Last night, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead played the final night of their tantalizingly brief Midwest winter tour. Over the course of four nights, the group conveyed their twist on the Grateful Dead canon, and the Madison show was the exclamation point. Unlike the three previous shows, the band didn’t warm up with a long jam. Instead, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead took the stage, and guitarist Tom Hamilton immediately started picking the instantly identifiable notes to “Althea”. It was refreshing to see them come right out the gate with that catchy guitar riff.

“Althea”

After “Althea”, the band played Bob Weir’s “Gonesville” from 2016’s Cold Mountain, a tune JRAD debuted in April of last year during their spectacular arena debut at 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. The tune was unrecognized by many fans but it didn’t stop the flow of the show, coming ahead of solid takes on “Cumberland Blues” and “Row Jimmy”. The jamming out of the latter was all over the place, with as many teases as one’s ears could land on, although the strongest was a “St. Stephen” jam that many predicted had to be the next song. Sure enough, the band turned that idea on its head, and instead went into a raging version of “Jack Straw” before a bouncy “Tennessee Jed” closed the set.

The second set was an absolute improvisation clinic. Only playing five songs, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead made sure each number was extended to its maximum potential. “Let It Grow” was incredibly dark. The powerful build up at the end was exactly as the song describes—it sounded like the thunder was indeed shouting. An incredibly beautiful rendition of “Crazy Fingers” followed. Going from one obscure time signature to another, the band seamlessly transitioned into “Estimated Prophet”.

“Let It Grow”

The band played on, and the music slowly left the realm of the Weir/Barlow classic for something different. The extended transition led by bassist Dave Dreiwitz into one of the most daunting numbers in the Dead repertoire, “Terrapin Suite”, was absolutely magical. Dreiwitz’s fingers moved up and down the frets, and once in every bar, he let out a massive, powerful, and crystal clear bass chord a la Phil Lesh. The actual “Lady with a Fan” and “Terrapin Station” portions were executed flawlessly, while “At A Siding” was taken to outer space and “Terrapin Flyer” seemed to drag on. The whole time, drummer Joe Russo kept up the frantic beat, seemingly pounding the snare and toms harder and louder with each hit.

“Terrapin Suite”

[Video: Shawn Patrick]

Finally, if the version of Terrapin wasn’t good enough, they were able to segue into perhaps another equally epic song in the GD catalog—”Morning Dew”. A magical version of the song was played by the band last August when it closed out the group’s second set at Red Rocks. Last night’s Dew certainly met that magic, and perhaps even raised it just a bit. Guitarist Tom Hamilton went solo and sang the first verse by himself. There were no drums, no other instruments, just his voice. As he sang, the other members of the band just respectfully absorbed his vocals, and the crowd was eerily quiet as well. By the time the second verse started, the rest of the band joined, as if they had never not been playing. The real magic came in the buildup at the end of the song during an other-worldly duet by Hamilton and keyboardist Marco Benevento. Together, the two were able to slowly build up that part of the song, making the tension palpable. By the time Hamilton belted out “Guess it doesn’t matter, anymore” to signal the end of the song, the collective catharsis had been achieved.

“Morning Dew”

[Video: Shawn Patrick]

You can check out photos from last night’s show below, courtesy of Ojeda Photography.

Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | Orpheum Theater | Madison, WI | 2/18/2018

Set One: Althea, Gonesville, Cumberland Blues, Row Jimmy, Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed

Set Two: Let It Grow, Crazy Fingers, Estimated Prophet, Terrapin Suite, Morning Dew

Encore: Samson & Delilah