Across the country, on any given day, there are countless bands covering the timeless music of the Grateful Dead. But a cover band selling out the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado? The iconic venue is just shy of holding 10,000 people. What is it about Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) that draws such an appeal? Various projects featuring the core four members of the Grateful Dead are still in active rotation from Dead and Company and their recently well-received summer tour, to Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s upcoming intimate show at Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, CA. Dark Star Orchestra continues to sell out theaters and clubs playing in the spirit of the Dead so closely it’s as if a show goer can travel back in time to experience 1974. But truth be told, JRAD is a different beast all together.
Last night at Red Rocks JRAD offered a non stop throw down of high energy, masterful, exploratory music. It’s not like anything many of us know of as Grateful Dead music. There were numerous times throughout the show when what was being played could have been pulled from almost anywhere. A friend of mine, well versed in the storied songbook of the Dead leaned over to me at one point and said, “this isn’t the Dead”. He was right. JRAD has found a way to honor arguably the most Americana of all bands in a way that is legitimately, and authentically unique. It’s a modern, fresh approach to the music and quite frankly that’s why JRAD sold out Red Rocks last night.
The band is unpredictable in the best ways possible. There’s no real formula. JRAD’s musicianship, unique approach, and uncanny cohesion as a unit keeps the listener active. If you get too comfortable and fail to lock in with what’s going on during the live performance you’re most likely going to miss out on at least one if not a few of the many nuances that accentuate the JRAD experience. Last night there were several teases of Grateful Dead songs within the Dead song being played. Nothing felt forced, the fluidity is truly something any live act that takes improvisational chances ascribes to employ on stage. From teasing Phish as they get ready for their annual three-day stint at neighboring Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (“Harry Hood”, “Bathtub Gin”, “YEM”, “Stash”), to weaving in and out of “New Speedway Boogie” several times, JRAD is an active live music listening experience that is without a doubt a completely new, 2017 Dead experience.
Looking at the show, there are notable highlights in the super funky, stretched out “Dancing in the Streets” from set one. Played in the style of the upbeat, late 70’s versions so many Deadheads know and love, here the band broke it down a few times-not just once, and created a dance groove environment that seemingly could have gone on for hours. In the second frame, which barely stopped to take a breath, the move from “Jack Straw” into “Feel Like a Stranger” to open was other worldly. Not to mention that “Stranger” itself was hot. Offered in the psychedelic style reminiscent of what the Grateful Dead used to do with this song as a solid 80’s first set staple, Russo and his tribe took the song to places no one in attendance could ever have imagined. And the thing is, that’s the spirit of this group. Even without their core bassist-Dave Dreiwitz, the tightness of the five-pack shined in every aspect from the slow melodic, jazzy intro that bled into “Here Comes the Sunshine” to open the show, to the second set closing monster that was a truly one of a kind version of “Morning Dew”.
A music geek could literally spend hours and thousands of words picking apart last night’s show-in a good way. At times, following the band might be the trickiest thing for even the most locked-in listener as the band bounces from idea-to-idea so smoothly you wonder what it would have been like had they actually settled in played “Music Never Stopped” instead of just teasing it in there as a reprise, or actually going for “Born Cross Eyed” at the end of “Truckin’”. With such chemistry is seems JRAD can really go anywhere with this music. They don’t need to drop “the hits” to anchor a set. They can play whatever they want and while it is done respectfully to the tune of the Grateful Dead, the Dead’s songs seem to act as mere vehicles for the incredible audible adventures with this truly all-star cast. Marco Benevento is compelling to watch on stage, moving from keys, to the organ, even playing the strings of his piano at one point with the ease of only the most seasoned of vets. Joe Russo continues to drum in a way that sounds as though he could be hammering for two, and Otel Burbridge fit in alongs side the tasteful back-and-forth guitar work of Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger perfectly.
The spontaneity of last night’s show is perhaps the most modern possible reincarnation of a brand of music that will never loose its magic. The unpredictability, never flinching as cool Colorado rain fell from the sky, it’s no wonder I observed what to me looked like the youngest of any Dead related crowd I have experienced in many years. Peak after peak, not to overly gush, but to respect what went down, JRAD is doing something different. In the end it might be called a tribute or cover act in the popular press, but the way they’re doing it is why many of us go so far out of our way to see live music. And to this wealth of unparalleled music, JRAD is adding a new layer to the legacy of the original band beyond description, something only a lover of live music-not necessarily a deadhead, should try to experience at some point.
Photos by Todd Radunksy
One Response
There is a Mountain is a Donovan cover.