New York City was the place to be to celebrate the arrival of 2019 on Monday night, with tourists stuffing themselves into a rainy and dreary Times Square and Phish launching their fans into space at Madison Square Garden. Further uptown in Manhattan’s Upper West Side however, Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule took their own fans for an On The Road-inspired musical journey filled with classic rock covers and special guests throughout their annual New Year’s Eve concert at The Beacon Theatre. The show on Monday was their second at the venue in four days as part of this year’s NYE run, following their performance at The Beacon on Saturday night.

The first set of the night featured a 12-song mix of Gov’t Mule originals, although the band began introducing live material fitting for the night’s theme towards the end. The band tore through live renditions of “Brown Down on the Brazos”, “Banks of the Deep End”, Railroad Boy”, and “Bad Little Doggie” to start the night. Some of the highlights from set one included a subtle tease of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” by The Allman  Brothers Band during “When the World Gets Small”, as well as their live debut cover of “Hear My Train a Comin’” by Jimi Hendrix. The band would close out set one with a “Blind Man in the Dark” reprise, followed by “Bring On the Music”, with the latter’s title acting as a musical nudge as to what would be following in the second half of the show. V

Haynes and company returned to the stage with Jackie Greene and Shawn Pelton, who would help play through an impressive 20 songs (mostly covers) as part of their Travel Tunes set themed around the Beatnik life of being out on the road. The audience could enjoy the musical journey from the comfort of their padded seats in the beautiful theatre as Gov’t Mule gave fans covers of Deep Purple‘s “Highway Star”; Black Crowes‘ “Wiser Time”; Little Feet‘s “Two Trains”; Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Tuesday’s Gone”; and of course, New Year’s anthem “Auld Lang Syne”. The second set continued with more live debuts of road-themed rock anthems including the Grateful Dead‘s “Casey Jones”; The Wailers‘ “Stop That Train”; Tom Petty‘s “Runnin’ Down a Dream”; and a trio of Allman Brothers favorites including “End of the Line”, “Ramblin’ Man”, and “Seven Turns”.

The show’s encore continued with the addition of a few more special guests beginning with consecutive drum solos from Mountain drummer Corky Lang, Pelton, and Mule’s Matt Abts. Jimmy Vivino was also invited to once again join in on the fun in helping cover Jeff Beck‘s “Freeway Jam”, Bob Dylan‘s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”, and Charles Segar‘s “Key to the Highway”. The night came to a close with the band once again revisiting the recognizable theme to “Auld Lang Syne”.

Gov’t Mule will take the next few weeks to rest before heading down to paradise in Jamaica for their Island Exodus 10 concert event in late January with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and more. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

You can view a gallery of photos from Gov’t Mule’s New Year’s blowout below via photographer Eric Gettler. You can also watch a selection of clips from the performance via YouTube.

Gov’t Mule w/ Jimmy Vivino – “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” [Bob Dylan cover]

[Video: Sean Roche]

Gov’t Mule w/ Jackie Greene, Shawn Pelton – “Tuesday’s Gone” [Lynyrd Skynyrd cover], “Auld Lang Syne”

[Video: Sean Roche]

Setlist: Gov’t Mule | The Beacon Theatre | New York, NY | 12/31/2018

Set One: Broke Down on the Brazos > Tributary Jam, Banks of the Deep End, Rocking Horse, Fool’s Moon, Railroad Boy, When the World Gets Small*, Bad Little Doggie, Blind Man in the Dark > Hear My Train a Comin’ (Jimi Hendrix cover)** > Blind Man in the Dark reprise, Bring On the Music

Set Two: (with Jackie Greene & Shawn Pelton): Traveling Tune > Highway Star (Deep Purple cover)**, Silver Train (Rolling Stones cover)**, Wiser Time (Black Crowes cover)**, Two Trains (Little Feet cover)**, Trane > Tuesday’s Gone (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)** > Auld lang syne (Robert Burns cover) > Casey Jones (Grateful Dead cover)**, Stop That Train (The Wailers cover), Runnin’ Down a Dream (Tom Petty cover)**, End of the Line (Allman Brothers Band cover), Seven Turns (Allman Brothers Band cover)**, Ramblin’ Man (Allman Brothers Band cover)**, Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull cover)**, Roadhouse Blues (The Doors cover), Train Kept A-Rollin’ (Tiny Bradshaw cover), Travelin’ Man (Bob Seger cover)** > Beautiful Loser (Bob Seger cover)** > Traveling Tune reprise

Encore: Crossroader (Mountain cover)** > Corky Lang, Shawn Pelton, and Matt Abts Drum Solos > Freeway Jam (Jeff Beck cover)#^, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Bob Dylan cover)**#, Key to the Highway (Charles Segar cover)#^, Auld Lang Syne tease

* “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” by Allman Brothers Band tease
** Concert Debut
# w/Jimmy Vivino
^ w/Corky Laing