last concert at the Faubourg Brewing facility, which closed its doors as of Thursday, May 2nd. During Mule’s set break, Purple Hat Productions founder and Daze Between producer Paul Levine announced to the crowd that Daze Between will be back in 2025—though given Faubourg’s closure the venue is still TBA. Regardless of where, we will see you at Daze Between 2025.
Check out a gallery of images from Gov’t Mule at Daze Between New Orleans 2024 courtesy of photographer Nick Langlois. To listen to a complete audio recording of the guest-loaded Gov’t Mule headlining set via nugs.net, head here. Live For Live Music‘s full Daze Between New Orleans day two coverage is available here.
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Setlist: Gov’t Mule | Daze Between New Orleans | New Orleans | 5/1/24
Set One: Mule, Banks Of The Deep End, Revolution Come, Revolution Go, John The Revelator (Traditional) [1], Chameleon (Herbie Hancock) [1], Same As It Ever Was [2], Time To Confess
Set Two: Soulshine [3], Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones) [4], Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac) [4], Blue Sky (Allman Brothers Band) [5], Dreaming Out Loud [6], Devil Likes It Slow [7], Spanish Moon (Little Feat) [8]
Encore: Sco-Mule [9]
[1] w/ Dirty Dozen Brass Band
[2] w/ “Days Between” intro tease
[3] w/ Daniel Donato, Chuck Leavell
[4] w/ Daniel Donato, Chuck Leavell, Grace Potter
[5] w/ Duane Betts, Chuck Leavell
[6] w/ Ivan Neville
[7] w/ Karl Denson, John Scofield
[8] w/ Karl Denson, John Scofield, Ivan Neville
[9] w/ John Scofield, Karl Denson
