Table of Contents

Joe Russo's Almost Dead at Fox Theatre, October 25, 2024

Another Planet Entertainment presents Joe Russo's Almost Dead
Fox Theatre
1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612-2109 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, October 25, 2024

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Set One

[7:44 PM] {lights down, performers out}

  1. [7:44 PM] jam » [7:52 PM] Bird Song » [8:00 PM] jam » [8:05 PM] Bird Song (TH)
    [8:07 PM] {full stop}
  2. [8:08 PM] Box of Rain (JR)
  3. [8:13 PM] Scarlet Begonias (TH) » jam »
  4. [8:24 PM] Bertha (TH) »
  5. [8:34 PM] I Need a Miracle (SM) » Uncle John's Band tease »
  6. [8:47 PM] Playing in the Band (SM)
    [8:59 PM] {no words from the band; pause, then off}

Set Two

[9:31 PM] {lights down, performers out}

  1. [9:31 PM] jam » [9:36 PM] Eyes of the World (TH) »
  2. [9:50 PM] the Music Never Stopped (SM) » [9:56 PM] slow blues jam » [10:00 PM] Candyman (TH) » [10:07 PM] the Eleven tease » the Music Never Stopped finale
  3. [10:11 PM] St. Stephen » [10:17 PM] techno jam » [11:22 PM] St. Stephen » jam »
  4. [10:27 PM] Cumberland Blues (TH) »
  5. [10:31 PM] Unbroken Chain jam »
  6. [10:38 PM] Feel Like a Stranger (SM) » [10:42 PM] Brown Eyed Women (TH) » [10:51 PM] Feel Like a Stranger reprise »
  7. [10:52 PM] Throwing Stones (SM)
    [11:09 PM] {full stop}
  8. [11:10 PM] Stella Blue tease » I Shall Be Released (TH)
    [11:19 PM] {set ends; Joe is verklempt, but eventually expresses thanks to Phil}
    [11:21 PM] {all off}

    Encore
    [11:22 PM] {the band returns; the audience begins clapping the NFA beat while waiting for the band to settle in}
  9. [11:23 PM] Not Fade Away
    [11:33 PM] {the band stops playing and lets the audience carry on with the NFA chant}
    [11:34 PM] {show ends; TH personally delivers stage setlists to several audience members}

Performers

Joe Russo's Almost Dead

This morning my phone blows up with text messages when word comes out that Phil Lesh has passed away. So sad! Of course we knew this was coming, but it's still a shock when the change happens. Right now I'm glad that we're 'celebrating' with JRAD tonight: it feels good to be in the company of like-minded souls!

Arriving at the Fox soon after doors, the vibe tonight is a complicated mix of sadness and excitement. It's good to share hugs with fellow members of the Terrapin Nation and the larger deadhead community: tonight we seek communion as we commemorate the memory of Philip Chapman Lesh. Ting and I find a spot behind friends on the 1st Tier rail. It's a bit off-center, but it's good to hang out with familiar faces, and friends over in the center were already gathered two- and three-deep. In retrospect I regret not making an effort to circulate about and interact with more folks, but old habits are hard to break: once we arrived at tonight's spot I set down roots and stayed there through the end of the show.

The first set is really strong tonight: lots energetic rocking, interspersed with way out “where the hell are we?” jams and a few tender moments too. Having forgotten to bring my reading glasses, it's a real challenge to take any notes, but I think I've done an adequate job. I thought Bertha was a big surprise: the jam out of Scarlet Begonias had stretched out into that mapless musical zone that can be so confounding to characterize, then suddenly collapsed into the familiar chug-a-chug of Bertha, kind of like wandering around aimlessly and stumbling onto a helpful “You are HERE” marker.

One of the things I really like about JRAD is their inclination to take the ingredients of the Grateful Dead repertoire and then shake them up into new combinations. As much as I love the out-there jams, I also love playing the guessing game “what's about to happen next” as that formlessness begins to resolve into recognizable structures. There were multiple times last night where I thought one or more of the guys were slipping non-GD themes and riffs into the mix, but without knowing better, I suppose that was my brain trying to impose order on the musical randomness by hearing teases of tunes by the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, and others. Probably should have note the particulars for later investigation, but decided early on that it would be too much trouble to note vague impressions like that when I could barely see my notes about things I was SURE about.

I was less enthused about tonight's second set, but I'm sure that a large part of that feeling is the conflict between my will to dance versus annoyances like the near-constant chit-chat of the party people behind us and off to the outside, as well as the increasing aches and pains of a skeleton no longer able to bounce up and down all night long. As much as I enjoyed listening to JRAD's generous serving of music, there were more than a few moments where I was thinking “Let me up, I've had enough!”, and hoping for a really slow recovery song.

I finally got that slow song at the end of the set when they settled into I Shall Be Released: certainly one of Dylan's greatest tunes, and strangely, one never covered by the Grateful Dead. What a great choice! Hopefully none of my neighbors were too annoyed by my singalong during the choruses! I apologize for not making a better record of Joe's closing words, suffice it to say that he was really choked up.

Photos

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

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Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!