Gov’t Mule’s European tour that brought them to Ireland and Wales for the first time also marked another milestone in Mule’s 20+ year touring history—the first Halloween show played outside the US. And what better place to celebrate Mule-O-Ween then in Amsterdam?

Mule’s was a decidedly old school set with tunes like “Trane,” “Eternity’s Breath” and “Kind of Bird.” The second set was a perfect example of what makes a Mule show a one-of-a-kind experience. For the second set, Mule played music from the classic rock band Free. Free had a short lived but prolific run from 1968 to 1973. The band formed in London in 1968 and toured non-stop for the next five years including a spot at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 where they played in front of more than 600,000 people.

To say that Mule was familiar with Free’s catalogue would be stretching the truth. Of the 15 tunes in the second set, 13 of them were debuts. Warren and company ended the set with Free’s biggest hit, “All Right Now.” Bernie Madsen who has been making the rounds with Mule this tour, came our for the four song encore before bidding Amsterdam goodnight.

Set 1
01 Audience > Revolution Intro [tape]
02 Trane >
03 Eternity’s Breath >
04 St. Stephen Jam
05 Banks of the deep End
06 Rocking Horse
07 Pressure under Fire
08 The Man I want to be
09 Kind of Bird > Outro 1st Set > Audience

Set 2 [Mule-o-Ween Free Set]
01 Audience
02 Fire & Water #)
03 Ride on a Pony #)
04 The Stealer #)
05 I’ll be creepin’ #)
06 Oh I wept #)
07 Mr. Big
08 Little bit of Love
09 Woman #)
10 Songs of yesterday #) +)
11 My Brother Jake #)
12 Be my Friend #)
13 Walk in my Shadow #)
14 I’m a Mover #) >
15 Mouthfull of Grass #)
16 All right now #) > Outro 2nd Set > Audience Encore Call

Encore
17 Heartbreaker #) *)
18 The Hunter *)
19 Don’t say you love me #) *)
20 Wishing Well *) > Final Farewell > Audience > House Music

Dr. Warren Haynes [guitar, vocals]
Matt Abts [drums]
Jorgen Carlsson [bass]
Danny Louis [keys, guitar, trombone]

*) = Special Guest: Bernie Marsden [guitar, vocals]
+) = w/ ‘Stixx’ Turner [percussion]

#) = 1st time played

Thanks to africolaman for the recording.

Photo credit: delmedkenobi