Late Friday night, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead delivered their second and final set at this year’s edition of LOCKN’ Festival in Arrington, VA. Following main stage performances by Widespread Panic with Margo Price; Umphrey’s McGee with Jason Bonham, Taylor Hicks, and Derek Trucks; George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic; and many more, JRAD took the crowd to the Relix Stage to let their fast-paced, fresh-faced takes on the Grateful Dead‘s songs fill the air into the wee hours of the morning.

After beginning with their customary ambient intro jam, the band slid into an extended rendition of the Jerry Garcia Band favorite, “Cats Under The Stars”. A “Tell Me Mama” with teases of The Beatles‘ “Hey Bulldog” came next, before smoothly segueing into a blistering “Viola Lee Blues”, one of the strongest songs in the JRAD repertoire. This “Viola Lee” was infused with a litany of teases, including Led Zeppelin‘s “Heartbreaker” (from keyboardist Marco Benevento), Bob Dylan‘s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (from Scott Metzger) and Bob Weir-penned Anthem of the Sun cut “Born Cross-Eyed”.

Out of “Viola Lee”, the band dove into a psychedelic “St. Stephen” inflected with “Day Tripper” teases, which they delicately piloted into “The Eleven” to complete the classic live Dead pairing. As “The Eleven” began to peter out, the band picked back up on “St. Stephen” for a brief reprise before opting for a detour through The Band‘s “Ophelia”. Next, JRAD kept the “un-Dead” song selections coming with a Tom Hamilton-led, The Band-influenced rendition of Bruce Springsteen original, “Atlantic City”, complete with a reference to the “Eleven” from earlier in the set.

From there, the band dove back into the classic Grateful Dead catalog, delivering an impressive “China Cat Sunflower” (with a pronounced jam on Radiohead‘s “National Anthem”) into “I Know You Rider” (featuring several Zeppelin teases including “Rock and Roll”, “We’re Gonna Groove”, and “Heartbreaker”).

Finally, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead served up “Feel Like A Stranger”, which they guided into “Shakedown Street” (featuring an Earth Wind & Fire “Serpentine Fire” tease) and back to a “Feel Like A Stranger” reprise to cap their fantastic set.

Watch pro-shot footage of JRAD’s show-opening “Cats Under The Stars” jam below:

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – Jam > “Cats Under The Stars” [Pro-Shot]

[Video: Relix]

You can watch the remainder of the performances at this weekend’s LOCKN’ festival live here.

Next up for Joe Russo’s Almost Dead is a performance at the inaugural Waterloo Festival in Austin, TX on September 8th. For more information on JRAD’s upcoming dates, or to grab your tickets now, head to the band’s website.

Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | LOCKN’ Festival | Arrington, VA | 8/24/18 

One Set (11:58PM – 2:04AM)
Jam ->
Cats Under The Stars >
Tell Me Mama @ ->
Viola Lee Blues # ->
St. Stephen $ ->
The Eleven ->
St. Stephen Reprise ->
Ophelia
Atlantic City % >
China Cat Sunflower ^ ->
I Know You Rider &
Feel Like A Stranger ->
Shakedown Street * ->
Feel Like A Stranger Reprise +

@ – With a “Hey Bulldog” (The Beatles) Jam
# – With a “Heartbreaker” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (MB), a “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (Bob Dylan) Tease (SM) & a Born Cross Eyed Tease (Band)
$ – With a “Day Tripper” (The Beatles) Tease (SM)
% – With a The Eleven Tease (TH)
^ – With a “National Anthem” (Radiohead) Jam
& – With a “Rock and Roll” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (JR), a “We’re Gonna Groove” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (JR) and a “Heartbreaker” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (Band)
* – With a Feel Like A Stranger Tease (TH) and a “Serpentine Fire” (Earth Wind & Fire) tease (MB)
+ – First time played by Almost Dead (as a reprise)