By Doug Deutsch
We could tell this show was going to be something special when a huge crowd started lining up very early outside of Mark Etess Arena at Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City last weekend, where Govt. Mule and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening were performing.
Bonham’s band led off the show and put on a solid hour-long set of Led Zeppelin songs, all of which drew terrific audience responses. Bonham — son of late LZ drummer, John Bonham — is quite the drummer in his own right (he also performs with supergroups Black Country Communion (and) Sammy Hagar and the Circle), pounding away on a huge drum kit as vocalist James Dylan faithfully recreated Led Zeppelin hits such as “Good Times Bad Times,” “The Ocean,” “Ramble On,” “Misty Mountain Top” and many more, with the lively “Rock And Roll” as their encore. While not every opening act draws great audience support, such was not the case here; Bonham’s band could have easily been a headliner, and the great response shows how popular the English rock group’s tunes still are, even some fifty years after they came onto the music scene.
After a brief intermission, Govt. Mule took the stage, fronted by veteran jam band/rock guitarist and vocalist, Warren Haynes. This was a special night. Not only was Haynes performing an entire Govt. Mule set, they also played “Dark Side of the Mule,” their popular tribute set to Pink Floyd that had only previously been performed ten times in concert. The night was advertised as the last time Govt. Mule would ever perform it! The accompanying light show itself was something to behold; Govt. Mule made the Pink Floyd songs into their own, doing remarkably spot-on versions of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” “Have A Cigar,” “Breathe (In The Air),” “Money” and more. True to form, Govt. Mule’s time on stage was long – approximately three hours, counting both sets. On this night, not a soul in attendance was complaining. Quite a night of rock‘n’roll.
