Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Shares Epic ‘Scarlet/Fire’ Video

When we posted an essay about Joe Russo’s Almost Dead memorable October run at Brooklyn Bowl in NYC, the article documented a wonderful live music moment when keyboardist Marco Benevento unleashed a ridiculous solo in “Fire On The Mountain” that led to an insane reaction from the audience. Today, the Grateful Dead tribute act has unveiled professionally-shot video and an audio download of the epic…yes, epic “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire On The Mountain” from October 3.

Here’s what we had to write about the “Fire”:

It was just past midnight on an early fall Saturday night at NYC’s Brooklyn Bowl when Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s version of “Fire On The Mountain” fell apart . Drummer Joe Russo lost track of the beat, guitarist Tom Hamilton couldn’t get the lyrics out of his mouth and keyboardist Marco Benevento was too busy placating the crowd to actually play anything. While for a minute or two the music was a mess, the capacity crowd of 600 was eating up every second of it and was partially to blame as they had just witnessed and responded to one of the most insane keyboard solos to ever fit within a Grateful Dead song.

The Grateful Dead tribute act opened the second set at their second of three nights at Brooklyn Bowl with “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire On The Mountain.” Benevento stepped up for a solo during “Fire” that saw him string together one brilliant melody after another at lightning speed. For a few magical moments the crowd’s collective jaw was on the floor as Marco dug into his relentless solo. You could hear a pin drop since the audience was so entranced by what the keyboardist was laying down through the solo’s conclusion. The reaction to the performance was just as memorable as the solo itself. The Brooklyn faithful responded as if the home team had just won the World Series: arms were thrust into the air, audience members were screaming approval and clapping as loudly as they could. I’ve been attending concerts for well over 20 years to this point and can only recall a handful of times a crowd became as unhinged as it did following Benevento’s solo. The roar lasted nearly as long as the solo and was so loud and sustained the members of the band couldn’t hear each other, hence the version of “Fire” falling apart for a little while until everyone finally calmed down.

Now you don’t have to take our words for what went down thanks to the latest installment of the band’s Rad Tracks Wednesday series:

Download audio of the sequence here through December 9.