_via mule.net_

On Saturday, Gov’t Mule took their summer tour on a quick trip to Europe, playing Norway’s Notodden Blues Festival and offering a one-set affair that heavily featured longtime friend and collaborator Hook Herrera on harmonica.

Starting just four songs into their festival set, Mule welcomed Herrera to the stage for “Lay Your Burden Down,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning” and “Bad Little Doggie.” Herrera returned to the fold later in the set to close it out with “Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” before joining Mule for all of Saturday’s encore, which featured a couple of Elmore James classics, “Mean Mistreatin’ Mama” with a “Look On Yonder Wall” interpolation.

See the full setlist below as it appears in our Box Scores section. In a recent interview with Relix, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes spoke on the band’s long relationship with Hook Herrera, who actually joined the band during their first-ever show and recently spent some time on tour with them earlier this year:

“Our history with Hook Herrera goes all the way back to the beginning of Gov’t Mule: He sat in and played harmonica with us during the first show we ever played—Los Angeles in 1994,” Haynes says. “He played on our first record, he played on our third record, and he and [drummer Matt Abts] went to Moscow together for a few weeks. So he’s drifted in and out of our world over the years. We don’t get to see him or play with him very often because he lives in Europe.”

Gov’t Mule will kick off their next tour leg, which will feature guests The Magpie Salute, in Charlotte, NC, on August 17. See the band’s full schedule here.

Gov’t Mule
Notodden Blues Festival, Notodden, Norway

Mule, Thorazine Shuffle, Soulshine, Lay Your Burden Down*> Smokestack Lightning*, Bad Little Doggie*, Game Face, Dreams, Stone Cold Rage, Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home*

Enc: Mean Mistreatin’ Mama*> Look On Yonder Wall*> Mean Mistreatin’ Mama*

Notes: *w/ Hook Herrera

Source: mule.net