Written by: Chad Berndtson Photos by: Dino Perucci

There comes a time in the life of the devoted concertgoer when maybe you can track the number of shows for your favorite bands in the triple digits, and if you don’t quite lose your enthusiasm – or become a rote apologist based on the time and resources invested – you admit to yourself, maybe in private moments, that these bands might not have as much to reveal to you as they once did.

You know the territory. You know the tricks. You know the “surprises,” cover selections, segue moves and pacing.

Your devotion wanes a bit, or at least you become more discerning – really able to distinguish off nights from standard nights from good nights from boundary-pushing great nights. You wait, as the saying goes, for those increasingly more rare occasions where you’re truly impressed, appreciating that perhaps less-invested fans regard magic in what to you are “B” nights.

Long-touring bands with tough-loving fan bases often turn to adjustments – on top of new material -- to keep things interesting. But there’s a difference between keeping things interesting and introducing a unique element that gives the discerners something they haven’t seen before – and isn’t a gimmick.

Which brings us to Gov’t Mule’s tour with John Scofield – a game-changer in the sense that it took what you expect from a Mule show and preserved the constituent elements of what still makes Gov’t Mule a reliable draw, but gave longtime Mule fans something they haven’t much seen before. So credit Warren Haynes & Co. for ensuring that John Scofield went beyond a mere consistent guest appearance and was blended into the Mule framework for more than half the shows, injecting himself into the Mule chemistry as a band collaborator, not just waiting for his solo and some smiles.

Despite being the Sco-Mule tour closer, Saturday night at the Cap was a relaxed, groovy affair, unhurried in how it unfolded and maximizing the collaboration for one more time out. If you’d been following along with the previous month’s worth of shows, there weren’t any more surprises this late in the tour – none of the tunes were bust-outs or first-timers – but there was plenty of what made the Sco-Mule adventure such an exciting proposition in the first place: jazz-rock improvisation, served hot and piled high, with drummer Matt Abts and bassist Jorgen Carlsson ensuring the guitarists and keyboardist Danny Louis could get crazy if they felt so moved without the show coming off the rails.

Scofield entered mid-way through the first set after the Mule moved through standardly sturdy versions of “Steppin’ Lightly,” “Unring the Bell” and “Endless Parade” and a nod to the surroundings – and the upcoming Phil & Friends run – with “Patchwork Quilt” and an ominous “Loser.”

Soon after came the action: Wayne Shorter’s quirky “Tom Thumb” and probing jams from Haynes, Scofield and Louis, a fun “Night Time Is the Right Time” tarted up with Warren slide, Mule’s somewhat obscure “Flip Wilson” – one of those easy-grooving instrumentals that slows the pace but not the interest – and the Set-1 showpiece, “Devil Likes It Slow,” which saw the soloists once again go off, Sco advancing from tentative progression to note-storm attack in line with the song's aggressive, angsty tempo.

The heavy deference to jazz-rock and fusion instrumentals held back the momentum of the show at times; songs didn’t so much flow from one to the next as become individual packages. But no one was quiet, certainly not Haynes, ever the Mule’s fearless leader and clearly loving every minute spent with Scofield. Having guitar foils onstage with the Mule has a way of pushing Warren harder and making him less inclined toward fallback licks, and both Scofield and Warren nudged and picked at each other, sometimes as splattery give-and-take, sometimes as spark-producing, metal-on-metal clashes. The night’s great adventure was Billy Cobham’s “Stratus,” which saw Louis, then Scofield, then Warren each get deep, groovy, dirty and build to a fiery peak – one of those gnarly, boogieing jams where 18 minutes have gone by like nothing.

The musicians shared a knowing “wow” grin after “Stratus” that ensured everything else to follow would be gravy. “Soulshine” and its now-regular dovetail into Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey” faded into a typical “I’m A Ram” to close the second stanza, and as the whole team, with Scofield, regrouped for an encore, it was time for one more trip.

A woozy thing described as “Free Wing Jam” on the Mule setlist suggested “Little Wing,” but the soon a galloping rhythm line started and Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam” was the chosen closer – brisk and exciting, if not dazzling to what had come an hour earlier. By then, however, the job had been done: a successful night and a successful tour that become something other than the “usual” Mule kick, and proof that the Mule’s continued growth over 20 years (and longer) still means new horizons.

The Capitol Theatre Photo Gallery Photos by: Dino Perucci [gallery columns="4" link="file" ids="|"]