Glorious perfectly covers all aspects of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s weekend run in Las Vegas. The seamless convergence of music, venue, weather, crowd, and special guest Branford Marsalis created a three day run that will live in JRAD lore moving forward.
After joining the band for the first two nights, 80 percent of his air capacity is what stayed in Vegas for Marsalis. His younger constituents put him to the test both nights. Pure delight permeated the Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas (the crown jewel of the four) as Marsalis and the band rattled off the same Dead tunes from his legendary sit ins on 3/29/90 or 9/10/91. Those who missed Marsalis’s first two appearances with the band regaled listening to the unmistakable fills he added to the same songs decades earlier.
With a ringer on sax and Russo playing at a furious pace, the midweek run was the best musically in a while. A cherry on top of the perfect ice cream sundae. To go through the highlights would take a while. They’re plentiful. Night one saw JRAD pal Oteil Burbridge take over for Dave Dreiwitz on bass for Playing in the Band. An exploratory extravaganza that rattled the venue enough to knock down bowling pins on the lanes overlooking the show.
From there, the music kicked into a level not reached by JRAD in a while. Marsalis would continually step back and smile at the depth and direction his bandmates were driving the music. Gleefully gazing at Marco Benevento’s jazz fueled piano leads while giving multiple approving nods to “his guy” Scott Metzger.
The second and third night kicked off at midnight with a two and half hour nonstop ride more than worthy of the late start time. With everyone riding higher than the next door Ferris Wheel, the band picked up where they left off night one. Full throttle. Things came to a head with Metzger’s cover of Link Wray’s Fire and Brimstone evoking images of The Mirage’s now defunct Volcano show with fire raining down on the Vegas craziness.
Whether night two or three was the best musically is a matter of semantics. A razor thin margin. Without Marsalis, the energy did not drop a bit. Tom Hamilton’s solo in opener Foolish Heart set the pace for a furious start. With no set break, adding slower songs like He’s Gone allowed the band and crowd to catch their breath and regroup for the next round of fury. A set closing Throwing Stones and Morning Dew left no doubt that despite the time of day/night, JRAD and their devotees are always up to take things a notch higher.
With no rest for the weary, JRAD hits New Orleans this weekend for their annual Jazz Fest run. A gallery of pictures from Las Vegas are below.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Las Vegas ’25
April 23- Catfish John, Music Never Stopped, Candyman, Playing in the Band, Uncle John’s Band Set 2- Cats Under the Stars, Big River, Estimated Prophet, Dancing in the Streets, Eyes of the World, King Solomon’s Marbles E: Big Railroad Blues
April 24- The Wheel, Let it Grow, Row Jimmy, My Brother Esau, Help on the Way, Slipknot, The Other One, Rubin and Cherise, Good Lovin, Shakedown St., Fire and Brimstone, Terrapin Station E: Brown Eyed Women
April 25- Foolish Heart, Franklin’s Tower, Don’t Want You No More, Truckin’, Viola Lee Blues, He’s Gone, Lost Sailor, St. of Circumstance, Scarlet Begonias, In the Meantime, Throwing Stones, Morning Dew E: Promised Land
