Philzone.org Discussion Board: Archive 2004: Non-PF/Dead Show Reviews Archive 2004: Mule - Roseland 9/13/04

Antbody going tonight? Is there a zoner pre-game anywhere?

About To Rage

Little Toy Brain

Govt Mule, Roseland, NYC 9/13/04

Set 1:
Bad Man Walking
About To Rage
Perfect Shelter
Little Toy Brain
Slackjaw Jezebel
Wine & Blood
Lola Leave Your Light On
Silent Scream
No Celebration
Mr Man
My Separate Reality
New World Blues

Soulshine

Govt Mule, Roseland, NYC 9/13/04

Set 1:
Bad Man Walking
About To Rage
Perfect Shelter
Little Toy Brain
Slackjaw Jezebel
Wine & Blood
Lola Leave Your Light On
Silent Scream
No Celebration
Mr Man
My Separate Reality
New World Blues

Set 2:
Soulshine
Thorazine Shuffle
I'm A Ram
Larger Than Life>
Birth Of The Mule
Bad Little Doggie>
Blind Man In The Dark
encore:
Ballerina
32 20 Blues

LOOKS Sweet!!!

Listenin' to a little Madman Across the Water from this summer right now, while trying to crank through a few CT's here at good old BIMC.

Hope it wasn't too crowded down on the floor and that everybody had a blast I was there in spirit...

Great show, Muled ass once again. Music highlights for me were Lola and New World Blues in the first set, and dare I say the entire second set. Geez they cooked from start to finish. Can't wait to get a copy from someone, anyone?

On my way to the other pc to load the new cd into the IPOD

great show last night - the new songs really smoke. the first set was a little crowded on the floor, but there was plenty of room during the second set. the boys really had it together!

now that's what i'm talking about.

man, i love this friggin band.

the new album sounded great. so...MULE!

as i said to anyone who would listen at the end of the show, i can see this band for another 50 years, and i hope they'll still be closing out sets with bad little doggie->blind man in the dark. it doesn't rage any harder than that!

it was great to see everyone. thanks for such a fun night.

i'm lookin forward to the sequels in boston and portland next month!

that show smoked!

had to leave early so I missed the last half of the 2nd set but what I saw rocked

and not even the fire trap I thought roseland would be

add to that home and in bed by 1:30am and all in all a PERFECT nite

nice job people!

Great time at the Mule. Warren shows once again that he has the true rock 'n' roll spirit. Roseland is a way cool place, saw many shows in the 80's including Jerry. Made me remember the days when there was no place in the world I would rather be than in a room with Jer- I'm not that kid anymore but Jerry DOES live...Great rockin with the zoners- SIHEAD you definately rock... AOD tonight.. will post about that tomorrow...Rock 'n' Roll never forgets...

I had a fantastic time, and thought much of the music was really solid, but definitely wasn't blown away. My buddy Pete is more of a Mule fanatic than I am, and while he also had a great time, he said it was easily the weakest Mule show he'd ever seen.

I think part of the problem is just an entire first set of all new stuff. A bunch of them sounded great, but there were a few different times during the first set where we looked at each other and said "this is actually kinda boring (musically, not the show/crowd)". 2nd set was much, much better, but I still find them lacking somehow. I think it's just too much of a heavy, monotonous sound sometimes. I found myself really wishing they had a sax in the mix quite a few times, just to add some high-end. The sound wasn't very good - the bass was really muddy and hard to hear, and with only Warren singing all the time, and rippin' so much slide, it can start to all sound the same. Certainly not ALL the time, but for stretches at a time.

I found myself thinking how much more I love Warren with another guitarist - the way he and Jimmy or Derek work off each other sustains my interest far more in the course of 2 long sets. And vocally, as much as I love his singing, he also seems so much better when mixed in with someone like Rob, or even phil and Bobby.

I'm a huge Warren fan, and will catch these guys at home in Portland in a couple weeks for sure, but I'd have to say that Mule is my least favorite of Warren's many great bands.

Well… where to begin. Bucky says I always make it about me, the subjective experience….I always wonder how a review cannot be from yr perspective, even if you make it cut and dry. It is always from yr perspective…even if (especially if) you boo. But I know what he really means….make it more about the music. Well

Too bad.


Once again a dawnchaser….it was indeed, even though the days are getting shorter….why, it was just a couple months ago a 6 AM cab ride meant dawn for sure… not anymore. But, DD, we kept to form. The high clouds were streaked with pink when my cab slid over the Bk Bridge. (My cabbie, btw, was spared endless chatter when it was quite obvious he either didn’t speak very good English or didn’t want to talk (or both).

But it is always good with THESE Zoners…the Philco Zoners, I’ll call them, the old school…the ones here before the name was reclaimed….the DEAD. We all knew the name change would alter SOMETHING about the scene….about “the scene”. You know what I mean. Iffin you don’t -- no worries. It was easier before….here.


And it is always good…. WITH THIS BAND!!! It is not always tonight…last night…whatever (again with the what do you call things in a 24 hour + stretch. Whatever everyone else calls it I guess, so you make sense….as if THAT were any of my concern…EVER ha)

We all knew we’d get the NEW ALBUM…that goes without saying. But we all know how that ended up on 7/19/97…the treats they saved for the people THAT night. Mule (unlike the Dead ala the Mardi Gras 92 with all that New Stuff and no - ) REWARDS (yes, both a noun and verb hee hee) you for staying up and listening to the whole thing, all the new you can’t plug into….but I’m getting ahead of myself.

4:20….I pick Daydream up from the train at Penn. We cab it down to the Embassy Suites in Battery Park….I find it hard to believe that Bud E and Zen and Fritz want to go all the way BACK downtown when they are at the Carnegie Deli…two blocks away from Roseland….but Zen has had the good luck of a NYC bird splatter…ah, we should have known it would be a great show.

But HOW MUCH do I love the Embassy Suites!? Perfect for the Zoners….FREE HAPPY HOUR!! How awesome. Lites and SI meet up with us….I’m fielding phone calls left and right….how did this happen to me? How did I, of all people, become Julie McCoy? I’m so not cut out for it, guys…..

And various cabs get us all uptown for the show….via Rosie O’Grady’s…where we lock onto PeggyOOOOO. Good Stuff. Yeah, I miss you too, sis…when weeks go by without sight of my BK neighbor, I get a little crazed. Try as I can to be so nonchalant….you know I love you guys, and you especially, Peggy. ALL ABOUT THE HOOD

I’m urging us to LEAVE the bar…I have visions of the crazed entry for Phil 01…I remember being in line FOREVER and all these wooks smashing in line…and all the people who are grown up enough to wait also don’t want to confront the SCARY wooks… HA HA….try that shite NOW, HA HA….

Anyway…we get there and it’s no issue getting in…although I DO THINK Security found someone’s one hitter? HMMMMM. And it’s To the Posters…so I don’t forget (which DID have flat packing gigs; however Taper Rob, I’m sure you know I brought my feather JUST IN CASE)….and To Taper Rob…who finds me with his flashlight THANK YOU ROB. I am sure by the end of the show you were not totally pleased to have found me….as per the TALKING and my built-in freakshow attracting magnet…not so good near the tapers. But This, THIS is Roseland…where it always seems to be me enjoying some level of happy hour….for that I apologize.

So…we knew we would get NEW TUNES…and we had indeed mused about the “Dose CD Release Party” show….where they play the whole album straight through. That is indeed what they did. It is a good groove, it is OF THIS BAND….so much of it, if you don’t HAVE the album yet, then sadly, much of it sounds the same…not {really}, I mean, they have different tempos and interesting builds….but it is hard at a concert. But that’s what the second set is about. WE THINK. I’m already corralling Lites, who will have to “leave for his train,: telling him he cannot leave …if he knows what could come…The LEVEL of playing that may ensue….according to 7/19/97. I’m all flipping out about it…showing my iPod to everyone…that old setlist. She Caught the Katy…Almost Cut My Hair…that CRAZYGREAT I Shall Be Released.

And they hit the stage and burst into this Soulshine that floors ALL our expectations, I do believe. I mean, first set IS the album IS fine although predictable. And Soulshine…well, people cite it’s predictability for the encore, as a reason they can’t enjoy it. So putting it here, to start the set, is Warren’s funny “in” joke….in a way. The Dead may have rubbed off well on him in certain ways…those little set list tricks that make you laugh….the inside joke. I have made such peace with this song, myself, but it took time. Now it is about the SOUL SHINING, whether you LIKE IT OR NOT MOFO…heh heh. See beyond the saccharine.
You have to with Warren, he ‘s about soul….you know….he doesn’t DO cheesy, although some of you might BLAME him for it, but that’s looking at PAPER – at LISTS! You see classic rock but it’s all new….it’s all about NOW. Warren could be the Workingman - who still HATES W….and does he ever….well, hate is such a strong word. But we need the bridge he can build, perhaps now, more than ever, have needed it for a while. I believe you can do it, Warren. You can be YOUR OWN MAN, here…you CAN step out from the shadows of Jerry and Duane and Dickey and be #23….#23….. in a list that includes Jimi Hendrix. Year of the Mule, those fortune cookies said…and as someone said to me yesterday, on the phone, it hasn’t really been the Year of the Mule. It’s the year of the DEAD MULE….but all that might change now.

And Zen on my back who says THORAZINE SHUFFLE
HUCK
Here’s YOUR SHUFFLE
And he’s right.

(Cheater saw a list! Go away, cheater…well, stay BUT DON’T RUIN IT….)

Death is Larger than Life mos def…and they play it big like that….like the centerpiece of the set.

NO SMOKING PEN AT THE ROSELAND. What are we supposed to do? I ask a security guard at set break who said…”just smoke in the crowd”…well, that really helps segregate us smokers from the peeps who don’t like it, eh? I found out at set break (when I was in the back bar holding down CHOICE real estate for the Zoners…who never showed…whatever…the people at the bar thought I was ridic dialing # after #. ) Anyway…point being, I went back to the back bar for smokes during the Doggie…talked up one of Dancedude’s friends…(WHO THINKS I’M NUTS, nice ditch, dawg…not you Dance dude, YER FRIEND….)

I was back for the encore…back in our Zoner SPOT with too many Zoners. God, isn’t it on all the tapes? Bad to park near Rob….I fear, for our chattiness during the first set REALLY BOTHERED a guy behind us…MIKE. Oh, Mike. I need to be reminded, sometimes, to listen….it is easy to get caught up the energy of people and friends…or location. When I got to the front row in Charlotte, for instance, peeps told me SHUSH. It is the FRONT ROW…but all I needed was a simple, kind quick reminder.
Anyway, to last night. When Mike first YELLED AT US…(that’s right dude, be intimidating) I wrote him a note that was an apology…that we are old friends who NEED to talk BUT SORRY DOOD we will try to be better….and after I give him the note I try to be considerate…tell other Zoners to shush….bring the guy a beer - WHATEVER….I even introduce myself so he will feel friendly about us. Little did I know he would use my name to scream…
“HUCK..BE QUIET” or something of that nature…I’m really sorry - when you hear it on the tapes.

But I got my comeuppance.
Actually, by the encore, Mike (#1) was gone…later I would hear that was perhaps due to Fritz’s intervening…. (“these girls are like my little sisters…I watch for them”) which was good, bc after setbreak, Mike #1 was all bothering me for WEED now. Like, crazy sitch…first yer yelling at me, then it’s like you’re hitting on me? FORGET IT, freeeeeekshow.)
But my comeuppance was Mike #2. Now, I may talk too much at shows sometimes but I warn’t all that spun…Mike Number Two is spun out of his gourd. Screaming…WHOOPING…with a forest of mics around him. I tell the guy his craziness is going to be preserved for all posterity….and hets LOUDER. Finally he’s all in my face and I DON’T NEED IT…so I basically tell him as much…and he thinks I’M SPUN…and goes away….kinda. A good tactic…. Heh heh.

Anyway….it’s after the show and there’s CINTRA again…my old high school friend who shows up at all of these Mule shows…last saw her…I was going to say Kingston…but no, twas the Modereko show at the Knitting Factory…OY. Cintra, come meet the zoners at the afterparty (CHECKIN OUT 6 in the MORNIN! I’m giddy from the GREATNESS of the MULE. I love the foursome…Andy FITS and Danny JAMS…and as much as I want Warren to get out of the shadows of what must be his idols….I think Matt deserves a lot of credit here too. They are indeed the soul of Mule….for it is Warren’s band….but it wouldn’t be what we love without the crackBAM of Matt Abts ON THE DRUMS….

Embassy Suites dawnchaser…which is not about the music so I will let it be. There will be more, more…digestion…after sleep….and maybe when I hear it again. HA.

Love to DAVID MAXWELL and his LURKER friend…SI and Lites….oc BUD E and Zen and Fritz…Daydream, you are like family to me…Peggy YOU ROCK…Merry Prankstah is DA BOMB and Rosnata is the Champ (surely I scared yr friend Heather to DEATH.)…Andy G nice to see ya….Kevin Dance Dude & Miss Lou…always a pleasure. It was a great group…the Mule always gets ‘m out. Interesting in that the music is so different…Phil and Mule…but Philzone has become Mulezone, in a way. Perhaps it’s the PASSION in the music that we dig…..

And end Note….how is it that the Mule Van PEOPLE MISSED THIS SHOW? Couldn’t be there for the DROP, I’m sure it hurts

>>how is it that the Mule Van PEOPLE MISSED THIS SHOW?

get well soon Lessthan

I feel so unloved but will get over it.lol

J?K

great to meet you Molly, look forward to the next time

>surely I scared yr friend Heather to DEATH

lol, hardly Huck! Heather is seriously such a sweetheart. as a matter of fact, after the three of chatted back by the bar there for a minute or two she told me she thought you were 'really cool'!

ed, goes without saying, you're the ULTI BEST
sorry...lack of sleep catching up with me...

who's heather?

later....it's interesting, when yr hotel window faces a canyon....and it is dark. It is not the same dawn; it makes it less lyric.

But it is those great silences that leave me with the best thoughts of my friends, Bud E, DD, Fritz, Zen. You are each so uniquely stunning. It's almost beyond something internet...now.

THANK YOU, FRIENDS

"Love to DAVID MAXWELL and his LURKER friend" Huck I even posted before you....

I was extremely disappointed with this show. Let's face it the songs on the new album are . . . um . . . how should I put, well to be diplomatic, not particularly good. Listen I love the Mule, I mean I really do but the first set was just an all-time buzz kill. I know it was the new album . . .blah blah blah. But I took a bunch of newbies to the show and they were disappointed. I just love it when Warren lets it rip and everything starts to jam. The second set was much better but do yourself a favor and stay away from the new album. Yikes.

Pretty weak Chester.

Why is that weak? I agree with everything he said. I'm not that into the new album, and I didn't think the Roseland show was very good at all. It had some big moments, but was easily the weakest Mule show I've been to. A close friend who's way more into them than I am, and has seen them a ton, also said it was by far the worst he'd seen them.

I'm with the above posters.
I think that the Deja Voodoo release is crap.
How many ways can Haynes rehash "Beautifully Broken"?
The last Mule show I saw was in Telluride in Sept and it was by far the worst Mule show I've seen.
Low energy.
He needs someone to write something slightly original for a change.

"Best band in the world...."

Blah, blah, blah. You guys need to get out more.

differing viewpoints on the philzone? who knew. there's nothing wrong with not liking something- to each their own. i posted a neg review of the dead @portland over the summer and people were harshing me over it. even though i disagree 95% with your critiques, so be it... just enjoy the tunes that do move you and if it sounds good dont think twice

just enjoy the tunes that do move you and if it sounds good dont think twice


Thanks, hans. Now, can I have my $18.65 back for that piece of crap known as deja puko.

> how many times can Haynes rehash "Beautifully Broken?

ouch.
thats gonna leave a mark

> how many times can Haynes rehash "Beautifully Broken?

>ouch.
thats gonna leave a mark

maybe, if the criticism was on the mark.

But I can't figure out which new songs you guys think are a carbon copies of BB, any help?

I certainly dont think every song on the album is great or even good, but most of it is quite good IMO...and yes there are a few clunkers (bad man walking, mr. mann). Studio albums in general are not my preferred listening material because the songs are like black and white pictures compared to the live experience which is in fully enhanced color. Some bands excel in the studio and not on stage, but Mule and the GD and etc are/were primarily all about the live trip. It is a rare album in my collection that finds itself in heavy rotation for very long. For what its worth DV is not one of them.

Yet I think that if you had heard how some of these new tunes had developed on stage by the end of tour, maybe you would have a different opinion.... or not.

Listen, I love the Mule and found Deja Voodoo to be good. Not great but very good overall. A few songs are the usual rock fare like Mr. Man, About to Rage, Lola and Bad Man Walking. But then there are those that really get me dancing or emotional like Perfect Shelter, Slackjaw, Separate Reality, Little Toy Brain, Wine and Blood and No Celebration, all of which are the top songs on the CD, IMHO. And then there are good songs, Silent Scream and New World Blues, that when taken within the context of the jam really soar.

I think the CD is a transitional CD in a way. One to bridge between the old school mule and the new. I think the next one is going to be the "right" one now that the guys have had some solid time together. I'd like to see the guys collaborate on writing more on the next disc, since they all have great musical skills and talents. Maybe now they can find some time to write together.

I believe people who don't like the new cd will like the songs better as time goes on. I did and I see that happening with a lot of people. I can understand where some people see the need for more depth and creativity. I just think the guys need us to cut them a little slack. Warren's been working hard to bring this band out of the past and into the future and we need to be supportive, while making comments that are helpful. I think Allen's passing was very difficult for them and even though the Deep End projects helped make a transition, the new band still needed time to gell.

I've been reading reviews of the recent tour and went to a few concert myself and I feel very strongly that the band is on solid ground. I can't wait to hear what they pull out for the next five shows and I look to the future cause it is a very bright one for this band.

Hans,
I think Dead/Mule definately are all about the live experience. However, I will listen to my old cassette tape of Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street or even Mars Hotel before I put in Deja Voodoo again.

However, I will listen to my old cassette tape of Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street or even Mars Hotel before I put in Deja Voodoo again.



Very well put, Ian.