Well The Thursdays Are The Hardest Days: Joe Russo's Almost Dead In Charlotte [Videos]

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead left its New York bubble for a breath of Southern air this weekend for a run of shows through the Southeast, kicking off Thursday night at The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC. The show followed the band’s three-night stint at Port Chester, NY’s The Capitol Theatre as JRAD’s first concerts of 2024, and witnessed the debut of a new John Lennon cover in the encore slot.

Filtering into the sold-out, Live Nation-operated venue, this first-time visitor to The Fillmore (or any Fillmore to be precise) immediately recognized that everything he read online was true. It’s rare that a city or business fully lives up to the hype it receives online, be that good or bad, but The Fillmore Charlotte’s reputation truly does precede itself as an abhorrent place to witness live music. Structurally, the raised, multi-level rectangle isn’t a necessarily poorly designed space for a concert—though steel beams jutting through the crowd every dozen or so feet do make for some difficult sightlines.

No, where The Fillmore earns its reputation from sources like Reddit and word-of-mouth throughout the Charlotte music community is in the venue’s inclination to sell as many tickets as possible for the all-general admission room—a natural inclination for any concert promoter. There is, however, the unfortunate reality of figuring out where to put all of the bodies to whom you’ve sold tickets. This leaves (semi) innocent Live Nation venue staff with the task of attempting to pen attendees within a demarcated taped-off zone—in order to keep walkways clear and afford the venue some plausible deniability that the place isn’t a giant fire hazard. The result is an overcrowded, sweaty box of patrons who are barely able to move much less dance and get to truly enjoy the ticket they paid for (plus fees, plus service charge).

But the chandeliers are nice, huh?

End rant. The men of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at least were able to make themselves comfortable onstage, settling into the show with an ambient blues jam. The improvisation ultimately revealed itself as “Cassidy”, a fitting tip of the cap to Neal Cassady (one of the song’s inspirations) on what would have marked Cowboy Neal’s 98th birthday. Marco Benevento‘s boogie-woogie keyboards soared like the flight of the seabird, before guitarists Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger, and even trusty bassist Dave Dreiwitz all got their opening licks in—directed by their cosmic puppetmaster Joe Russo on drums.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Cassidy” – 2/8/24

The band lept from the instrumental springboard straight out into an envelope filter-induced 1970s Grateful Dead jam propelled by Hamilton, who ultimately tore through the mellow mood to bring the archetypal JRAD fury. A fakeout tease of Pink Floyd‘s “Fearless” from Marco took a hard turn into an organ-driven “Catfish John” that would make Merl Saunders proud. Though there was a steel beam in front of me, I was still able to jostle to get the only view that mattered of Russo’s contortional dexterity. However, even the gift of sight didn’t demystify the drummer’s perceived ability to be in so many places at once.

It is surprisingly rare to see a Grateful Dead tribute band cover the group’s most popular song “Touch of Grey”, given the cultural stigma that many Heads assign the song for its role in bringing the Dead into mainstream culture. JRAD though abides by no such taboos and instead embraced the inherently jovial song that turned on generations of fans, invigorated by Hamilton’s full-throated reading and Russo’s skeletal drumrolls.

The singalong sent the band off into some deep space wanderings, with Marco’s distorted grand piano guiding through the galaxy and Hamilton donning a space shuttle slide. The resulting jam embodied the blissful nothingness of how it must feel to be a rock floating through space, existing independently of time. Cast out in the cosmos, JRAD was ultimately taken in by the gravitational pull of “The Wheel” for a smooth transition—only for a hairpin turn into a mid-song piano breakdown from Marco that fell somewhere between the Derek and the Dominos “Layla” coda and the theme song to Hill Street Blues. Hamilton meanwhile employed some light two-handed tapping guitar playing to float through the ambiance, until JRAD once again assumed its corporeal form for a grounding “Uncle John’s Band”. Though it felt like UJB was the natural set closer, Metzger pushed the band for one more as he led a ferocious “I Need A Miracle” that took JRAD into set break.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “The Wheel” – 2/8/24 – Partial

[Video: 2nd Rail Productions]

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “I Need A Miracle” – 2/8/24

[Video: 2nd Rail Productions]

As we progress through life (or read The Alchemist), we are inclined to look for signs or omens from the universe that we are on the right path. These could be as simple as a recurring symbol or iconography that continues to manifest as we pursue our Personal Legend. Personally, that omen is hearing Bob Dylan‘s “Tangled Up In Blue” performed live—and that is how JRAD started the second set. During moments of self-doubt, like asking why I chose to drive 130 miles to stand in this sweaty box on a Thursday night, the eternal traveling tune continues to inspire me to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew.

As if things weren’t already strange enough, Scott Metzger ensured they’d get a whole lot weirder as he slinked through the opening of “Feel Like A Stranger”. Moving through musical eras, Metzger’s disco guitar riffs caught the reflection of the colorful chandeliers and before long the Saturday Night Fever decadence had given way to a full-fledged Pink Floyd “Another Brick In The Wall” jam that was built like, well, The Wall.

Tom Hamilton wisely took the foot off the gas as he laid a dour mood on the crowd for a mournful “Black Peter”, the sorrowful contemplation juxtaposed by the resulting dance party when Scott Metzger erupted on “The Music Never Stopped”. Riding that crest of a wave of sonic positivity, the band bounced through a jovial “Scarlet Begonias” that saw these modern-day translators of the Dead tome get back to the basics with a classic telling of a quintessential song. The jam powered the speeding locomotive that is Joe Russo’s Almost Dead around one final bend that brought on a transition to “I Know You Rider”, as we all got to imagine for a moment that we were a headlight on a northbound train—just before the band walked offstage for the encore break.

While Joe Russo has publicly expressed his disdain for the encore charade in the past, his band still manages to keep the archaic concert practice interesting and exciting. Case in point, on Thursday in Charlotte JRAD was its own walk-out music as Marco Benevento beat the rest of the band to the stage and then proceeded to play them on as if he was the house band for a late-night talk show. Finally, all things must come to an end, but we all shine on, like the moon, and the star, and the sun, courtesy of Tom Hamilton’s spirited delivery of the JRAD debut of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma!” to literally put an exclamation point on the evening.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Instant Karma!” (John Lennon) – 2/8/24

[Video: 2nd Rail Productions]

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s southern sojourn continues with a two-night run at The Eastern in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit the band’s website.

Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | The Fillmore | Charlotte, NC | 2/8/24

Set One: Jam > Cassidy (Bob Weir), Catfish John (Bob McDill, Allen Reynolds), Touch Of Grey (Grateful Dead) > The Wheel (Grateful Dead) > Uncle John’s Band (Grateful Dead) > I Need A Miracle (Grateful Dead)

Set Two: Tangled Up In Blue (Bob Dylan) > Feel Like A Stranger (Grateful Dead), Black Peter (Grateful Dead) > The Music Never Stopped (Grateful Dead), Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead) > I Know You Rider (Traditional)

Encore: Instant Karma! (John Lennon) [1]

[1] FTP