Joe Russo's Almost Dead at Frost Amphitheatre, August 17, 2019

Stanford University Live presents Joe Russo's Almost Dead
Frost Amphitheatre
Campus Drive at Galvez St, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
6:30 PM, Saturday, August 17, 2019

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[6:30 PM band out, Joe says hello]

1. [6:31 PM] Morning in Marin »
2. [6:37 PM] Feel Like a Stranger (SM)
3. [6:46 PM] St. Stephen (TH)
4. [7:04 PM] I Need a Miracle (SM)
5. [7:17 PM] Jack Straw (TH/SM)
6. [7:31 PM] China Cat Sunflower (TH) £ »
7. [7:39 PM] I Know You Rider £
   [Joe introduces the band]
   [set ends 7:48 PM]

[8:19 PM lights down, band out]

1. [8:20 PM] (Jam) #© »
2. [8:25 PM] Estimated Prophet (SM) »
3. [8:37 PM] Mission in the Rain (TH) £
4. [8:46 PM] Cumberland Blues (TH) ©£ »
5. [8:59 PM] Viola Lee Blues: v1 » [9:01 PM] jam » [9:04 PM] v2 » jam (teasing riffage on I Know You Rider and Here Comes Sunshine) » [9:09 PM] v3 »
6. [9:10 PM] Franklin's Tower (TH)
7. [9:21 PM] Throwing Stones (SM) #
8. [9:40 PM] Standing on the Moon (TH)
   [Joe introduces the band again]
   [set ends 9:48 PM]
   
   Encore
   [Thanks from Joe; add Kyle trumpet, Adam trombone]
9. [9:51 PM] CC Ryder (SM)
   [show ends 9:55 PM]

Joe Russo's Almost Dead

• Marco Benevento: piano, keyboards, vox;
• Dave Dreiwitz: bass, contrabass, trumpet, tuba, percussion, vox;
• Tom Hamilton: guitar, vox;
• Scott Metzger: guitar;
• Joe Russo: drums, vox;
  - with special guests -
• Kyle Athayde: trumpet (s2t10);
• Stuart Bogie: tenor saxophone, £ flute, # bass harmonica, © clarinet
• Adam Theis: trombone (s2t10). ## Notes

Thanks to JamBase for cluing me in to the jazzy jam that started the show. Guess I ought to put Hooteroll? on my playlist! And even bigger thanks for linking to Must Have Media's multishot HD video of the show hosted at YouTube!

I thought the whole experience was terrific, starting with the low key scene in the parking lot and south-side admission line. Perfect NorCal experience! Was it a sold out show? I dunno. The venue seemed pretty darn full, but I didn't have trouble moving through the crowd when I needed to, and there was plenty of dancing space around our spot about half-way back from the stage to the soundboard. Gonna chalk that up to good sense on the part of the promoters (assuming that ticket sales were capped to prevent overcrowding) – another plus for the NorCal vibe!

The opening jam, later identified to me as Morning in Marin (oh yeah, spot on, now that I stream it while writing this), was a great way to dive into sonic paradise: open your ears and surf the sound waves! The audio mix at our position was superb: excellent stereo separation of the players and a really wide dynamic range. At times, the band let their output dip low enough for me to hear yackers 15 feet away (unfortunately!), but other times it was a roaring tornado of sound. Cowabunga!

Stuart Bogie was an unexpected addition – I didn't realize that he'd sat in with the band in LA on Friday night – and I really enjoyed the additional flavors that he tossed into the mix. I didn't try to keep track of his tenor playing… you can assume that he played tenor on every tune unless I come back later to add indicators to show otherwise. I was most taken with the growly rumbling that he added on bass harmonica – bet that one is much easier to travel with than a baritone saxophone!

Tonight's encore, CC Ryder, performed with additional horn players, was delivered as a Soul Man-inspired rave-up rather than a slow blues. Way cool!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!