Gov’t Mule Welcome Karina Rykman and Big Sugar, Cover the Grateful Dead and Radiohead and Dig Up Bust-Outs at Island Exodus 15 Kickoff

Photo Credit: Emily Butler

On Sunday, Jan. 19, Gov’t Mule assumed the spotlight in Runaway Bay, Jamaica for their first performance of their 2025 Island Exodus. To set off their 15th annual concert getaway with a bang, the 30-year Southern rock torchbearers delivered a titanic two-set show lined with fan favorites, bust-outs, sit-ins and venue-specific covers. The performance was dedicated to Bruce “Slim” Judd, the longtime engineer for the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule.

Gov’t Mule kicked off the first of their three stagings at Island Exodus 15 with “Karma Policemon Jam,” a variation of the band’s dub twist on Radiohead’s “Karma Police” that was exhibited just weeks ago in the first show of their NYE run. The band built on into the hard-hitting fan favorite “Thorazine Shuffle,” then dug up their long-lost original “Same Price” for its first appearance since 2002. The bust-outs kept rolling in as the group set out on “Scenes For a Troubled MInd” for the first time since 2019, then raced on through six more originals, including an expansive jam centerpiece medley of “I Asked For Water,” “Machine Gun” and “IAFW.” To wrap the first frame, the band returned to its laid-back, moody treatment of “Karma Police.”

After a brief intermission, Gov’t Mule demonstrated their diverse jam chops and veneration for the musical heritage of their setting with “Terrapin Stay-Shon,” a first-ever dub version of the Grateful Dead’s 1977 essential, which itself hasn’t figured into Mule’s setlists since August 2010. The second set opener was bolstered by the first features of the evening as the band welcomed Big Sugar frontman Gordie Johnson, alongside backing vocals from The Sugar Cubists and Machan Taylor. This expanded ensemble remained onstage for “Hard Road,” “Million Miles From Yesterday” and Gov’t Mule’s 2007 dub rarity “Play With Fire,” staged for the first time since 2021.

Gov’t Mule shredded through the rest of the second set with the high-flying jam fusion of “Sco-Mule,” “Captured” and a set-closing run from “Mule” to “What Is Hip?” and back again. For one final twist in the program, the band introduced ace bassist and jam scene favorite Karina Rykman for a sit-in on Deep Purple’s “Maybe I’m A Leo,” issued for the first time since 2015. After concluding the performance with “20 Days In The Hole,” frontman Warren Haynes returned the favor by joining Rykman’s late-night set for a featured appearance on her original “Run Of The Mill” and a heavy, psyched-out take on Butthole Surfers’ “Pepper.”

Gov’t Mule will take today off, instead hosting sets from Rykman, Haynes and Drive By Truckers today before returning for the series closer tomorrow, Jan. 22. For more information on Island Exodus 15, visit islandexodus.com.

See the full setlist from Sunday below.