Haynes is one of the best guitarists you've probably never heard of, even though he has been an official member of the Allman Brothers for over a decade, and has put out ten albums with Gov't Mule since 1995. His eclectic style easily slides between rock, jazz, blues, and funk with equal authority. He is also obviously highly respected by his contemporaries, seeing that there was such an overwhelming turnout in support of the Deep End projects, and the camaraderie amongst all of the musicians was like nothing I have ever seen. One of the most telling moments was between the second and final encore, at about 3:15 AM, when Haynes tracks down George Porter Jr. on his cell phone, while he is still at his other gig across town, and asks if he can make it back in time for the final encore of the three-bassist version of "Thorazine Shuffle", which Haynes so eloquently calls the "Thorazine Clusterfuck". Although Porter had already played on three songs during the first half of the concert, he tells Haynes "I'll be there in three or four minutes". Of course he didn't make it until about 20 minutes later, but they all gladly waited for him.

The DVD concert kicked of with a rousing version of the southern-rock anthem "Bad Little Doggie" from the 2000 album Life Before Insanity, which was the last Gov't Mule album made with Allen Woody. By the second song, "Blindman In The Dark", the guest musicians had started to take the stage in force. First up was Dave Schools, from the Mule's brothers-in-jam, Widespread Panic, who along with Karl Denson on tenor sax, helped to transform this song into a 16-minute jam-fest. The sheer variety of sounds and styles that follow are simply amazing. For "Sco-Mule", the amazing Victor Wooten takes over the bass chores, and Bernie Worrell adds some killer Hammond organ to the mix. Haynes' guitar work on this song is astonishingly smooth and had me thinking of Robben Ford. "Lay Of The Sunflower" is a haunting country-blues ballad that features Wooten's band mate Bela Fleck on the electric banjo, and Rob Wasserman adds some upright bass. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was also in town to lend their horns to the gospel-blues inspired "John The Revelator", which has Haynes breaking out the bottle-neck slide. "Beautifully Broken" flawlessly incorporates extended sections of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and George Porter Jr.'s incredible bass playing makes this soulful ballad one of the show's highlights. Are you starting to feel the diversity yet?

If that was not enough for you, Haynes and the boys follow up several Gov't Mule originals with a few classic cover tunes. Roger Glover happened to be in town, so why not play the Deep Purple classic, "Maybe I'm A Leo". After a stunning version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile", featuring Jack Casady on bass, Conrad Lozano and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos join the band for a performance of Cream's "Politician". Just when things can't get much better, but can certainly get heavier, Jason Newsted takes the stage to storm through Black Sabbath's "Sweat Leaf" and "War Pigs". Haynes' guitar tone was simply monstrous, and he also proved that he is equally adept at singing metal, as he is at soulful blues.