Joe Russo’s Almost Dead wrapped a weekend swing through Georgia on Saturday with the band’s second of two shows at The Eastern in Atlanta, featuring a tribute to local heroes The Allman Brothers Band. The pre-eminent Grateful Dead tribute band started the weekend on Thursday in Savannah, GA—where JRAD debuted a stirring Scott Metzger-sung cover of Warren Zevon‘s “Lawyers, Guns, And Money“—before returning to the familiar Eastern on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday’s Georgia finale was a bluesy affair from the very beginning, as JRAD skipped the traditional ambient opening jam and instead let Tom Hamilton dive nose-first into “New Speedway Boogie”. The band stretched the Workingman’s Dead lament on the tragedy of Altamont to a comfortable 20 minutes before spinning the stylistic wheel to land on Bob Weir‘s reggae-infused “Estimated Prophet”. Without stopping, the wheel swung back to blues again for “Loose Lucy”, finishing a non-stop three-song opening sequence encompassing over 45 minutes of exploratory playing.
The central progression of Pink Floyd‘s “Fearless” came cascading through the speakers next, only for the tricksters of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead to instead head west for the travails of “Jack Straw” from Wichita. The thrilling interplay between Hamilton and fellow guitarist/vocalist Scott Metzger pushed the song to its energetic breaking point, bursting out the other side into “Bird Song” and finally a jovial “Uncle John’s Band” to close the first set. Typically an instrument of improvisation for the Dead, UJB turned out to be the shortest song of the set at a modest nine minutes.
To kick off the second set, JRAD once again returned to the fatal 1969 Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway with “Mason’s Children”, a song cut from Workingman’s Dead that lyricist Robert Hunter said was “obliquely” about Altamont. Saturday marked JRAD’s fifth-ever performance of the track since 2014, while the Dead themselves played the song less than 20 times between December 1969 and February 1970 per the Grateful Dead Family Discography.
Moving to more canonical releases, Scott Metzger did his best Bob Weir for “Hell In A Bucket” before a “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” pairing deviated from tradition by going into the Allman Brothers’ “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” as opposed to “Franklin’s Tower”. Dickey Betts‘ spectral instrumental provided a springboard for some of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s deepest jamming of the night, allowing the band to fully embrace its more experimental free-improv playing. To bring the audience back down to Earth, JRAD enlisted the help of local favorite Alecia Chakour (Tedeschi Trucks Band), whose presence at the band’s Eastern runs has become an annual tradition.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — “Slipknot!” (Grateful Dead) > “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” (Allman Brothers Band) — 2/15/25
[Video: monihampton]
Chakour’s soothing vocals on the following “High Time” provided a gentle comedown from the “far out” playing that had dominated the second set before the band plus Alecia went for a traditional close with “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad” and a (partially) a cappela “And We Bid You Goodnight”. Coming back for the encore, pianist Marco Benevento had to express the band’s affinity for the Peach State one last time with a solo instrumental cover of Ray Charles favorite “Georgia (On My Mind)”, and the group returned with Chakour to bring it on home with “Turn On Your Lovelight”.
Check out a gallery of photos from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at The Eastern courtesy of photographer Christian Stewart, and stream full-show audio on the Internet Archive. Up next for JRAD is a three-night run at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas April 23rd–25th while Dead & Company is at Sphere. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Alecia Chakour — “High Time” (Grateful Dead) — 2/15/25
[Video: Sean C]
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — The Eastern — Atlanta, GA — 2/15/25 — Set One
[Video: BruizerNet]
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — The Eastern — Atlanta, GA — 2/15/25 — Set Two + Encore
[Video: BruizerNet]
Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | The Eastern | Atlanta, GA | 2/15/25
Set One: New Speedway Boogie > Estimated Prophet > Loose Lucy, Jack Straw [1] > Bird Song > Uncle John’s Band
Set Two: Mason’s Children > Hell In A Bucket, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (Allman Brothers Band), High Time [2] > Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad (Traditional) [2] > And We Bid You Goodnight (Traditional) [2]
Encore: Georgia (On My Mind) (Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell) [3] > Turn On Your Lovelight (Bobby “Blue” Bland) [2]
[1] Fearless (Pink Floyd) fakeout
[2] w/ Alecia Chakour – Vocals & Percussion
[3] Instrumental, Marco solo
