Tribute Bands

[Anvilheadtexas]

Have ya'll seen Joe Russo's Almost Dead? I hear they put on a heck of a show as a tribute band.

Yes sir! I have seen them three times now, just recently when they played late night at jazz fest a couple weeks ago at Mardi Gras World. They definitely bring their own style of the Grateful Dead music to fans. I thought the Saturday show in New Orleans was exceptional.

They will be playing at the Waterloo Music Fedtival in Austin on September 8th. The music festival is the 7th through the 9th but Joe Russo Almost Dead (JRAD) plays one night (Saturday). String cheese incident plays each of the three nights. This will be a very cool festival .

It is the first time JRAD will play in Texas!

[Landrover]

I tend to echo your stance. If Led Zeppelin to get back together soon I may have to give in...........OUCH!!!

[PondPopper]

I've seen both and if the roles were reversed and Pink Floyd was a Tribute band for Brit Floyd you would throw rocks at Pink Floyd... Pink Floyd made the music. Brit Floyd perfected it...

Brit Floyd is awesome.. Going to see again them in a few weeks..


Same goes for the "new" Foreigner... They blow the doors off the old Foreigner.. For a bunch of 50+ year old guy they freaking bring it..

[Anvilheadtexas]

I have to add this about Joe Russo‘s Almost Dead.... these guys know how to take a song for a walk. They are experts at weaving little teasers of other songs into their jams (sometimes the tease is a Grateful Dead song and sometimes it’s not). Really cool the way they do this.

On Saturday in New Orleans they played Cumberland Blues and Big River simultaneously and they went back and forth between songs several different times by doing one verse of one song jamming into the next song doing a verse of that song and then jamming back again. It was worth the price of admission alone .

[The Crippler]

I have to add this about Joe Russo‘s Almost Dead.... these guys know how to take a song for a walk. They are experts at weaving little teasers of other songs into their jams (sometimes the tease is a Grateful Dead song and sometimes it’s not). Really cool the way they do this.

On Saturday in New Orleans they played Cumberland Blues and Big River simultaneously and they went back and forth between songs several different times by doing one verse of one song jamming into the next song doing a verse of that song and then jamming back again. It was worth the price of admission alone .

Awesome...we are going to the Dead & Co. shows in Albuquerque July 11 and in Boulder July 13-14...looks like JRAD is playing in Telluride on July 15th. May have to extend our little tour!

[Anvilheadtexas]

Awesome...we are going to the Dead & Co. shows in Albuquerque July 11 and in Boulder July 13-14...looks like JRAD is playing in Telluride on July 15th. May have to extend our little tour!

Very nice! JRAD def plays a faster tempo than Dead & Co. If you don’t make it to Telluride I would encourage you to check out Waterloo in September for a JRAD/Cheese evening. I know one of the partners who is putting on the festival and there are going to have JRAD play followed by Cheese So it’s not like one of those situations where you have to pick which band you want to see. You get to see them both. Lots of smiling people.

[Cajun Blake]

Have ya'll seen Joe Russo's Almost Dead? I hear they put on a heck of a show as a tribute band.

JRAD is extremely good, very tight, and developing a strong following amongst the newer GD listeners.

This is just my opinion based on the shows I've seen and listened to on NUGS.tv .... JRAD is to fast paced for me and seems like the musical tempo is catered to the millennials who are on Adderall (stimulants). The listening audience appears to have a median age of 25. Obviously a younger generation who never got to see Jerry perform, but wants to experience the music and get on the bus ... albeit with a tribute band.

Conversely, after having seen Dead & Company over a dozen times live, their performances of certain songs are just a bit to slow and tend to drag out. Besides the "haters" dogging John Mayer, the slow tempo is what most older Dead Heads complain about. ... "C'mon Bobby, pick it up , this schitz to sloooow".

If you listen to enough live GD shows from 1965 ~ 1995, you will notice certain years and Tour dates where the band was either playing like they were on Cocaine or Quualudes. PigPen genre music tended to be more bluesy and slower paced. Early 80's stuff (post Donna) definitely picked up the rhythm and tempo.

Based on where I am today (50 yrs young), I plan to go see as many Dead & Company shows that will allow. It's only a matter of time before Bobby, Mickey, and/or Billy get called to Heaven and then it will "Officially" be over . There is still an aura when attending a live D&Co show. Takes me back to the mid 80's and early 90's when I followed the band during my hs/college years. It's definitely not like the Jerry years, but it's the next closest thing we have.

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[Anvilheadtexas]

^ I agree with my good Cajun friend. There are pros and cons to BOTH bands. JRAD seemed to be a bit too out there duting the Friday show in New Orleans and pulled back in for Saturday, I definitely get your “too fast paced” observations. I also get your observations about Dead and Co. And now to throw a left-handed monkey wrench into the conversation may I strongly recommend the Grateful Ball (Jeff Austin and Traveling McCourys) when they play together and do Grateful Dead tunes in Bluegrass format. This obviously plays perfect for Workingman’ Dead songs. For me this is as good as it gets!

[Cajun Blake]

^^ B,

I'll raise your left-handed monkey wrench with a Willys in 4WD

back in the day, Joe Craven did LOTS of work with Jerry and David Grisman. His newest release is pretty unique as Joe plays the mandolin, fiddle, bongos, tension drum, bells, shakers, and vocals. Priced at $10 this CD is a bargain for your music library

https://www.joecravenandthesometimer...arcia-songbook