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Such A Night: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Night Two At Westville Music Bowl [Videos/Photos]

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“They’re a band beyond description.”

Second verse, same as the first, and I remember *exactly* why we JRAD.

It would be nice to say the weather doesn’t matter–and in truth, the Joe Russo’s Almost Dead faithful will transcend no matter what–but 85 and sunny would have been nice for even one show. Alas, here we are on Memorial Day Weekend, night two of three, and the weather still sucked. Though it was unseasonably cold, at least the rain temporarily ceased to be a factor and the crowd eagerly traded their rain boots for dancing shoes. So while night one was of the more spiritually restorative variety, night two had more of a shake-everything-ya-got sort of feel with an exponentially high fun factor. Even before the show, the crowd was pulsing and primed to throw down.

The band felt the collective energy and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead quickly found their footing in “Silvio”, a typical multi-verse behemoth from Bob Dylan’s catalog that Scott Metzger easily tackled without the benefit of a teleprompter. Lyrical prowess aside, Metzger asserted himself early and often on guitar, which would establish a significant thematic baseline to the night’s offering. “Bertha” was next, a tad rowdy as per usual, even as the crowd gave what was hopefully a sarcastic cheer for the “ran into a rainstorm” line.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Silvio” -> “Bertha” – New Haven, CT – 5/29/21

[Video: Relix]

Growing up as a 90’s era-aged Deadhead, it took bands like Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and Goose to make me realize just how great “Me & My Uncle” can be, and with Dave Dreiwitz and Marco Benevento slinging sexy vibes on the low end and B3 respectively, this version was all that and a bag of chips. “Shakedown Street” was fierce, the crowd using every bit of its socially distant pod spacing to find a collective groove. It bears repeating as we enjoy the last of these COVID-era shows, social distance plus live music is the high water mark for live concert experiences.

A full band “Let It Grow’ tease preceded the first “Black Peter” since 7/19/18 (44 shows) as Marco beguilingly seduced the audience with his baby grand before the Tom Hamilton Jr. show took over. Tommy has been so dialed in, really finding another level to his musicianship over this past year and “Black Peter” positively shook me to my core. Just, wow. “Music Never Stopped” is one of those songs that has become a JRAD opus, and boy was everybody dancin’ for this band beyond description as we headed into set break.

“Such A Night” was the perfect choice to ease the crowd back as Marco, ever the exhibitionist, lovingly serenaded the crowd with the flirtatious Dr. John classic, even changing the lyrics to place our “sweet confusion under the New Haven moonlight.” An explosion of late 60’s acid rock followed with “Cream Puff War”, flailing arms and bodies struggling to keep up with Joe Russo’s beats.

Sooner or later everything old is new again and “Truckin’” was a celebration of all things JRAD, from the teases of “Cryptical Envelopment” (documented) and “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” (in my head?) to the “New Speedway Boogie” jam that broke a 101 show gap as the full band wailed, “One way or another, this darkness got to give!” and then back again to an emphatic “Truckin’” reprise.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – “Such A Night”, “Cream Puff War” > “Truckin’” – New Haven, CT – 5/29/21

[Video: Relix]

“St. Stephen” followed, and if it’s not the best song ever, at the least it’s the singular song that knighted Sir Joe Russo and put his name on the marquee and Saturday was no exception. To say things got out of hand would be an understatement, even explaining to a security guard at one point that the rules had to be temporarily suspended “because, ya know, ‘St. Stephen.’” Poor guy may not have realized that these are pretty long songs so 20 minutes later I gave him a wink and an apologetic shrug, “still Stephen.”

In all seriousness, thank you to the extremely accommodating and hospitable security staff at Westville Music Bowl, who did their level best to get to know the faces in the crowd and let us do our thing within the confines of their boundaries and rules of safety. Trying to police social distance can’t be easy when the entire floor knows each other, and while it may never be this good again for us, it’ll likely get easier for them.

Next was a turn through the Jerry Garcia Band song list with another Bob Dylan songwriting credit in “Tough Mama”, TRH Jr. on lyrics and Metzger crushing a solo that made me want to crawl into his amp, which preceded an absolutely explosive “I Know You Rider” that closed the show. Leaving the best ever conversation to someone else, it was definitely the best “Rider” last night and if you don’t believe me, ask the nine-year-old from Florida who was back again to take it in from the rail (hair rising on my arms with the memory). The entirety of the encore break was spent waiting for the flash to go off on a group photo, and the band shortly returned with a lovely “On The Road Again”, the first since 12/29/16 at Brooklyn Bowl, a gap of 127 shows.

The previous night’s rain spoiled a Peter Costello dance party, but on this night a Talking Heads twofer of “Burning Down The House” and “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” on the PA kept the dance party alive while bringing back sweet memories of after parties past at the Brooklyn Bowl and Capitol Theatre as security guards struggled to herd the jubilant crowd to the exits.

There is truly no point in ranking nights like this, but that being said I’ll still like to go on record as saying this one was special. Without question, this was the best show since the last show … until the next show …

20,731 steps and my #boxscore reads 2-2. See ya for night 3

Show #220

Setlist: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | Westville Music Bowl | New Haven, CT | 5/29/21

Set One (6:29PM – 7:44PM): Silvio ->Bertha, Me & My Uncle -> Shakedown Street @, Black Peter # > Music Never Stopped

Set Two (8:18PM – 9:44PM): Such A Night, Cream Puff War > Truckin $ -> New Speedway Jam % -> Truckin Reprise ^ -> St. Stephen & > Tough Mama > I Know You Rider

Encore: On The Road Again *

@ – With Let It Grow Teases (Band)

# – Not played by Almost Dead since 2018-07-19, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 44 shows

$ – With a Cryptical Tease (TH)

% – Not played by Almost Dead since  2017-08-31 Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, a gap of 101 shows. “One Way or Another…” lyrics were sung.

^ – Not played by Almost Dead since 2018-07-19, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 44 shows

& – With Not Fade Away and Good Times Bad Times Teases (JR) and a Caution-esque Jam

* – Not played by Almost Dead since 2016-12-29 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 127 shows

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