On Friday, May 4th, and Saturday, May 5th, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead came together in New Orleans, performing two sold-out shows at the Mardis Gras World Ballroom coinciding with the last weekend of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Grateful Dead-inspired group held nothing back, laying out two high-energy and improvisation-heavy shows and welcoming out special guests violinist Katie Jacoby and Nick Bockrath of Cage The Elephant across the two-night stand.
Today, the band has announced that this weekend, nugs.tv will re-broadcast their two shows from during Jazz Fest. On Friday, May 18th, nugs.tv will webcast the first of their sold-out New Orleans shows, while Saturday, May 19th, will see the streaming service webcast the band’s show from May 5th. As noted in a post by Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, the post-event webcasts start at $4.99, and all proceeds from the webcast will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans.
You can head to nugs.tv to order the re-broadcast of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s New Orleans run on May 4th and 5th. For more information, check out the band’s Facebook post below, and to get a preview of the upcoming webcasts, check out extensive setlists from both shows, courtesy of Peter Costello.
Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | Mardi Gras Ballroom | New Orleans, LA | 5/4/2018
Set One (9:30PM – 10:33PM): Jam -> Man Smart, Woman Smarter @ > Help On The Way -> Slipknot! # -> Scarlet Begonias $ -> Jam % -> I Know You Rider > I Need A Miracle
Set Two (11:01PM – 12:44AM): Marco Solo – > Yazoo Street Scandal ^ -> Jam & -> Tennessee Jed * > Playing In The Band + -> Jam + @@ -> The Eleven + -> Feel Like A Stranger + ##, Morning Dew $$
Encore: Bertha
@ – With an Iko Iko Tease/Jam (SM)
# – With elements of “Foam” (Phish) and Terrapin Station & an “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed“ (The Allman Brothers) Jam
$ – With multiple Terrapin Station Teases (SM, then MB, then TH)
% – With a Terrapin Station Tease (Band)
^ – Bob Dylan & The Band Cover, 2nd Time Played by Almost Dead, MB on Vox
& – With a “Good Lovin’” (The Rascals) Tease
* – With a “Revelry” (Traditional) Tease (SM) & another Marco Solo
+ – With Katie Jacoby (KJ) on Violin
@@ – With a “Swingtown” (Steve Miller Band) Tease (KJ), and a “Come Together” (The Beatles) Tease (KJ)
## – With a “Here Comes the Hotstepper” (Ini Kamoze) Tease (KJ)
$$ – With a “Baba O’Riley” (The Who) Tease (MB)
Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | Mardi Gras Ballroom | New Orleans, LA | 5/5/2018
Set One (9:31PM – 10:52PM): Casey Jones > Let It Grow @ -> Jam # -> Bird Song $ -> Greatest Story Ever Told > Dancing In The Streets >
Set Two (11:28PM – 1:10AM): Foolish Heart % -> New Minglewood Blues ^ -> Jam -> China Cat Sunflower & -> Tell Me Mama -> Cumberland Blues Jam * -> Big River Jam I + -> Cumberland Blues -> Big River Jam II + -> Cumberland Blues -> Big River Refrain I + -> Cumberland Blues -> Big River Refrain + II -> Cumberland Blues Reprise @@
Candy Man ## > Music Never Stopped
Encore: Going Down The Road Feeling Bad $$ %% -> Franklin’s Tower $$
@ – With a “Ten Years Gone” (Led Zeppelin) Tease (Band)
# – With elements of “My Favorite Things” (Rodgers and Hammerstein) and Teases of Let It Grow & Bird Song
$ – With a Marco Solo & a Duo Jam
% – With China->Rider Transition Teases (MB & TH)
^ – With a Throwing Stones Tease (TH)
& – With a Let It Grow (I think) Tease (TH)
* – With a Marco Solo, first time Cumberland has appeared as a Jam. Basically they started Cumberland, it morphed into a Marco Solo, which became a Big River Jam & then they sung the lyrics of Cumberland.
+ – Partial Instrumental & Refrain versions of a Johnny Cash Cover, First time Played in this style () by Almost Dead
@@ Not Played By Almost Dead since 2017-10-06 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 29 shows
## – With a “Revelry” (Traditional) Tease (SM)
$$ – With Nick Bockrath (Cage the Elephant) on guitar for both songs & vocals on GDTRFB
%% – Without the traditional instrumental We Bid You Goodnight ending. It segued directly into Franklin’s