Joe Russo's Almost Dead
The Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY 1/17/24
Opening up their three night stand over Martin Luther King Weekend, Joe Russo's Almost Dead welcomed the sold out crowd to the majestic Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. The band, Joe Russo on drums, bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton Jr. guitars have a rabid following in the NYC area as people lined up hours ahead of time to get into the venue.
Opening the playing, the band dipped into a jam to start (in the vein of Phil and Friends past concerts) working out the sound fluidly with a slow smoky vibe that moved into "Tennessee Jed". The song was a template for the rest of the night as each of Benevento, Metzger and Hamilton would deliver long, fiery solos, building off each other, while Russo directed and Dreiwitz kept the beat.
The music never let up, moving into ominous with jazzy/hip-hop vibe before the quintet dipped into the 60's throw back pairing of "Alligator" and "Viola Lee Blues" as the the group delivered a searing 50 minutes of interlaced playing to start the set with no breaks. A quick pause and the band exhaled with "The Wheel" which was highlighted by ringing guitar lines from Hamilton and gorgeous playing from the full band who seemed to start "Loser" but then immediately shifted gears into the set closing ballad "Long Black Veil" sung by Metzger.
A fantastic and loose first set of music from the band was continued in the second set as the opening pairing of "Crazy Fingers > The Other One" went long and deep with many swirling crescendos as JRAD pushed up and up throughout both, again delivering an opening stanza of 35 minutes of uninterrupted improvisation and playing. The opening combo was a delight, producing big builds, as Russo's drums clearly led the charge.
While the rest of the set was strong with Benevento's keys shining on "Here Comes Sunshine", and Metzger's huge riffs coloring the hyper "Casey Jones", it was tough to match the opener of the second set. "Ramble On Rose" was fairly straight ahead while closer "Let It Grow" stretched out and soared.
Unfortunately, catching my train back to NYC took precedent over the groups encore but Benevento started things with an intense piano solo which touched upon “Laura Palmer’s Theme”, a tribute to the recently deceased David Lynch, before the full band joined for "Eyes of the World" then Benevento returned to "Laura Palmer's Theme" to wrap up the night. (I learned this by watching the video that Relix posted, which you can check out for yourself below.)
JRAD are a Grateful Dead cover band, but they are also more, as the extremely talented players come together and deliver soaring rock and roll with a plethora of musical influences flowing throughout. Always a good time live, catch them when you can.
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