Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule Trade Sit-Ins on “Shakedown Street,” “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and More in Chicago

Tedeschi Trucks Band with Warren Haynes, photo by Marc Millman

Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule’s shared series was bound to bring some very special concerts, and one night out from the run’s end, high expectations have been thoroughly surpassed. Since Sept. 3, the revered Southern rock outfits have celebrated a long history of musical kinship with four electrifying split bills in Toronto, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Mansfield, Mass., and last night, Chicago. At their latest engagement, the bands blew through the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island with a tempest of improvisational electric blues, treating Windy City fans to two packed sets lined with surprise sit-ins.

Gov’t Mule set off Tuesday night’s show with the Peace… Like a River rarity “After the Storm,” which appeared for only the third time this year before a swing into “Rocking Horse” and the forboding stomp of “Revolution Come… Revolution Go.” It wasn’t long before the quartet of Warren Haynes, Danny Louis, Kevin Scott and Terence Higgins–currently sitting in for founding drummer Matt Abts–bolstered their lineup with a rotating cast of special guests, first tapping Tedeschi Trucks Band’s vocalists Alecia Chakour and Mark Rivers on “Tear Me Down” before also welcoming keyboardist and vocalist Gabe Dixon for a sprawling, propulsive cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street.”

After pulling back to their core lineup for “Beautifully Broken,” Gov’t Mule packed the stage again for their hard-funking cover of Tower of Power’s “What is Hip,” which skewed from its regular stormy blues sound with support from Dixon and Tedeschi Trucks Band’s horn section, comprising saxophonist Kebbi Williams, trumpeter Emmanuel Echem and trombonist Elizabeth Lea. The quartet gave the audience a chance to catch their breath with a strightahead “Time to Confess,” then blasted through the end of their set with a ripping rendition of Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam,” featuring a captivating guitar duel between Haynes and Derek Trucks, and the tried and true closer “Soulshine,” which spotlighted co-lead vocals from Susan Tedeschi.

While the evening’s opener was a hard act to follow, Tedeschi, Trucks and their ten-piece band rode the momentum into an exhilarating set of their own, beginning with the 2025 debut “Crazy Cryin’.” Tedeschi Trucks Band’s set followed a reliable format by frontloading beloved originals like “Signs, High Times,” “Until You Remember” and “Let Me Get By,” which traced an extended diversion of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” into Tedeschi’s solo signature “Just Won’t Burn.” 

Jeff Beck’s “Beck’s Bollero” and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “That Did It” have become such reliable and reinvented fixtures of Tedeschi Trucks Band’s live repertoire that they might as well be originals. The same could be said for any number of Allman Brothers Band classics, which the group covers reliably and reverently, earning their reputation as torch bearers for the Southern rock originators’ distinctive sound. On Tuesday, their selection from the Allmans’ catalog was the ever-spellbinding “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” which gave former ABB bandmates Trucks and Haynes a chance to rekindle their connection with some powerful jamming. Haynes remained onstage to support Tedeschi Trucks Band’s anthemic closer of Matthew Moore’s “Space Captain,” offered as always in the style of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule will return to the stage tonight for one last shared bill at Clarkston, Mich.’s Pine Knob Music Theatre. After wrapping up their summer send-off, the bands will part ways for their respective Live in 25! and Back in the Saddle tours. Find tickets and more information at tedeschitrucksband.com and mule.net.