Joe Russo's Almost Dead is an American

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

formed in 2013 that mainly covers the music of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

. Formed by Furthur and

Benevento/Russo Duo The Benevento/Russo Duo (or The Duo for short) is an American alternative jazz/rock band from New York City, featuring Marco Benevento on keyboard instruments and Joe Russo on drums. History Benevento and Russo met while in junior high school ...

drummer Joe Russo, the band played their first show on January 26, 2013 at the

Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn Bowl is a music venue, bowling alley and restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2009, it is located in the former Hecla Iron Works Building at 61 Wythe Avenue. It is known for its high-tech green con ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. In addition to drummer Joe Russo, the band also includes Ween's bassist

Dave Dreiwitz Dave Dreiwitz (born January 2, 1966) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the bassist for the bands Ween and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Biography Dave Dreiwitz was born on January 2, 1966, in New York City, N ...

, keyboardist

Marco Benevento Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977) is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock music, rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and rec ...

Scott Metzger Scott Metzger (born October 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. His work touches on many styles including psychedelic rock, soul, country, jazz, and surf rock. His collaborations with other artists include Phil Lesh, Billy Martin (percussionist) ...

on guitar and vocals, and Tom Hamilton of Brothers Past and American Babies on guitar and vocals.

Performances

2013

The band's first concert was on January 26, 2013, at the

in Brooklyn, New York for the second night of the Freaks Ball XIII. As Joe Russo recalls in the September 2017 Relix Magazine interview, he was supposed to play in the Dean Ween Group (

Mickey Melchiondo Michael Melchiondo Jr. (born September 25, 1970), better known by his stage name Dean Ween, is an American guitarist, singer and a founding member of the alternative rock group Ween. He is currently active in the groups Ween, Moistboyz and The ...

from Ween's side project) on that second night but shortly before the date, Mickey cancelled the Dean Ween Group appearance and Joe pulled together Bustle In Your Hedgerow (Russo, Dreiwitz, Metzger and Benevento's

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

band) and added Tom Hamilton to form Joe Russo's Almost Dead. JRAD played one more show that year at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York on December 27, 2013.

2014

JRAD slowly began playing more shows in 2014, including several sets at summer festivals including the

Gathering of the Vibes Gathering of the Vibes (often abbreviated as GOTV) was an annual four-day music, camping and arts festival that celebrated the Grateful Dead and showcased a diverse variety of music. Over the course of the event, styles would often include funk, ...

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, California, and String Cheese Incident's Hulaween Festival in Live Oak, Florida. They played two nights in Chicago and two nights in Colorado ending in a New Year's run on December 29, 30, and 31, at the Capitol Theatre, in Port Chester, New York, with the

's own

Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (March 15, 1940 – October 25, 2024) was an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he developed a unique style of improvised six-string bass guitar. He was their bassist throughout their 30 ...

on bass filling in for Dreiwitz. The JRAD run with Phil Lesh was dubbed "PhilRAD." JRAD played a total of 10 shows in 2014.

2015

Forty-six shows were listed on the band's website for 2015, including performances at

Electric Forest Electric Forest is a multi-genre music festival produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events, with a focus on electronic music and jam band genres. Originally named Rothbury Festival in 2008, it is held in Rothbury, Michigan at ...

, All Good Music Festival,

Mountain Jam "Mountain Jam" is an improvised instrumental jam by The Allman Brothers Band, based on Donovan's 1967 hit song " There Is a Mountain". The first known recording of a performance was done on May 4, 1969, at Macon Central Park. "Mountain Jam" w ...

and

High Sierra Music Festival High Sierra Music Festival is a multi-day music festival held in Quincy, California, United States, a mountainous area about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. History The first High Sierra Music Festival was in 1991 at Bear Valley in Alpine ...

2016

JRAD had their debut appearance on Jam Cruise in January performing two consecutive nights in the Pantheon Theatre and a Pool Deck set. In July they would play their first show at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

in support of

Umphrey's McGee Umphrey's McGee, sometimes stylized as UM, is an American rock band originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, bluegrass, country, and ...

. In February 2016, it was announced that Joe Russo's Almost Dead would play a three show run at

for Freak's Ball XVI, from March 24-March 26. With Ween returning to tour,

missed JRAD's five-night 2016 New England spring tour. Jon Shaw of

Shakey Graves Shakey Graves (born Alejandro Rose-Garcia; June 4, 1987) is an American musician and actor from Austin, Texas. His music combines blues, folk, country, and rock and roll. Rose-Garcia received his stage name at Old Settler's Music Festival in 20 ...

and

Cass McCombs Cass McCombs (born November 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. Career McCombs has played in numerous bands in the Bay Area during the 1990s before relocating to New York City. He released his debut EP '' Not the Way E.P.'' (2002), d ...

filled in for Dreiwitz. In August, JRAD played two performances at Lockn' Festival in Virginia, which featured two headline performances by Ween and

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

. Dreiwitz performed in both JRAD and Ween that weekend. Keyboardist

Jeff Chimenti Jeff Chimenti (born October 21, 1968) is an American keyboardist, best known for his ongoing work with former members of the Grateful Dead. Since May 1997 he has played with Bob Weir & RatDog, and has also played on every tour of The Dead (in ...

filled in for Benevento at two performances in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in April 2016. JRAD played a total of 36 shows in 2016.

2017

In 2017 JRAD performed forty shows including their first headlining indoor arena show, their first headlining

show and a return to the Dominican Republic for their second year in a row at Dominican Holidaze. Their first headlining arena show at the

1stBank Center The 1stBank Center (originally the Broomfield Event Center and formerly the Odeum Colorado) was a multi-purpose arena located 15 miles northwest of Downtown Denver, in the city of Broomfield. It was located near the Rocky Mountain Metropolit ...

in Broomfield, Colorado was a sold-out show originally scheduled for Red Rocks Amphitheatre but due to a late spring snowstorm, the concert was relocated overnight to the 1stBank Center. The band also performed twelve sold-out nights at the Brooklyn Bowl in New York City during the Spring and Fall of 2017. On March 9, the first night of the spring

run and the band's one-hundredth concert, they premiered Russo and Hamilton's "Keeping it Simple", their first-ever original song. For three of the

performances

Oteil Burbridge Oteil Burbridge (born August 24, 1964) is an American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the bass guitar, trained in playing jazz and classical music from an early age. He has achieved fame primarily on bass guitar during the resurgence of t ...

filled in for Dreiwitz while on Ween tour. On August 31, 2017 the band headlined a sold-out performance at

Red Rocks Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the city of Denver. In addi ...

with

on bass guitar filling in for Dreiwitz out on Ween tour. In October, between the 5th-7th and the 12th-14th, the band performed the latter six sold-out shows at the

. JRAD's 125th show saw

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

, current lead-guitarist of Dead & Company, sitting in on guitar on Friday, October 13 in the first and second set of the show.

2018

JRAD started off 2018 with three sold-out nights in January at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York followed by a spring tour beginning on February 15 in Nashville, Tennessee with guest vocalist

Nicole Atkins Nicole Atkins (born October 1, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter. Her influences include 1950s crooner music, 1960s psychedelia, soul music, and the Brill Building style of writing. Atkins has been compared to Roy Orbison and singers from t ...

performing 'Doin' That Rag'.

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

named JRAD's Peach Festival performance "Best Scene-Stealer", saying that, "JRAD takes improvisational jam rock to the nth degree."

2021

After not performing since February 23, 2020, due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, JRAD returned to the stage in front of a live audience at a socially-distanced outdoor concert at the Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut on May 28, 2021. A stadium built to accommodate 15,000 guests, during the pandemic the capacity of Westville Music Bowl was capped at 2,000 concert-goers per show. That year, JRAD performed nine sold-out socially-distanced concerts at Westville Music Bowl with the final concert culminating on Sept. 4, 2021. JRAD performed 24 concerts in front of live audiences, in 2021.

2024

JRAD kicked off 2024 with their annual three sold-out nights in January at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, adding three debut tunes to their repertoire: "Shattered" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

sung by Dreiwitz, "La Grange" by

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

's "Gloria", both sung by Metzger. In March, Russo, Metzger, Hamilton, and Benevento joined Phil Lesh on stage to close out Phil's 84th birthday celebration run at The Capitol Theatre. On June 1,

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ens ...

joined JRAD at Red Rocks.

Members

* Joe Russo – drums, vocals *

– bass, vocals *

– keyboards, vocals *

– guitar, vocals * Tom Hamilton – guitar, vocals

Special Guest Sit-Ins

- tenor sax, soprano sax (June 1, 2024) at Red Rocks and (August 4, 2023) at

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

- guitar, vocals (January 26, 2023) at Brooklyn's Brooklyn Bowl, (August 22, 2019) at Lockn' *

- guitar, vocals (November 9, 2018) at Wiltern Theatre, (October 13, 2017) at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, and (October 7, 2016) at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn *Eric Slick - drums (July 28, 2019) * Eric D. Johnson - guitar, vocals (August 16, 2019) at LA's

Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) Greek Theatre is an amphitheatre and performance venue located in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, which has been hosting various live performances and music concerts since its opening in the early 1930s. Today, the theatre is owned by ...

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an Americans, American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the ...

- vocals (February 23, 2020) at Capitol Theatre *

Chris Harford Chris Harford is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter. Career ''The New Yorker'' described him as "...A singer, guitarist, and songwriter who rose through the local club scene in the nineteen-eighties, Harford operates in the free ...

- vocals, guitar (May 28, 2021) at Westville Music Bowl, (February 23, 2020) at Capitol Theatre *

Jim James James Edward Olliges Jr. (born April 27, 1978), professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is an American vocalist, guitarist, producer, and primary songwriter of the rock band My Morning Jacket. He has also released several solo albums. ...

- vocals (August 25, 2017) at Lockn'. *

- vocals (February 15, 2018) in Nashville, Tennessee, (January 12, 2017) at the Ryman Auditorium

Live Substitutes

– bass (December 30 & 31, 2014) *Jon Shaw – bass, vocals (Spring 2016 tour), (6/3/2017), Rabbit Rabbit Asheville NC (4/29/22 and 4/30/2022), Sweetwater Fest (5/01/2022), Newport Jazz Festival (8/4/2023) *

– keyboards, vocals (April 2016, 2 shows) *

– bass, vocals (March 2017, 3 shows); (8/31/17) at

; (10/20/18) at The Anthem *Evan Roque – drums (July 27 and 28, 2019) *

Ben Perowsky Ben Perowsky (born May 12, 1966) is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and ...

– drums (July 27 and 28, 2019) *John Morgan Kimock - drums (July 28, 2019)

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.joerussosalmostdead.com/ * Joe Russo's Almost Dead on

Live Music Archive The Live Music Archive (LMA), part of the Internet Archive, is an ad-free collection of over 250,000 concert recordings in lossless audio formats. The songs are also downloadable or playable in lossy formats such as Ogg Vorbis or MP3. The web ...

Tom Hamilton sits down with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast for a feature interviewMarco sits down with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast for a feature interviewScott sits down with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast for a feature interview
2013 establishments in New York City Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups from Brooklyn Rock music groups from New York (state)