Show Review - Joe Russo's Almost Dead 6/3/23 Morrison, CO
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead opened their two-night stand at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater last night with a show full of jams and awe-inspiring segues.
Both my first time at the storied venue and my first JRAD show, I was absolutely ecstatic to experience the magic of both for the first time ever in person.
The quintet took the stage and eased into a bright and airy major-key jam that led into the opening of “The Wheel.” Keyboardist Marco Benevento took a brief organ interlude of sorts to decide on the direction of the ensuing improv, creating a dissonant yet funky space for the rest of the band to jam over. Touching back into the song proper, the band set off on a minor-key journey that immediately began hinting at the jam riff of “Uncle John’s Band.”
A perfect segue into “UJB” followed, its jam beginning with yet another Benevento organ interlude – the keyboardist sported an ear-to-ear smile as he elicited wild and psychedelic sounds from his spring reverb unit. The band dropped back in and guitarist Tom Hamilton took the lead through the charging “UJB” jam, putting a strong cap on a wild opening 35 minutes of music.
Drummer Joe Russo and guitarist Scott Metzger began a groove together that became “Man Smart, Woman Smarter.” The bouncy rhythm of the song gave way to a rocking “Alabama Getaway.” Benevento took to the piano to begin a spacey intro to the next song, which gradually took shape into “Crazy Fingers.” Metzger, Benevento, and Hamilton each took strong solos on this song as Russo and bassist Dave Dreiwitz held down the rhythm strongly.
While we were already over an hour into the set, JRAD opted to pull of an excellent and slow-burn segue into “Lost Sailor.” Possibly my highlight of the set, the jam immediately got quiet with delay-filled Rhodes tones from Benevento floating through the air. Metzger crooned the lyrics as the crowd swayed in time to the music. Amping up the energy next with the segue into “Saint of Circumstance,” Metzger continued to demonstrate his incredible aptitude for singing Bob Weir’s songs as the band ripped through the set-closing rocker.
Coming back for the second set and immediately funking into “Cats Under The Stars,” Dreiwitz really dug in underneath more excellent soloing from the guitars and keyboards. This underrated (in my opinion) Garcia song was one of my favourite parts of last night and a track I will definitely be listening back to. As we all know, I am a huge keyboard nerd – and Benevento is one of my favourite players on the planet (excuse me while I fanboy for a moment). His absolute mastery of the tone on his Fender Rhodes is really on display during this “Cats” solo, just the right amount of smooth electric piano mixed with a touch of overdrive.
Russo took the ending of “Cats” right into the thumping intro to “New Minglewood Blues,” Benevento dousing the crowd with sweeps up and down his Hammond A-100 organ. Heavy “Another Brick in the Wall” teases from Hamilton led right into the beginning of the song. The blues rock POWER of “New Minglewood” had the crowd’s energy going nuts before the ending dropped into a spacey motif once again.
Setting up the next song with a deceptive major-key space, Russo began a reggae-tinged snare-tap beat. Guitars and keyboards began to slowly seep in with hints at the “Estimated Prophet” to come, my personal highlight of the entire show. The vacuum of space took over Red Rocks after the main solo section – all five band members patiently waiting for the music to tell them where to go next. Hamilton especially used his wide array of delay and octave-effect pedals to create weird tones as Benevento laid down a soft bed of Rhodes underneath. Hints of the opening to “St. Stephen” began to become apparent as the jam continued to slowly move through space. Tones from all members continued to swirl like crazy as the “Estimated” riff was brought back multiple times, all while the resemblance to the opening of “Stephen” continued to grow.
Demonstrating their absolute mastery at the art of the segue, JRAD peaked the jam with a perfect slide into “St. Stephen,” the amphitheater absolutely exploding with energy as the quintet ripped into their arena-rock version of the Grateful Dead classic. Hinting at “The Eleven” during the interlude before the “lady finger” verse, this strong version of the song really elevated the crowd’s vibe.
At the conclusion of the song, Russo and Dreiwitz pushed into a groove that would eventually become “I Know You Rider” as violinist Katie Jacoby joined the band on stage. The “cool Colorado rain” that had been drizzling throughout the night began to fall in earnest during this segment of improv, but the audience would not be deterred and only danced harder – going wild for the aforementioned Colorado rain lyric. Jacoby added brilliantly to the song with her violin playing, soloing and accenting in a way that didn’t feel overbearing like some violin can tend to be. Nodding to her work with The Who, the ending of “Rider” had the iconic “Baba O’Riley” solo inserted in before the normal closing.
“We Will Not Be Lovers” by the Waterboys, fronted by Metzger and Jacoby, closed out the second set before an emotional and magical “Stella Blue” encore sent off the incredibly pleased (and wet) crowd into the night.
JRAD returns to Red Rocks tonight for the second of two nights…I cannot wait to see what setlist trickery they pull this time!
Showtime is an earlier 6:30 MT – a webcast is available for free to Nugs.net subscribers.
Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for new rig tours with Hamilton and Benevento - subscribe to Storm Sound on YouTube so you don’t miss out!