Mountain Jam 2019 took place this past weekend at Bethel Woods in Bethel, NY (the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival). Gov't Mule had the headlining set on Friday June 14 and then a late night set starting just before midnight on Saturday June 15. The Saturday set was a tribute to the Original Woodstock 1969 Festival which is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary in about 2 months. I wasn't able to attend the all day festivities, but I did make it up both nights for the Mule sets as well as Willie Nelson's set before them on Saturday.
Considering the good HD videos I got are of the Saturday Gov't Mule set, I'll tell the tale of the two nights in reverse.
We had lawn seats and entered the gates just as Phil Lesh had finished and there were a lot of people leaving to head back to their RV's and camp sites as the majority of the crowd camped on the grounds for the long weekend. We were wondering how full the lawn would be with so many leaving at 9:30, but when we got there it was still pretty full and the mid-60's weather was amazing - although we were worried about the rain forecasted to start around midnight.
We plopped down our chairs at the back of the lawn just as Willie and his band hit the stage.
Willie and band (which features his son Lukas Nelson of Promise of the Real) did a great set including of his hits and plenty of classic covers. It's shocking to realize he's 86 as he's so strong of voice and commands the stage so well.
Since we were so far back I only shot this quick minute long video to give a view of the lawn and a taste of what Willie sounded like. Willie wrapped up right at 11pm.
Through out Willie's set, folks started leaving back to their cars or camps and by the time it was over, the lawn was still full of the venue's lawn chairs, but only about a third of them had an occupant. When the lights went up in the pavilion we saw almost the whole back section as well as the far right and far left sections had plenty of empty seats as well.
We had 45 minutes before Gov't Mule was set to hit the stage at 11:45 for the Woodstock set, so during that time we got some food and beer, had some bathroom breaks and felt a few drops of rain so we walked down to the seated section and basically found we could again (I had done so the night before) walk in and take one of the many empty seats, we opted for some on the right side about half way back allowing us to avoid all the rain during the set to come.
By the time the lights dimmed, many of those who were on the lawn had followed suit and most of the pavilion was filled as Warren Haynes walked out on stage with an acoustic guitar joined only by Tato Melgar on percussion and started things off with Richie Havens' "Freedom". A logical start as Havens was the performer to open the original Woodstock in '69.
"Freedom" went right into Santana's "Jingo" as the rest of Gov't Mule joined Warren and Tato who would stay on for this one as well. Mule's drummer Matt Abts had fallen ill sometime since the previous night's set and was replaced for this set by John Molo who despite little or no prep time was fantastic as all the musicians were on this night.
It was time for a nod to The Who's set with their cover of "Eyesight To The Blind" which was followed immediately by the "Listening To You" portion of "We're Not Gonna Take It"/"See Me, Feel Me" which ends "Tommy". Here's my video starting with about the last minute of "Eyesight" into all of "Listening". This was the first of many times in the set that much of the crowd stood up and danced along.
"I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" from Ten Years after was next and then Lukas Nelson joined the band for about a half hour starting with The Band's "This Wheel's On Fire" into the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" (again featuring Tato Melgar) into Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Find The Cost of Freedom" and was brought home with an incredibly rocking cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" (sung by Lukas Nelson) which was probably my favorite highlight of a night with many and which again had many on their feet rockin into the early Sunday morning hours. I went to Facebook Live for "Mr. Soul". The video is below, not HD, but other than the missing the first few seconds, it is the full 7 minute version and the sounds is great. I saw another great video of it on Youtube, but it cut out about half way through the song, so check this out if you wanted to hear it all.
After taking a moment for everyone to catch their breath and let the guest performers leave the stage after much applause, they kicked into Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You" as a nod to Creedence Clearwater Revival's famous cover.
Arleigh Kincheloe of Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds then joined the band on stage and before even a note was played there were many cheers in anticipation of a Janis Joplin/Big Brother and The Holding Company performance. The killer version of "Piece of My Heart" did not disappoint anyone! (Video Below)
As the crowd applauded Jackson Kincheloe was brought out along with the "Better Half" Singers for a get up and dance your ass off version of Sly and the Family Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher". (video above contains both Janis and Sly covers)
The main set then ended with a cover of the Joe Cocker version of the Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends" after which the band thanked the crowd and left the stage at about 1:37am, but the performance was scheduled until 2.
We knew we would get Hendrix. While we applauded waiting the few minutes for the band to come back out everyone around us talked about what they hoped to hear and I was very pleased it was my hope of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" - a 20 minute version which basically ended at two o'clock on the dot. Here's my video:
Man. With all the multiple failed attempts at a Woodstock 50 festival, all I could think was they should have just made this the plan all along. It was an amazing set and Warren talked about how incredible it was to play these songs. He also shared how he was 9 years old at the time of Woodstock but his two older brothers wanted to go and when they asked his parents if they could go they were told they must be fucking crazy. A funny and touching moment, but you also saw the emotion and intensity on all the performers faces through out.
Good job Mountain Jam for suggesting a set of this type and great job Gov't Mule for pulling it off better than anyone else could have.
Oh shit, I was about to hit save and post and realized I never mentioned the night before. It wasn't the whole gang of us on Friday. I arrived just at the end of John Russo's Almost Dead and then Mule hit the stage at 10. There were far fewer people there and it was about 20 degrees colder.
I went down to try and take some pictures from just outside the pavilion seating at the bottom of the lawn when I saw so many empty seats and no one checking tickets by the empty sections, so I moved to one of the back rows where it was a bit warmer and I didn't have to watch the screen.
The 13 song set included a good amount of Allman Brothers, including "Dreams" which I have this partial video (below) of the bulk of the song (somewhat screen shot).
I went to Facebook Live for "Soulshine" (video below - not HD or zoomed in. Full stage shot but sounds great) which led into a set/night ending cover of Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey"
A great two nights of music!
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Click any photos to enlarge them to full screen. Also follow on twitter @MostPeopleBlank Then, of course, as always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul
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