Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Debuts ‘Broken Arrow’ & Revives The Band Cover In Port Chester

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead continued their three-night run at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York on Saturday night. JRAD dusted off their cover of The Band’s “Life Is A Carnival” and also nodded to The Band guitarist Robbie Robertson with a debut of his solo song “Broken Arrow.”

The band trickled into a shimmering “Eyes Of The World” intro only to head into “Sitting On Top Of The World” to get the show underway. After a couple “SOTOTW” verses, JRAD would once again begin a long, ascending jam — with keyboardist Marco Benevento leading the ramp up — which led into a frantic free for all before guitarist Tom Hamilton steered the band into “Hell In A Bucket” with guitarist Scott Metzger handling lead vocals. The tune featured some great tension and release build-ups lead by Hamilton and punctuated by drummer Joe Russo. Then JRAD poured itself into a cup of cold coffee with “Loser” sung by Hamilton. Once again the band would build up another tune, “The Wheel,” with a long, slow burn. JRAD has always excelled at the song and gave it some serious legs at the Cap ahead of Bob Dylan’s “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again.” A substantial “Uncle John’s Band” brought the first frame to a close.

The second set started much like the first, with the band exploring spaces, this time around, though, with a darker jam that included a “Let It Grow” tease before dropping into another Bob Weir classic, “Estimated Prophet” sung by Metzger. “Estimated Prophet” cascaded into “Jack Straw,” which saw a rollicking piano solo from Benevento. Next up, “Life Is A Carnival.” According to Setlist.fm, JRAD had not played The Band classic since debuting the song at The Capitol Theatre on New Year’s Eve 2016. The tune featured another rowdy solo from Hamilton, who was on fire on all night, before jamming into “Cats Under The Stars” which led into a raucous “Cumberland Blues.” After a verse came another long ramp up led by a Benevento piano section and capped off with Hammond organ before stopping on a dime into the second verse. JRAD would bring “Cumberland” to a conclusion ahead of the set closer, “Sugar Magnolia.”

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead retook the stage to debut Robbie Robertson’s poignant “Broken Arrow” from his 1987 self-titled album. Bassist Dave Dreiwitz handled lead vocals as Phil Lesh used to sing the song with the Grateful Dead. Watch the debut of “Broken Arrow” and more as well as full-show audio taped by Jeff Travitz below:

Broken Arrow captured by Sean Roche

Life Is A Carnival > Cats Under The Stars captured by Sean Roche

Sitting On Top Of The World > Hell In A Bucket > Loser via Relix

The Wheel captured by Sean Roche

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again captured by monihampton

Estimated Prophet captured by Sean Roche

Sugar Magnolia captured by Sean Roche

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com