Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Offer Debuts & Welcome Special Guests At Red Rocks

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead capped off their Colorado run at Red Rocks on Friday. The band unveiled covers from Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, The Beatles and more along with welcoming a pair of special guests.

JRAD kicked off their first set at the iconic Colorado venue with “Jack Straw” which headed into “Althea.” After covering Pink Floyd’s “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” the previous evening in Vail, Colorado, the band included “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” teases in the first big jam excursion of the evening.

The Dead’s ‘80s-only song “My Brother Esau” followed and contained a little foreshadowing of things to come in the form of “Slipknot!” elements as next up JRAD would deliver “Help On The Way” and its aforementioned instrumental companion. A special moment then came when keyboardist Marco Benevento welcomed his daughter Ila Benevento for the JRAD debut of The Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen A Face.” From there the band then headed into “Cumberland Blues” which interestingly encompassed “China Cat Sunflower” to bring the first set to a close.

Dead favorite “Brown-Eyed Women” got the second set — which featured frequent collaborator Stuart Bogie on sax and flute for the entire frame — underway and led into a jam that saw JRAD continuing their Pink Floyd teases with elements of “Run Like Hell.” The quintet then got into “The Music Never Stopped,” which saw them cycling through GD teases of “Sugaree,” “Wharf Rat” and “Dark Star” before segueing into the debut of Grand Funk Railroad’s “I’m You Captain,” which the band has been toying with during the Colorado run.

JRAD threw “Morning Dew” in the middle of “I’m Your Captain” before moving on to “Shakedown Street.” The band continued into “Weather Report Suite,” a rarity for JRAD, played for the seventh time with the last performance coming on April 26, 2019. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead fittingly closed out the second set with another suite, Pink Floyd’s epic “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” to cap off the Floyd festivities. JRAD wasn’t done, however, and launched the encore with the debut of The Dead rarity “Sage And Spirit,” performed twice by GD, followed by a drum solo from the man himself Joe Russo. The quintet would close out the eventful evening with “Samson & Delilah.”

Watch fan-shot video of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” as well as pro-shot video of the set opening songs below:

Photos by Jeremy Williams

Setlist (via JRAD is Rad)

Set One: Jack Straw@ > Althea > Jam 1# > My Brother Esau$, Help on the Way > Slipknot, I’ve Just Seen A Face% > Cumberland Blues > China Cat Sunflower > Cumberland Blues

Set Two*: Brown Eyed Women > Jam+ > The Music Never Stopped@@ > Jam > The Music Never Stopped > I’m Your Captain## > Morning Dew > I’m Your Captain > Shakedown Street > Weather Report Suite$$ > Shine on You Crazy Diamond%%

Encore: Sage and Spirit^^, Joe Solo > Samson and Delilah

• @W/ The Wheel, Allmans teases
• # W/ Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Shine on You Crazy Diamond teases
• $ W/ Stairway to Heaven and Slipknot teases
• % Beatles cover, JRAD debut, With guest Ila Benevento on vocals
• * With Stuart Bogie on sax and flute
• + W/ Run Like Hell (Pink Floyd) teases
• @@ W/ Sugaree, Wharf Rat, Dark Star, The Eleven teases
• ## Grand Funk Railroad cover, JRAD debut (after teasing it past few nights)
• $$ 7th time played by JRAD, last played 4/26/19, W/ I’m Your Captain, Black Magic Woman (Santana) and Moondance (Van Morrison) teases
• %% Pink Floyd cover, JRAD debut
• ^^ JRAD debut