Over the weekend, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead hit The RIDE Festival, offering up an evening performance on Sunday in the gorgeous mountain town of Telluride, Colorado.
In the past, given the group’s lineup featuring sought-after musicians, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead has needed to find substitutes for specific runs or shows—like when bassist Dave Dreiwitz was forced to miss the band’s debut at Red Rocks Amphitheatre because he was on Ween tour, forcing Dead & Company bassist Oteil Burbridge to sub in. Similarly, for JRAD’s sets at The RIDE, keyboardist Marco Benevento was unable to attend, and Leftover Salmon keyboardist, Erik Deutsch, rose to the occasion for the weekend and join the Grateful Dead-inspired act.
Despite rain throughout the performance, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead offered up an energized performance, opening the show with “Reuben & Cerise”, seguing the set-opening tune gracefully into “Throwing Stones”—a number that Dead & Company had busted out during their own Colorado show on Friday night during the band’s two-night summer tour closer at Folsom Field. With an emphasis on exploratory cross-song jamming, “Throwing Stones” weaved into an upbeat and jubilant “The Music Never Stopped”—offering Deutsch the opportunity to flex and show off why he was chosen to sub in for Benevento.
From there, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead dramatically dropped into “Brown-Eyed Women”, which was used as a launching pad for “Easy Wind” and then into a standout “Help On The Way” > a dark-infused “Slipknot”. Given the religious undertones of “Samson and Delilah” and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s Sunday placement, the group took attendees at The RIDE to church with the fan-favorite number. To close out the set, the band invited out a special guest, Chris Robinson, who helped the band finish off the set with yet another classic, “Bertha”.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead with Chris Robinson – “Bertha”
Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | The RIDE Festival | Telluride, CO | 7/15/2018
Set: Reuben and Cerise > Throwing Stones > The Music Never Stopped > Brown-Eyed Women > Easy Wind > Help on the Way > Slipknot > Samson and Delilah, Bertha (w/ Chris Robinson)
[H/T JamBase]