Five years ago today Bob Weir joined Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at The Fox Theater in Oakland. JRAD welcomed Weir on November 12, 2016 for an acoustic portion of the evening about halfway through the first set.
JRAD got things going with a healthy jam that led into “Good Lovin’” which headed into “Cumberland Blues” and kept going with “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot!” and “The Music Never Stopped.” “He’s Gone,” “The Wheel” and “Jack Straw” would round out the electric beginning of the set.
During “Jack Straw,” the band would switch seamlessly — keyboardist Marco Benevento was still playing piano as the move took place — into the acoustic format with Joe Russo on a smaller drum kit, bassist Dave Dreiwitz on upright bass and guitarists Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton seated with acoustic guitars. JRAD would open up the unplugged session alone with “It Must Have Been The Roses” after which Weir joined in on guitar and vocals for a shuffling, shimmering version of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Bobby then led the band through his stellar song, “Black-Throated Wind,” before returning to Dylan with “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” Another Weir classic came in the form of “Cassidy” which saw the band getting into a “Let It Grow” jam before heading back into “Cassidy” to close out the acoustic portion and the first set.
Watch audience shot video of the entire Bob Weir acoustic sit-in with JRAD via TimeZonerTV and listen to the complete show recorded by Peter Costello and mastered by Eric McRoberts below for this edition of Full Show Friday:
Setlist (via Rob Scalcione/Deadheadland)
Set One: Jam > Good Lovin’ sm > Cumberland Blues th sm jr > (Shakedown Street riff) > Help On The Way th > Jam > The Music Never Stopped sm > He’s Gone th > The Wheel th sm jr > Jack Straw sm th
Acoustic Set: It Must Have Been The Roses th, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall bw*, Black Throated Wind bw*, When I Paint My Masterpiece bw*, Cassidy bw *
Set Two: King Solomon’s Marbles > Row Jimmy th > Estimated Prophet sm > Uncle John’s Band th sm jr, Bass solo > Eyes Of The World (w/piano solo) th > Throwing Stones sm > Deal jam > Throwing Stones sm
Encore: One More Saturday Night sm
* with Bob Weir on acoustic guitar and vocals
[Originally Published: November 12, 2020]
