Playing only seven such shows this summer, the celebrated guitarist will perform a wide range of rock classics with the Grand Rapids Symphony at Meijer Gardens. The Local Spins interview.
Two Worlds Colliding: Warren Haynes calls playing with orchestras ‘very unique’ and powerful. (Photo/Emily Butler)
LOCAL SPINS TICKET GIVEAWAY & FAN REVIEW: Would you love to see the Warren Haynes Band fire up classics with the Grand Rapids Symphony at Meijer Gardens — and let Local Spins readers know what you thought of the concert? Email john@localspins.com with ‘WARREN HAYNES’ in the message field and include your name, hometown and why you love Haynes and Gov’t Mule, and you’ll be placed in a drawing for two tickets to Monday’s show, where you’ll also get a chance to submit a fan review of the concert that will be published at Local Spins.
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Even after an illustrious, event-filled career spanning more than four decades, much-admired guitarist Warren Haynes – who’s propelled the iconic Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and The Dead while sharing stages with the likes of Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson and Peter Frampton – concedes that these shows are different than anything else he’s done.
“It’s a very unique sort of experience,” Haynes told Local Spins in a recent interview, referring to “The Dreams & Songs Symphonic Experience” tour that his band brings to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Monday (July 22).
Set to perform with the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Warren Haynes Band will unleash fresh arrangements of a diverse blend of songs from Haynes’ extensive catalog, including music from Gov’t Mule, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and his own solo releases. Tickets, $75, for the 7 p.m. Monday show are available online here.
It’s one of only seven symphony-accompanied concerts that the band will perform this summer, culminating in a September show at Colorado’s legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre. (The Warren Haynes Band also plays a symphony show at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre in Rochester at 8 p.m. Saturday.)
Unlike other tour stops where the orchestra joins in for the first two sets followed by a show-closing band performance, the Grand Rapids concert stands out because the band set will come first at Meijer Gardens, for a variety of reasons.
“It’s a lot of music,” he said of the orchestrated arrangements and performances. “It covers a lot of territory and I tried to pick a song that would marry very well with an orchestra. I never want to assume that a song is going to work that way. I think the song demands whether that’s the case or not. We had tons of stuff to choose from.”
Mule Magic: Gov’t Mule at Meijer Gardens in 2013. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Indeed, the sets include everything from the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” and “Dreams” to the Grateful Dead’s “Terrapin Station” to Gov’t Mule’s “Thorazine Shuffle,” “Banks of the Deep End” and “Raven Black Night.”
Haynes, 64, first tested the approach with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra in 2019, intending to release a live album from those concerts until the COVID pandemic shelved that project. (Scroll down for a video from one of the Asheville performances.)
Now, he plans to release that live album in 2025, following that with “quite a few shows” featuring orchestras.
“It’s bizarro world for sure. I love it,” he said of the “Symphonic Experience.” “It’s very unique and it’s inspiring. Hearing the power of the orchestra playing this music is something else.”
The heralded guitarist conceded that the performances contrast with the jam-oriented nature of rousing Gov’t Mule shows, but insisted there’s still room for improvising and soloing.
“When I first got the idea, it was important for me that we build in opportunities for the band to jam and improvise in different ways, where that spirit and element of what we do wasn’t overlooked,” he said.
“There are times when the symphony bows out and the band is improvising on its own. Sometimes, the symphony is playing written background to what the band is improvising, so those two world collides. A handful of times, what the orchestra is playing was originally improvised and orchestrated. So what they’re playing started out as improvisation, but was turned into part of the score.”
AN ALL-STAR BAND, A NEW SOLO RECORD AND A GOV’T MULE ANNIVERSARY
Haynes has assembled an all-star band for his summer tour: keyboardist Matt Slocum (filling in for John Medeski), Gov’t Mule bassist Kevin Scott, drummer Terence Higgins and saxophonist Greg Osby, along with backing vocalists.
“It’s a little more soul music-influenced (than Gov’t Mule) and with this incarnation, a touch jazzier,” Haynes offered. “Mostly just based on differences in personnel and song selection. … It’s nice for me to be able to express myself in those different ways.”
30 Years of Mule: Haynes on stage in GR. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Although the Southern rock- and blues-driven Gov’t Mule will always be what he calls his “mainstay,” Haynes said he relishes side projects like these.
“I really enjoy having that opportunity. I think I would go nuts doing one thing all the time,” he remarked. “It’s always invigorating to do something different. It feels fresh.”
Haynes has plenty of other fresh projects on the horizon, too.
He recently wrapped up work on a solo record with plans for a fall release, after co-writing some material with fellow guitarist Derek Trucks and finishing up a song that Greg Allman had started writing but never completed. And with Gov’t Mule marking its 30th anniversary next year, Haynes said “we’ll be doing some really cool stuff” to celebrate the milestone.
Of course, there have been many of those milestones for this Grammy Award-winning North Carolina native, something he cherishes despite the rigors of the road and rock’s inevitable rollercoaster ride of highs and lows.
“If you are obsessed with it (music) like most of my colleagues, give it 100 percent and lower your expectations. Even people who are great and work hard, there are no guarantees you’re going to be successful,” he said in giving advice to aspiring musicians.
“It’s always a long, hard ride. But it’s very rewarding. Music has been a godsend in my life and I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
VIDEO: Warren Haynes and The Asheville Symphony Orchestra (2019)
Read more about Warren Haynes at Local Spins here.
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