Last night’s Dead & Company concert wasn’t the only music happening in East Troy yesterday. A mere three hundred yards from the storied venue, New Orleans supergroup Dead Feat played an early afternoon set at the Alpine Valley Resort. The band, comprised of Little Feat members Fred Tackett, Paul Barrere, and Kenny Gradney, and musical journeymen Jason Crosby, Jackie Greene, and Wally Ingram, provided a great way to start off the day before the Dead & Company show.
The concert was very unique. Deadheads who had been to the Alpine Valley venue many times over the decades as well as newer fans could all agree. Everybody knows (and loves) the massive and steep lawn at Alpine Valley, but going to the resort and seeing a show on an actual ski hill, with the amphitheater in the background, was completely novel to all who enjoyed the show.
The band weaved between the enormous repertoires of the Grateful Dead and Little Feat, opening up with the latter’s “Down on the Farm.” The first Dead tune, “Friend of the Devil,” foreshadowed Dead and Company’s set later in the evening. The set’s only non-Dead or non-Feat came in “Long Black Veil” that had a smooth transition into “The Weight.” Second set highlights included a funky “Shakedown Street” and a fun “Scarlet Begonias.” Of course, once Dead Feat finished “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” the entire crowd transplanted to the northwest and became absorbed by the massive Alpine crowd. With the success of yesterday’s show, one can only hope that Dead Feat will continue to lay their music outside of New Orleans.
Check out the photos below.
Setlist: Dead Feat | Alpine Valley Resort | East Troy, WI | 6/23/18
I: Down on the Farm, Honest Man, Friend of the Devil, Franklin’s Tower, Willin’, Long Black Veil, The Weight, Bertha, Fire on the Mountain
II: Shakedown Street, Spanish Moon, Skin It Back, Sugaree, Church Falling Down, Scarlet Begonias, New Speedway Boogie, Dixie Chicken > Tennessee Jed > Dixie Chicken
E: Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
