Photos by Dino Perrucci

Gov’t Mule returned to the historic Beacon Theatre for their tenth annual New York City New Year’s Eve celebration and greeted the New Year by covering Joe Cocker’s classic Mad Dogs & Englishmen live album. The band’s first set featured hard-hitting originals as they opened with “Railroad Boy” before stretching things out with “Thorazine Shuffle” and closing the set with a lively “St. Stephen > Eternity’s Breath > Trane.”

At 11:30 the band emerged with frequent collaborators the Chronic Horns (Pam Fleming on trumpet, Jenny Hill on saxophone and Buford O’Sullivan on trombone) and The Assets on vocals (Machan Taylor, Mint Carlsson and Warren Haynes Band’s Alicia Shakur). They launched into Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen and, as the clock approached midnight, keyboardist Danny Louis led the band through a soulful cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On A Wire” that moved into “Auld Lang Syne” as balloons dropped from the Beacon’s rafters. Mule and guests welcomed in 2012 with “Feelin’ Alright” and continued to play their way through the entire double album. Warren Haynes Band’s Nigel Hall joined in for an impassioned “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” which featured Haynes voicing support for the Occupy movement.

After a short setbreak, the band returned for a third set, with good friend Oz Noy joining on guitar for an exploratory “Sco-Mule.” The band closed the night with a gospel take on “Soulshine” starring Warren Haynes Band members Hall, Shakur and Ron Johnson before Haynes invited out all the night’s guests for a heartwarming encore of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”

Here’s a look at last night’s setlist via Mule.net

Set 1
Railroad Boy >
Mule
Thorazine Shuffle
Brighter Days >
Like Flies
Lay Your Burden Down
About To Rage
Slackjaw Jezebel
King’s Highway >
St. Stephen Jam >
Eternity’s Breath >
Trane (with Norwegian Wood Tease)

Set 2 Mad Mules & Englishmen with The Assets (Machan Taylor, Mini Carlsson & Alicia Shakur) & Chronic Horns (Buford O’Sullivan, Pam Fleming & Jenny Hill)

Intro >
Honky Tonk Women
Sticks & Stones
Cry Me A River
Bird On A Wire
New Years Countdown
Feelin’ Alright
Intro >
Superstar
Let’s Go Get Stoned
Blue Medley: I’ll Drown in My Own Tears/When Something Is Wrong with My Baby/I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
Girl From The North Country
Give Peace A Chance
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Space Captain
The Letter
Delta Lady

Set 3
Sco-Mule (with Oz Noy)
I Believe To My Soul (with Nigel Hall)
Soulshine (with Nigel Hall, Alicia Shakur & Ron Johnson, without Jorgen Carlsson)

Encore

I Shall Be Released (with The Assets, Nigel Hall, Ron Johnson & Oz Noy)