Joe Russo’s Almost Dead brought a four-night run to a close on Sunday with a gig at The Sylvee in Madison, Wisconsin. The five-piece act dusted off a pair of rarities from their repertoire offering up takes on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning, Little School Girl” and Bob Dylan’s “Tell Me, Momma” last night in The Badger State.
Drummer Joe Russo, guitarists Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger, keyboardist Marco Benevento and bassist Dave Dreiwitz got things going with “Feel Like A Stranger.” The Grateful Dead tribute act then dug in on “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” choosing to go with the Motown classic “Dancing In The Street” instead of completing the traditional triad with its longtime partner “Franklin’s Tower.” Americana rocker “Brown-Eyed Women” and “Truckin’” brought their penultimate set of the swing to a close.
The quintet looked to “Good Morning, Little School Girl” to open up the second set. The blues classic had sat unplayed since August of last year and was served up for just the fourth time in the band’s history. “Shakedown Street,” “He’s Gone” and an exploratory “Playing In The Band” followed. A tender version of “Row Jimmy” came ahead of the night’s second surprise as JRAD delivered “Tell Me, Momma.” The Dylan deep cut that was played exclusively on his 1966 World Tour was busted out for the first time since November of last year and has been played just a handful of times since it was debuted in 2017. “Deal” brought the stanza to a close with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead offering up the Sunday sermon “Samson & Delilah” as their lone encore.
Watch pro-shot video of the opening song from each set courtesy of nugs.tv below:
Feel Like A Stranger
Good Morning, Little School Girl
Setlist
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at The Sylvee
Set I
- Feel Like a Stranger
- Help on the Way
- Slipknot!
- Dancing in the Street
- Brown-Eyed Women
- Truckin’
Set II
- Good Morning, School Girl
- Shakedown Street
- He’s Gone
- Playing in the Band
- Row Jimmy
- Tell Me, Momma
- Deal
Encore
- Samson and Delilah
