Gov't Mule - House of Blues Chicago - 2010.02.05

Gov't Mule
2010-02-05
House Of Blues
Chicago, IL

Dare 2 Dream (To Benefit The University of Chicago's Comer's Children Hospital)
with Jackie Greene
and The Steepwater Band

Set 1
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1. Million Miles From Yesterday
2. Slackjaw Jezebel
3. Gameface
4. Temporary Saint
5. Little Toy Brain
6. Patchwork Quilt
7. Mr. Big
8. Forevermore
9. Wandering Child

Set 2
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1. Maybe I'm Amazed
2. Frozen Fear
3. Shape I'm In
4. Monday Mourning Meltdown >
5. Drums >
6. Any Open Window >
7. Trouble Everyday
8. Brokedown on the Brazos

Encores
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9. Encore Break/Introducing Jackie Greene
10. Loser*
11. Southern Man*

* w/ Jackie Greene

Benefit show started around 8pm with The Steepwater Band. They were a pretty decent opening band - they had some good hooks and a good blues-rock sound, but some of the songs lyrics were pretty repetitive (too much reliance on a chorus instead of an extra verse or two). The singer was fine but did not have a great range. Definitely not the worst opening act I've ever heard, and the lead singer was an excellent guitarist.

Coming on around 9pm, Jackie Greene turned in a very listenable set, but I didn't think he and his band were as entertaining as when I saw them open for Mule back in October. His set included a brief Taxman reference and a cover of what I'm pretty sure was a Grateful Dead song I should know, but don't. The crowd was loving it.

Mule did not take the stage until after 10pm. They opened with the excellent Million Miles From Yesterday and kept things going with the hard-driving Jezebel. The set kind of turned toward slower and mid-tempo numbers though, and while that would have been fine on most nights, it was getting late for people who had been standing up since 7:10 or so like Laura and I had.

The band took a break after the first set. They came back out after midnight with a beautiful cover of Maybe I'm Amazed that brought Laura back from sitting down somewhere to rest her feet. Matt Abts had a great drum solo that seemed loosely modeled after Moby Dick (complete with bare-handed interludes), but it was simply too late and too far into the show to hold everyone's interest. Mule closed the second set with the steady groove of 'Brazos', and returned quickly for the encore with Jackie Greene to cover the Dead's soulful Loser and Neil Young's Southern Man, which was incredible.

An enjoyable show, but one that seemed to sort of drag a little (standing for about six hours total - they ended around 1:15). I'll confess I had a better time at the last Mule show near the end of October 2009.

EDIT: Yep, should have known it, alright - Greene covered The Grateful Dead's Scarlet Begonias. I did recognize it as a Dead track, but I don't know a lot of their titles. He did a good job with it - sounded very smooth.