Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, like all live bands, had an unusual year in 2021. After starting the year in a pandemic lockdown with no tour dates in sight, the Grateful Dead-inspired outfit gradually got the gears turning again with a socially distant residency at New Haven, CT’s Westville Music Bowl, a dedicated LOCKN’ Farm event and, eventually, some “normal” theater dates.

As we move deeper into the final month of 2021, JRAD is preparing to end this rollercoaster year with a bang: an arena blowout at Broomfield, CO’s 1stBank Center this Friday, December 3rd, 2021, the band’s first Colorado show since summer 2019 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. [get tickets].

“It’s been a strange year for sure!” drummer/bandleader Joe Russo tells Live For Live Music ahead of the 1stBank show. “At this point, there’s some feeling of just trying to get through it, balanced with trying to get back to Colorado, and our fans there who have supported this band since the very beginning.”

“Colorado was one of the first places we played outside of the east coast and the audience there has been on board since then,” Russo continues. “We’re extremely lucky to have an attentive, thoughtful fanbase everywhere we get to play. We’re even more lucky that our audience travels well. But there’s something about the energy in Colorado that feels special.”

While the group has performed at 1stBank Center before, this will mark the first time the Joe Russo-led band has performed there intentionally. Back in 2017, JRAD delivered a memorable show at 1stBank Center—the band’s arena debut—after an unseasonable late-April snowstorm pushed a scheduled gig at Red Rocks indoors. The band responded in kind, offering up a Bob Dylan “Shelter From The Storm” debut to open the show and a lights-on, sing-along rendition of Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born To Run” to close it down. Read our full recap of that show here.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Shelter From The Storm” (Bob Dylan) > “Bertha” – 1stBank Center – 4/29/17

The band’s first intentional arena date comes with some particularly poignant buzz. In 2017, JRAD’s 1stBank Center show was the result of rapid adaptation in the face of an unforeseen issue. In 2021, after two long, strange years of non-stop pivoting and adapting, the 1stBank Center show will mark the band’s triumphant return to Colorado in properly grandiose fashion.

Notes Russo, “[The 1stBank Center show in] 2017 was our best effort at making lemonade out of the lemons that the weather handed us. We’re unbelievably lucky to get to play so many of the venues we do, and to play multiple Red Rocks and 1ST BANK Center shows is proof positive of that.”

Grab your tickets here to see Joe Russo’s Almost Dead perform at Broomfield, CO’s 1stBank Center on Friday, December 3rd, the band’s final live performance of the year.