Joe Russo’s Almost Dead explored the duality of love and Valentine’s Day on Saturday in Atlanta, closing the weekend with the Allman Brothers Band‘s “Whipping Post” and the Grateful Dead‘s “They Love Each Other”.
Saturday’s show at The Eastern finished a three-show, three-state run that also saw covers of The Spencer Davis Group‘s “Don’t Want You No More”, Tampa Red‘s “It Hurts Me Too”, Vanilla Fudge‘s “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, and Derek and the Dominos‘ “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?”. The song selections for the bruised-hearted continued on Saturday, with a “Foolish Heart” opener out of a Joe Russo/Marco Benevento duo-led jam.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — “Jam” > “Foolish Heart” (Grateful Dead) — 2/14/26
Amid an upbeat “Shakedown Street”, the band recognized “All the lonely people” with teases of “Eleanor Rigby”, ahead of a foot-stomping, glass-shattering transition into Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ in the Free World”. JRAD played just the chorus, but the song’s iconic rumble served as a perfect transition to Bob Weir‘s “Cassidy”. The uninterrupted first set continued with the jubilant “Scarlet Begonias”, Scott Metzger going Waylon Jennings on “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”, and finally a more optimistic “Good Lovin'” to close.
For the final set of the weekend, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead charged out with “The Music Never Stopped”. The choice proved prophetic, as the band once again turned in a non-stop set of continuous music, moving through a poignant pairing of “He’s Gone” and “Estimated Prophet”. The mournful refrain of “Nothing’s gonna bring him back” exploded into a flood of envelope-filtered guitar, swirling B3 organ, and percussive crashes, ultimately riding the bobbing waves off the golden shore.
The normally blissful reggae-ish tune instead became a cathartic highlight of the night, seguing to a relatively compact but still thoroughly exploratory “Dark Star”. The 16-minute “Truckin'” that followed proved to be the longest single song of the night, leading into a tribute to the late Phil Lesh with “The Eleven”.
Keeping up the sequence of bass-fueled selections, Dave Dreiwitz‘s low chuggle announced the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post”, which came down with scorned fury to end the second set. This marked the second straight year JRAD has honored the Allmans during its traditional February trip to The Eastern, following last year’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”. Finally, the weekend came to a close with a dose of positivity via “They Love Each Other”.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — “The Eleven” (Grateful Dead) > “Whipping Post” (Allman Brothers Band) — 2/14/26
[Video: Sean C]
Check out some photos from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at The Eastern by Christian Stewart, along with full-show audio by ddyche and video by BruizerNet. Up next for JRAD is a Southern swing through Dallas (4/30), Austin (5/1), and the band’s annual trip to New Orleans (5/2) during Jazz Fest. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — The Eastern — Atlanta, GA — 2/14/26 — First Set
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — The Eastern — Atlanta, GA — 2/14/26 — Second Set & Encore
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — The Eastern — Atlanta, GA — 2/14/26 — Full Audio
Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | The Eastern | Atlanta, GA | 2/14/26
Set One: Jam > Foolish Heart [1] > Shakedown Street [2] > Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young) [3] > Cassidy > Scarlet Begonias > Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line (Jim Alley) > Good Lovin’ (The Olympics)
Set Two: Jam > The Music Never Stopped > He’s Gone > Estimated Prophet > Dark Star > Truckin’ [4] > The Eleven > Whipping Post (Allman Brothers Band)
Encore: They Love Each Other
[1] “Feel Like A Stranger” ending
[2] “Eleanor Rigby” tease
[3] Partial
[4] “Dark Star” tease
