Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Performs ‘Scarlet Begonias’ > ‘I Know You Rider’ In 2019: Pro-Shot Video

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead unveiled pro-shot video of a sequence that saw the quintet jam the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias” into “I Know The Rider.” The “Scarlet/Rider” pairing took place at Cleveland’s Masonic Auditorium on March 16, 2019.

The video is the latest installment of the band’s “Rad Tracks” series with an MP4 file available for download here. When the Grateful Dead played “Scarlet Begonias,” in nearly all cases the song led into “Fire On The Mountain” after the latter’s debut in 1977. The Dead also went with “China Cat Sunflower” as the precursor to “I Know You Rider” for the vast majority of their career. Neither “Fire” or “China Cat” were performed by JRAD in Cleveland on March 16, 2019.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — consisting of guitarists Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton, keyboardist Marco Benevento, bassist Dave Dreiwitz and drummer Joe Russo — paired “Scarlet” and “Rider” at the end of their first set at the Masonic. The 19-minute segment saw the five-piece quickly move from the “Scarlet Begonias” jam into “I Know You Rider” territory propelled by a fast beat laid down by Russo. Benevento took a fierce solo within “Rider” before Hamilton led the band to one final peak at the end of the song.

Watch JRAD’s “Scarlet Begonias” > “I Know You Rider” from March 16, 2019 below: