Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuts, at the House of Blues in Dallas.

oSo, my girlfriend and I met a few very close friends in Dallas a week or so ago and spent the night enjoying some great food and music.

There was some drama attached to the evening. There was a HUGE cluster fuck with the balcony seats I bought. I won't harsh your mellow with those details though. Suffice to say, we all had a great time consuming great food at the Hoffbrau in the West End, and then listening to excellent music at the House of Blues; Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuits.



First, the great food. The Hoffbrau makes a killer Teriyaki steak. Wonderful stuff. Denise ordered this one, and a baked spud. Next time I may have to get this myself.



I went for the bacon cheeseburger and the wedge fries. It's fillin', I wanna tell ya. Wonderful!



Both Jim and I went with the tall Shiner Bock off the tap. Denise had a shandy, and I think Terry had water. She's not much of a drinker.



Of course, when we got to the gig, the drinking continued. I think Jim got the first few rounds and then I took over. Those are 7&7s for Denise and Jim, and a Rum & Coke for me. I think we must have gone through about four rounds.



The Disco Biscuits came out at about 8:30PM and played for about an hour. I'd checked them out on Youtube and wasn't expecting much, but they grew on me. By the end of their set I was really enjoying them. They do a long instrumental thing that reminded me of some of the stuff I used to love from bands like Yes, But mostly they did a lot of hippie noodling, like The Dead or Phish. The guitar player, Jon Gutwillig, can play his ass off. He really jams!



After about 20 or 30 minutes to switch out the gear, the main attraction hit the stage. Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule played a set of their own music for about two hours. While the others sat back and kept their seats at the table we found near the bar, I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd. The music was bliss, and the vibe was all friendly.



If you've never seen these guys, you need to work them into your schedule. Warren is one of the best Blues/Rock guitar players that's ever lived. Hands down, he's one of the best alive today. He took a position with the Allman Brothers about twenty years ago. Hitting it off with his band mates, they formed formed a side group, affectionately called "The Mule", in about 1995 with Allen Woody and Mat Abts, all of whom had been added to the Allman Brothers line up in about 1989.



Allen Woody passed away in 2000, and since then the band has gone through some other personnel changes. The current line up includes Haynes on Guitar, Abts on drums, Danny Louis on keyboards, and Jorgen Carlsson on Bass.

They took a break for a while after playin' for about two hours, leavin' Abts on stage to bang away on his drums. Abts did an amazing drum solo, switching from sticks to hands at one point. Then Carlsson came out, stood in a spotlight and began a steady bass beat. In the end, the Mule played for three hours, from about 10PM to 1AM. It was wonderful.



In the end that beat turned into the Pink Floyd tune "Pigs On The Wing". They did a few Floyd tunes, and then "When The Levee Breaks". After that the guys from Disco Biscuits came out and they played Nirvana's "In Bloom". After that the show ended, and we spilled out into the street, blissfully happy to have sat through the four and a half hour experience. You can check the pictures here at my FlickR page.



And after the ticket drama I just went though with this concert, it feels good to have the next set of tickets in hand. Denise and I are set to see Johnny Lang in a week or so in Austin, at the Paramount theater. It should be good. I'll have the camera, so You'll see what I see. Cheers!