Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Ends Brooklyn Bowl Fall Ball With High-Octane Crowdpleasers [Videos]

On Saturday night, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead returned to Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, New York, for the sixth and final night of this year’s Fall Ball. Returning to the venue where the band was first conceived back in 2013 as a one-off project, watching Joe Russo’s Almost Dead last night on the final night of a sold-out six-night run was truly a pleasure and highlighted how far the band has come in past years. In the time since the Grateful Dead-inspired five-piece first came together at the annual, long-running Freak’s Ball (organized by the famous Freaks List of New York), the band has knocked out over 125 shows—with Saturday’s show marking their 24th performance at the Brooklyn Bowl—and collaborated with an enviable list of musicians, including Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Oteil Burbridge, Jim James, and recently, John Mayer.

John Mayer Joins Joe Russo’s Almost Dead On Night 5 Of Fall Ball [Photos/Videos]

To celebrate the final night of their Fall Ball, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead was certainly in proper form, leaving nothing on the table as the sprinted toward the finish of the six-night run. Across the evening, though particularly during the second set, the band offered a number of tunes that they hadn’t played since early 2016 or before, with “Hard To Handle” making a reemergence into Almost Dead’s catalog for the first time since March 25th, 2016 at the Brooklyn Bowl (a gap of 56 songs), an “Unbroken Chain” jam returning for the first time since September 6th, 2015 at Great North Festival (a gap of 82 shows), and “Hey Bulldog” being played for the first time since July 2nd, 2016 at Aspen, Colorado’s The Belly Up (a gap of 50 shows).

After a show-opening jam that landed in “Let It Grow”, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead transitioned into “Row Jimmy”, which featured teases of Paul McCartney and the Wings’ tune, “Jet.” From there, the group moved into another more formless jam, this time offering tastes of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Mountain Jam”, a song that was getting truly the royal treatment last night in New York City as Phish’s Trey Anastasio joined Tedeschi Trucks Band on a 33-minute rendition of the song inspired by Donovan’s “There Is A Mountain” at Tedeschi Trucks Band’s run-closing show at The Beacon Theatre. By way of “The Wheel”, which housed an extended “Space” before hitting “The Wheel Reprise”, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead closed out their first set with an offering of “Lost Sailor” and “Saint Of Circumstance.”

Jam > “Let It Grow”

“The Wheel”

[Video: Tommy T]

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s second set was a particularly high-energy offering from the group already known for its energized and creative reimaginings of Grateful Dead tunes. The band kicked things off with the forever-crowdpleaser “Shakedown Street”, which saw tastes of “Feel Like A Stranger” and “Let It Grow” worked in before it transitioned into “Hard To Handle,” the first of three tunes that reemerged from year-long hiatuses of longer. An “Unbroken Chain” jam was used to transition from “Hard To Handle” to the upbeat “China Cat Sunflower,” before the band landed into “St. Stephen,” whose extended jam portion saw teases of “I Know You Rider,” “Cosmic Charlie,” and more. The Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog” came next, before Joe Russo’s Almost Dead ended the second set with “Viola Lee Blues.”

“Shakedown Street

To close out the night in full, Pete Shapiro, Brooklyn Bowl owner and legendary concert promoter, came out to thank the New York City Freaks responsible for bringing Joe Russo’s Almost Dead together back in 2013 during the Freak’s Ball and the fan group’s continued and rabid support of the band ever since. After this sweet shoutout, the band came back out, aptly finishing off the show and their six-night Fall Ball with “One More Saturday Night.” You can check out the setlist to Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s performance below, courtesy of Pete Costello.

[Photo: Andrew Blackstein]

Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | Brooklyn Bowl | New York, NY | 10/14/2017