Pop Break Live: Gov’t Mule – Back in the Saddle Tour Mule-O-Ween Show, Saturday November 1 at The Met in Philadelphia, PA
Southern rock jam legends Gov’t Mule brought their Back in The Saddle Tour/Mule-O-Ween show to The Met in Philly on November 1st.
The band is led by renowned blues-rock guitarist, vocalist, writer and producer Warren Haynes. Besides being a founding member of Gov’t Mule, Haynes is known for his work as a longtime guitarist with The Allman Brothers and The Dead. Rolling Stone has listed him as one of the best guitarists of all time.
The band’s stop in Philadelphia was a celebration on multiple fronts. First, it’s the band’s return to The City of Brotherly Love on their Back in the Saddle Tour. It’s also a celebration of the 30th anniversary of their self-titled debut album. And finally (and some would say most importantly) it was the return of the band’s vaunted Mule-O-Ween Show.
The tradition of Mule-O-Ween starts in the late ’90s and has become a beloved tradition for the band and its fans. Mule-O-Ween is a show (or in this case run of shows) where the band’s second set pays homage to some of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll history. In the past, they’ve covered Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Spinal Tap, just to name a few.
Mule-O-Ween had been on the shelf since 2022, but the band brought it back for this Halloween weekend, paying homage to rock ‘n’ roll juggernauts Aersomith. This is, of course, seems fitting since the band is on their Back in the Saddle Tour. This Mule-O-Ween in Philly, the band brought out special guest vocalist Corey Glover of Living Colour who joined the band on select songs from their 12-song Aerosmith set.
The show Haynes dedicated the set to beloved WMMR radio host Pierre Robert who suddenly passed away on October 29th. The crowd gave him a nice round of applause. The night started off with “Bad Little Doggie” and they followed that up with “Blind Man in the Dark.” That one-two punch really set the tone for the show. One of the best of the set was “Dreaming Out Loud.” The crowd erupted. This was a high energy set with no lulls. Honestly, some of the long jams were jaw dropping. The entire band really showed their musical prowess. The audience really showed them the love throughout the night.
The band opened up the Aerosmith set with “Make it” and followed that up with another song off Steven Tyler and the gang’s self-titled debut album in 1973, “Walking the Dog.” Some songs that really stood out were “Same Old Song and Dance,” “Sweet Emotion,” “Back in the Saddle” (naturally) and “Mama Kin.” On “Walk This Way,” Glover got the audience singing along to the chorus. They encored with “The Train Kept A-Rollin” which was pretty epic with some serious jamming.
Philly was treated to a memorable masterful performance by this beloved legendary band.
