Last weekend, the 2018 edition of LOCKN’ took place at Infinity Downs Farm in Arrington, VA. On the festival’s first two days, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead manned the late-night duties at the Relix Stage, keeping fans dancing to their trademark adrenaline-fueled take on the Grateful Dead‘s repertoire into the early hours of the morning.
One of the highlights of the band’s Thursday night set came midway through their performance, when they started into “Weather Report Suite” climax “Let It Grow”. The nearly 19-minute rendition saw the band wind through various distinct improv sections before building to a thundering peak and maintaining their headful of steam as they barreled into the song’s closing refrain. Watch Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s “Let It Grow” from LOCKN’ night one below:
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Let It Grow” [Pro-Shot]
[Video: Jonathan Healey/Relix]
The rest of the sit continued in thrilling fashion, as the band moved into one of their strongest tunes, “Dancing In The Street”, infused with teases of the “Let It Grow” that preceded it as well as nods to Led Zeppelin‘s “We’re Gonna Groove” and Herbie Hancock‘s “Hang Up Your Hangups”, which had served as the centerpiece for the “only at LOCKN'” Lettuce/Umphrey’s McGee main stage set transition earlier in the evening. Later in the set, the band welcomed Chris Harford (with whom several of the JRAD band members would perform the following day as Band of Changes) for a rendition of Neil Young‘s “Hippie Dream”, before closing strong with a “Morning Dew” featuring teases of “Let It Grow” and Radiohead‘s “Everything In Its Right Place”.
You can also relive the entire first day of LOCKN, including Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s late set (starting at 04:55:00), below via Relix:
LOCKN’ – 8/23/18 – Full Webcast
[Video: Relix]
Next up for Joe Russo’s Almost Dead is a stop at the inaugural Waterloo Music Festival in Austin, TX on September 8th. For a full list of JRAD’s upcoming tour dates, head to the band’s website.