Show Review - Joe Russo's Almost Dead 11/14/25 Philadelphia, PA
Turning My Whole World Around
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead set fire to The Met Philadelphia last night, delivering a fantastic Friday night show to a party-oriented crowd, making their penultimate show of 2025 count.
As is the custom, an intro jam got things started – picking up steam faster than usual, guitarist Tom Hamilton took a lead on some bright melodies as keyboardist Marco Benevento laid down some great foundational work on both Hammond organ and Rheem combo organ. This peaky motif briefly flirted with some “Chest Fever”-adjacent play before guitarist Scott Metzger took the reins on strong soloing of his own.
Blazing through “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion),” JRAD demonstrated that this would indeed be a party show – a rowdy good time. Benevento continued his strong work on duelling organs as Hamilton bounced around his setup like an excited kid on Christmas morning, uncorking a phenomenal solo.
Metzger led the band through deep cut “Let Me Sing Your Blues Away” next, the Keith Godchaux tune getting a nice workout as drummer Joe Russo dove into a relaxed shuffle.
Digging in on the intro to “The Music Never Stopped” next, the band took it at a relaxed tempo that allowed bassist Dave Dreiwitz to really stretch out, engaging in some cool interplay before hitting the song proper. The middle jam spaced out beautifully into some quiet space, Hamilton’s effects-laden work twining with Benevento’s swirling delay Rhodes in the open sonic landscape.
Bringing in some darker-tinged leads, Hamilton shot some “Help on the Way”-ish hits into the jam as Russo continued his laid-back pace. Benevento brought in the organ and spring reverb washes as the intensity increased a little bit thanks to Russo, though the intense psychedelic vibe continued to dominate.
With Benevento at the helm, the quintet patiently built up to a peak tinged with “The Eleven” (as “Music” is wont to do with this band), blazing through the song’s ending as they seemed to be warmed up and ready to get down to serious business at this point in the set.
The chatty crowd was assuaged with an upbeat “Bertha,” solos from all the lead melodic players getting augmented by a brief foray into some quiet builds in between verses. Shooting out of the end of the song into a fast-paced groove, Benevento attacked his Rhodes with some great jazzy runs, riding the wave of Russo’s fluid drumming as Hamilton telegraphed the incoming “Cassidy” segue with repeated teases of the song.
Dreiwitz really powered this transition with a rock-steady walking bass line, allowing for some outside-the-box play from the other musicians even as they hit the song proper.
After another dip into quieter spaces, the energy amped up with some hints at “Hell in a Bucket,” Hamilton digging in on some crunchy chords before the band blazed through their second take on The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” to date before slamming home the ending of “Cassidy” to wrap the powerhouse first-set sandwich.
To bring the frame to a close, the band went for a tender “Atlantic City,” Hamilton engaging the crowd with some great singalong action as he delivered a stellar lead vocal on the classic Springsteen tune.
Returning after the break, JRAD wasted no time before sinking their teeth into the always-reliable “Jack Straw” vehicle, getting the energy rolling once again with strong solos from Benevento and Hamilton.
A quiet interlude peppered with great delay work from Hamilton and more swirling Rhodes work coasted atop Russo’s beat into “Foolish Heart,” the late-era Jerry Garcia tune getting a nice workout before the band moved into the rollicking beat of “Man Smart, Woman Smarter.” Metzger threw in a smooth “King Solomon’s Marbles” tease in the song (a pretty common occurrence for him) alongside “Tennessee Jed” and more.
“Shakedown Street” crashed in next, Hamilton, Metzger, and Benevento passing the metaphorical baton back and forth through the solo section with some really cool interplay, each musician adding their own flavour to the groove in a great collaborative way.
On the outro jam, Russo dialed back the intensity into a casual, groovy mode with some stuttered, jazzy play as Dreiwitz really pushed forward with punchy riffs. Benevento floated on organ and some clean “Scarlet Begonias” teases, Russo pivoting around Hamilton’s sharp envelope filter work into a thumping Bo Diddley-adjacent beat.
Modulating from there, the improv grew in intensity around Hamilton’s play, he and Russo going into a fun duo jam before the drummer smoothly transitioned into the liquid “The Other One” groove. Not fully segueing just yet, Benevento got a turn on his own with some lightning-fast piano riffs, setting up the red-hot drop into the song proper fantastically.
Deviating from the usual blistering jam quickly, Benevento took to his combo organ for some wildly bent play as Russo drove things into a propulsive groove. Locking in on a hypnotic theme, the band repeated the riff in unison to build tension and intensity, Benevento infusing it with some wavy Rhodes work and spring reverb washes.
On a dime, the band stopped and slammed right back into “The Other One” proper, letting loose some serious heat on the final verse of the song as Metzger roared the lyrics.
The definitive highlight of the show came next with “Terrapin Station,” a song that delivers even without extended improvisation but is just that much better when it gets taken for a ride like JRAD did last night.
In addition to the ultra-patient intro and Allman Brothers-style harmonizing from Metzger and Hamilton on the iconic solo, the band took things down to near-silence on the jam, Benevento’s Rhodes punctuating the space as the crowd (finally) listened with complete attention.
The swirling keyboard tones were joined by some textures courtesy of Hamilton, continuing at near-silence for a bit before fading away completely, JRAD spontaneously pulling a “Divided Sky”-like pause from nowhere in the middle of the jam. Moments like this feel really special – an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment twist that got the crowd even more riled up.
Textural work began to seep back in as the musicians tuned back up, beautifully laying out a soundscape with Russo lightly tapping on the rim of his snare. Benevento really continued to be the star with his vibrato-heavy Rhodes, the thick textures providing the baseline for Hamilton to patiently weave a melodic tapestry over.
Deviating briefly from “Terrapin” space, the intensity rose just enough for Benevento to dive into some floaty organ, continuing the intense vibe before landing perfectly back in the song and nailing the huge energy of the outro.
A rare Dreiwitz vocal kicked off the encore with “Broken Arrow” before the fun factor wrapped the night with “Not Fade Away,” the band closing things out with crowd participation.
JRAD plays their final show of 2025 tonight at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. – and I’m already eagerly looking forward to the next time I see them in January. The music of the Grateful Dead always wins.