After a wild weekend full of surprise breakouts, it appears there are no limits for Joe Russo’s Almost Dead in 2024. The band kicked off the year with a trio of shows at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre. The run featured five new additions to the bands deep repertoire, that left the overflowing crowd dancing with joy.
Entering The Eleventh year, JRAD has found a perfect balance that, in a blink of an eye, lets them shift from a group of five longtime friends having fun and cracking jokes to one of the most locked in, energetic bands out there. Every bit of that was on display over a frigid Port Chester weekend.
The interplay between Marco Benevento and Scott Metzger night one is an excellent example. As Metzger blazed full steam ahead in Big River, Benevento stood by smiling, waiting for the perfect spot to jump into Metzger’s madness. He knew if he picked the wrong spot, he’d be flattened like wile e coyote. After diving head first into the mix, the two synched up instantly, carving up a wider path of destruction. That unique synergy between each band member led to a weekend of musical magic.
The band dusted off Passenger for the first time in almost eight years, before Tom Hamilton started the weekend of debuts (none Grateful Dead songs) with The Screaming Trees Nearly Lost You. He and his brother Jim along with Russo played the song during their American Babies set at Warren Haynes Xmas jam last month. The clear highlight of the night was underutilized vocalist Dave Dreiwitz’s flawless rendition of the Rolling Stones Shattered that nearly did the same to the foundation of the century old institution.
The cold weather, hot energy and band’s desire to explore non Grateful Dead avenues was again in effect on night two. Russo took the vocals on the rarely played Vampire Blues. A Neil Young Cover. The show featured another two breakouts starting with Benevento’s run at ZZ Top’s La Grange. Like Drewitz the previous night, his rendition was met with a raucous approval from the grinning crowd. Texas blues is one of very few musical genres the band has yet to deeply explore. The encore found Metzger introducing Them’s Gloria into the JRAD world.
Things got off to a heated start on the final night. That helped defrost the crowd from another below freezing Port Chester winter day. Russo was grinning ear to ear as his daughters watched from the balcony. The band sizzled through two sets without any new songs. That ended during the encore, as Hamilton took the lead on Tom Petty’s Running Down a Dream.
The band reconvenes for a show in Charlotte and two in Atlanta in February. Individually, each member has their plates full. Benevento is set to release a live album, Hamilton is recording a new album and playing with MORE!. Metzger is touring with LaMP, while Russo will do the same with Selcouth Quartet. Finally, Dreiwitz is set for the 40th anniversary of Ween.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Capitol Theater 2024
1/12/24- Set 1: Tangled Up in Blue, Cumberland Blues, Passenger, New Speedway Boogie, Estimated Prophet, Loose Lucy Set 2- Uncle John’s Band, Saint of Circumstance, Help on the Way, Slipknot, Nearly Lost You, Big River, Birdsong, Shattered. E: Ripple
1/13/24- Set 1: Reuben and Cherise, Vampire Blues, Fire on the Mountain, Feels Like a Stranger, Jack Straw, Bertha Set 2: Greatest Story Ever Told, When I Paint My Masterpiece, China Cat Sunflower, Throwing Stones, St. Stephen, La Grange, Shakedown St E: Gloria
1/14/24- Set1: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Let It Grow, Mississippi Half Step, He’s Gone, Dancing in the Street, Franklin’s Tower Set 2: Playing in the Band, Brown Eyed Women, Truckin, Cassidy, Althea, Eyes of the World, Samson and Delilah E: Running Down a Dream