On Saturday night, Gov’t Mule continued their spring tour with a performance at Baltimore, Maryland’s Hippodrome Theatre. During the show at the historic theater, the band led by guitar virtuoso Warren Haynes had a number of surprises for the Charm City crowd, inviting recurring guest Hook Herrera to join them in addition to trumpet player Doug Woolverton. In addition, the band offered three new live debuts, including “Guilty”, “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin'”, and “Mean Mistreatin’ Mama”.
The first of their debuts, as well as Hook Herrera’s first cameo with the band, came during the end of the first set during the band’s inaugural live take on “Guilty”, a tune off Randy Newman’s 1974 Good Old Boys. For the first set’s closer, Herrera stayed on board, offering up his harmonica talents on Gov’t Mule’s live debut of “Don’t Keep Me Wondering”, an Allman Brothers Band classic that Haynes undoubtedly got quite familiar with during his tenure as an Allman Brothers Band guitarist.
During the second set, Hook Herrera returned again at the end of the frame, offering his talents up during a well-segued sandwich of “Mule” housing “Who Do You Love”. Following the band’s initial take on their older classic tune, “Mule”, Herrera emerged for Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love”, staying on to close out the sandwich with the triumphant return to “Mule”. Herrera left the band to its own devices to close out the set, with Gov’t Mule opting to end things on a high note with “Thorazine Shuffle”, which housed a Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood jam, “Hottentot”.
Returning for the encore, Herrera rejoined the group for the band’s third live debut of the night—this time, a rendition of Elmore James’ “Mean Mistreatin’ Mama”. Herrera and Gov’t Mule were joined by another special guest, trumpeter Doug Woolverton, for the final song of the night, a robust take on Tom Waits’ “Going Out West”. You can check out the setlist and watch videos of the performance below!
Setlist: Gov’t Mule | Hippodrome Theatre | Baltimore, MD | 4/21/2018
Set One: Mr. High & Mighty, Brand New Angel, Inside Outside Woman Blues, Steppin’ Lightly, Devil Likes It Slow, Revolution Come Revolution Go, Fool’s Moon, Guilty*^, Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’*^
Set Two: Stone Cold Rage, Drawn That Way, Stratus > Easy Times, Painted Silver Light, Mule > Who Do You Love^ > Mule^, Thorazine Shuffle
Encore: Mean Mistreatin’ Mama*^, Going Out West^^
* live debut, ^ with Hook Herrera, ^^ with Hook Herrera & Doug Woolverton