Jeff Chimenti Guests With Joe Russo’s Almost Dead In New Orleans

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead began a two-night stand at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans on Friday. The Grateful Dead tribute act welcomed keyboardist Jeff Chimenti to help them out at points of both sets before he subbed in for Marco Benevento during the encore.

Benevento kicked off the night with a solo piano jam before the rest of his bandmates joined in, as they would eventually settle in on a Tom Hamilton-led take on “Cats Under The Stars.” The title track from the Jerry Garcia Band’s 1978 LP would segue straight into the John Phillips-penned cowboy tune “Me & My Uncle.” An exploratory take on “The Wheel” was used as the catalyst for a seamless run that would take the band through the remainder of the set. A jam on “Tennessee Jed” came ahead of “He’s Gone” with Chimenti emerging for the first time next. The Dead & Company keyboard lent a hand on the classic pairing of “Lost Sailor” and “Saint Of Circumstance.”

A funky, nearly 20-minute take on “Shakedown Street” was tapped to get the quartet’s second stanza going. The ensemble would dig in on a pair of the Dead’s musically quirky numbers next with “Crazy Fingers” and “Estimated Prophet.” JRAD would stick to the Grateful Dead’s mid-1970s output delivering an instrumental take on “Weather Report Suite” that concluded with guitarist Scott Metzger bringing it home with “Let It Grow.” Chimenti would return to the stage with the augmented ensemble closing things out with Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away.” Midway through the tune, Benevento turned things over to Chimenti with drummer Joe Russo announcing that the keyboard player needed to get to his next scheduled gig of the night. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead offered up “U.S. Blues” as their lone encore.

Watch pro-shot video of the opening tune from each set courtesy of nugs.tv and fan-captured video below:

Jam > Cats Under The Stars

Shakedown Street

The Wheel Captured by Gregory Marcus

Not Fade Away Captured by Monica Hampton

Setlist (via JRAD is Rad)

Set I: Jam > Cats Under The Stars > Me & My Uncle, The Wheel > Tennessee Jed Jam > He’s Gone > Lost Sailor* > Saint Of Circumstance*

Set II: Shakedown Street, Crazy Fingers > Estimated Prophet > Weather Report Suite (instrumental) > Let It Grow, Not Fade Away*

Encore: U.S. Blues*

*with Jeff Chimenti