Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Busts Out Spacehog Cover In St. Louis

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead ended a four-concert swing through the Midwest with their second of two nights at The Pageant in St. Louis last night. Sunday’s show featured the band’s first cover of Spacehog’s “In The Meantime” since September 28, 2019.

Drummer Joe Russo, keyboardist Marco Benevento and guitarists Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton were joined by Jon Shaw on bass for the duration of the run with regular bassist Dave Dreiwitz busy on Ween tour. Metzger fronted the group on a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately” that emerged out of a jam featuring a “Loose Lucy” tease to kick off Sunday’s concert.

JRAD hinted at and jammed on The Allman Brothers Band’s “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” next but instead swerved into “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo.” Hamilton handled lead vocals on “Mississippi Half-Step” and the ensuing “He’s Gone.” The latter led into an adventurous “Cassidy” sung by Metzger that gave way to the beloved “Reuben & Cerise.” Almost Dead went on to close last night’s 75-minute first set with the calypso song “Man Smart (Woman Smarter).”

The familiar “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” pairing kicked off Sunday’s second set. The five-piece worked “Slipknot!” into “Jack Straw” instead of the “Franklin’s Tower” that typically brought Grateful Dead performances of the song suite to an end. Marco Benevento provided a wild piano solo to peak “Jack Straw.” From there JRAD jammed “Let It Grow” into “The Wheel,” which gave way to “One More Saturday Night.”

“The energy of the room has been re-tuned and we have to adjust,” Russo alerted the crowd before Hamilton handled lead vocals on the set-closing “In The Meantime” from Spacehog’s 1995 debut album, Resident Alien. Last night marked JRAD’s fourth performance of the song and first since a September 28, 2019 concert in Washington D.C. The quintet returned to end the night and run with an encore featuring “The Other One” and “Truckin’.” Both tunes included “The Wheel” teases while “Truckin'” also contained hints of “Let It Grow,” “The Other One” and “Mountain Jam.”

Watch pro-shot video featuring the start of Sunday’s concert below

Check out fan-shot “In The Meantime” video captured by DarbySTL:

Setlist (via Almost-Dead.net)

Set One: Queen Jane Approximately, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo > He’s Gone > Cassidy > Reuben & Cerise > Man Smart (Woman Smarter)

Set Two: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Jack Straw, Let It Grow > The Wheel > One More Saturday Night, In The Meantime

Encore: The Other One > Truckin’

Featuring Jon Shaw on bass.