Gov’t Mule have expanded their New Year’s run. The group will now kick off the four-show trek at Port Chester, NY’s Capitol Theatre on December 28 and 29. Audley Freed, who has augmented the quartet on the road in the past, will serve as a special guest.
As previously reported, the Mule will break from tradition this year, bringing their always thematic New Year’s show to Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway for the first time. Billed as a Gov’t Mule & Friends celebration that promises to transplant the “Southern state of mind to Boston,” the December 31 gig will boast appearances from founding Allman Brothers Band drummer, Jaimoe, longtime ABB percussionist Marc Quiñones, former ABB keyboardist/Rolling Stones touring member Chuck Leavell, founding Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, former Crowes guitarist Freed, Drivin N Cryin frontman Kevn Kinney and keyboardist Reese Wynans, who took part in the jam sessions that led to the Allman Brothers’ formation and performed in Double Trouble. VIP options for the show will able be available.
Gov’t Mule usually play New Year’s Eve at New York’s Beacon Theatre, a tradition that dates back to 2002 with only a few interruptions. In fact, not counting a few cancellations and health-related postponements around the pandemic when the band did not play a show on December 31, the last time Gov’t Mule appeared at a venue besides the Beacon on New Year’s Eve was in 2008, when the theater was undergoing renovations and the group performed at the nearby Hammerstein Ballroom instead. Their last New Year’s Eve gig outside the Big Apple fell on December 31, 2000, before the Beacon tradition began, when they opened for Phil Lesh & Friends at Oaksland, CA’s Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
Last night, Gov’t Mule kicked off the Dreaming the Same Dream tour with Ziggy Marley and Yola, who offered a DJ set, at New York’s Pier 17. The run will move on to Warren Haynes’ hometown for a gig at Asheville, NC’s Hellbender tomorrow.
