Gov’t Mule celebrated their 2,000th live performance Wednesday night in a smoking set that included several songs from their soon to be released new album, Revolution Come…Revolution Go.  The almost perfect Central Park weather set the stage for an evening night that featured inspired performances and several high profiled guest appearances.

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood kicked off the night with a tight set that included “Behold The Seer,” the first single from the band’s forthcoming record. “Shore Power”.  Gov’t Mule followed and hit the ground running with “World Boss,” “Brand New Angel”, “About To Rage” and “Rocking Horse” with Haynes trading licks with keyboardist Danny Louis.

Towards the middle of the set Gov’t Mule focused on new material with help from some friends. Up first was the song “Stone Cold Rage”.  In a recent interview Haynes spoke about the inspiration for the song: “… it’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but I wanted to capture that intensity that’s going on right now. I’ve never seen it like this, ever. I grew up in the South; I’ve never seen people so angry and so divided. And we go all over the country. I’ve been out to California – it’s going on out there, too,”.   The band was then joined on stage by percussionist Bobby Allende and vocalists Jasmine Muhammad and Lauren Dawson for the live debut of “Sarah, Surrender.”

The song “Game Face” featured riffs on a series of classics including The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood,” Weather Report’s “Birdland” and Donovan’s “First There Is A Mountain”.   Another highlight of the evening was Bruce Willis sitting in on harmonica on “Key To The Highway”, Mr. Willis proving he still has serious blues harp chops.

The SummerStage and Parks Foundation PR Staff were brilliant as always and ran a flawlessly smooth program – looking forward to the rest of this summer’s schedule!

And – Congratulations to Gov’t Mule on 2,000 shows, here’s hoping there’s at least 2,000 more.