Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Debut Jerry Garcia Band Cover & Play Two Encores In Oakland

After two nights in Los Angeles, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead moved their way up the coast to cap off a three-night West Coast swing with a sold-out gig at the historic Fox Theater in Oakland on Saturday. The Grateful Dead tribute act once again served up two sets of music that included the JRAD debut of a Jerry Garcia Band song as well as a rare double-encore.

With it being 11/11 on the calendar drummer Joe Russo, guitarists Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton, keyboardist Marco Benevento and bassist Dave Dreiwitz began the night appropriately with “The Eleven,” which according to Peter Costello’s setlist notes ‘started with 11 hits a la BIODTL’ and saw the band start with the songs lyrics with the intro jam played at the end as they segued into “Feel Like A Stranger.” An open-ended “Jam” sequence followed that saw Dreiwitz lay down a bass solo as it eventually found its way into the American Beauty track “Candyman.” A Metzger-sung version of “Greatest Story Ever Told,” that featured a tease of “The Wheel,” followed and led into Wake Of The Flood’s “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,” which saw Hamilton and Benevento team up on a jam, with “Playing In The Band” bringing the set to a close.

The band kicked off their second set of the night with “Man Smart, Woman Smarter.” The calypso tune, which was originally made famous by Harry Belafonte, eventually was followed by JRAD’s debut take on Jerry Garcia Band’s “Cats Under The Stars.” For the second night in a row Joe Russo & Co. offered up a Bob Dylan cover, this time playing the semi-deep cut “Tell Me Momma.” The tune, which Zimmy never recorded and exclusively played on his 1966 tour, was split in two with a distinct jam on Golden Earrings’ “Radar Love” sandwiched in the middle. The traditional pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” came next, with “Samson & Delilah” closing out the set.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead returned to the stage for their encore by playing another open-ended jam that they worked into Neil Young’s “Vampire Blues.” The track from Young’s 1974 release On The Beach segued into the Grateful Dead’s lone top ten hit – “Touch Of Grey” – to close things out. The band was clearly feeling the energy from the Bay Area crowd as they emerged for a second encore in which they treated fans to a pair of tunes that were debuted during the Dead’s cosmic Americana period as Hamilton led them through “Loser,” with “New Minglewood Blues” bringing the night to a close.

Watch fan-shot video captured by Deadheadland Films and check out the full setlist below:

Videos

[Touch Of Grey]

[Loser > New Minglewood Blues]

Setlist (Compiled by Peter Costello)

Set One (8:10pm – 9:28pm): The Eleven @ -> Feel Like A Stranger, Jam # -> Candyman, Greatest Story Ever Told $ > Mississippi Half Step % -> Playing In The Band

Set Two (9:53pm – 11:28pm) Man Smart, Woman Smarter > Cats Under The Stars ^ -> Tell Me Momma -> Radar Love Jam & -> Tell Me Momma Reprise * -> China Cat Sunflower + -> I Know You Rider > Samson & Delilah

Enc One: Jam -> Vampire Blues ## -> Touch Of Grey $$

Enc Two: Loser -> New Minglewood Blues

• @ – Started with 11 hits a la BIODTL for 11.11, “Flipped” Version – Started on the lyrics portion & the intro jam ended the song as it transitioned into Stranger
• # – With a DD Bass Solo
• $ – With a Wheel Tease (TH)
• % – With a TH/MB Duo Jam
• ^ – Jerry Garcia Band Cover, First Time Played by Almost Dead
• & – An Instrumental, incomplete version of a Golden Earing Cover, First Time Played by Almost Dead
• * – First Split Tell Me Momma
• + – With a Tell Me Momma Tease (SM) and a Feel Like A Stranger Tease (TH)
• @@ – With a TH / SM Duo Jam
• ## – With a Unknown Tease (SM)
• $$ – With a Black Throated Wind Tease