Well, my dad needed a concert buddy. And as someone who knows how many shows my dad used to go to back in the day, I happily obliged.
It is interesting. A year or two before the pandemic kicked off, Gov’t Mule came nearby and my dad almost bit the bullet then. I don’t know what changed his mind, but all these years later and his fondness for the band has only grown stronger. He even had the tickets already bought before he even asked if I’d go! The confidence is admirable. It’s also probably a good thing I went because I think my mom would have rather watched paint dry. Not that she doesn’t enjoy rock, she just isn’t partial to jam bands. And boy does my dad love a good jam band.
Personally, I have not listened to a single Gov’t Mule song in my entire life, but if it’s rock it can’t ever be bad. That was the case here, but ultimately, for me, it was just kind of boring. The first twenty minutes or so I was hooked and was hyping myself up for the rest of the show, but then eight songs took over an hour and I was kind of over it. Oh, but after those nine songs there was a brief intermission, then those guys took another hour to only play SEVEN songs! And then there were two more in an encore for good measure. In case you were keeping track, that’s three hours of music equating to only seventeen songs. I told you my dad liked a good jam band.
The show started strong with “Bad Little Doggie,” and stayed strong for a little while before every song started to sound exactly the same for me. Even though my dad is a fan, even he hadn’t heard of a lot of the songs they played. I didn’t know the band’s original music catalog was that extensive. Admittedly, I kind of thought they were a high quality cover band. Later this summer they are embarking on a Dark Side of the Mule tour where they are covering Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (get it?). I just kind of figured that was their whole schtick. And they did incorporate a fair number of cover songs in the setlist. I was actually surprised that they ended the night with two Alice Cooper covers in their encore.
Regardless, my dad enjoyed himself and so did the rest of that middle aged crowd. Rock on.