Watch A SICK 4k Version Of ‘St. Stephen’ By Joe Russo’s Almost Dead At Brooklyn Bowl

There are a gazillion tributes to the Grateful Dead. Every city and region of the United States has its own homespun tribute. Hell, my own little brother plays in one called “The Reckoning” that tears it up around Maryland and West Virginia. After last year’s Dead 50 shows in Santa Clara and Chicago, interest in celebrating The Dead’s songbook exploded, especially when John Mayer teamed up with Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann to form Dead and Company.

But of all these tribute acts, no one is quite like Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Formed in 2013 by Joe Russo, the former drummer in Further (and of Benevento/Russo fame), JRAD’s live show is explosive, like taking all the Dead songs you love and splitting their atoms to create tunes that are thermonuclear.

For some reason I waited until 2016 to finally see JRAD, despite the insistence of friends telling me that I was missing out on a tribute act that’s blowing up. So I hit up their Freaks Ball shows at Brooklyn Bowl this past Saturday night. It sold out minutes after it was announced and asked $60+ — an absurdly high ticket price for a Brooklyn Bowl show — so I was lucky to cop a solo ticket on Craigslist Saturday afternoon for $75.

I was blown away. It was worth every penny + the five beers I guzzled.

JRAD supercharges The Dead like no other live act I’ve seen. It’s an electric scene, with 85% of the crowd under 40 (a rarity at most Dead acts) and at least 30% under 30 (an even bigger rarity considering that a 30-year-old today was 10 years old when Jerry Garcia kicked the bucket). It’s a show driven by jammy energy and familiar melodies, yet the band’s chemistry gives the music a feel all to its own.

It was bliss. In 2016, you know you’re at a good show when everyone is so tuned into the music that they (a. shut the fuck up, even to their friends and (b. don’t look at their phones. Not a single person had a phone out when the jams were rolling.

Right before St. Stephen started, escaped upstairs to take a piss. When Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton struck those all-too-familiar guitar chords in the song’s intro, I did a little skip that I vaguely remember doing to St. Stephen my first Phil and Friends show 15 years ago.

Go see JRAD this summer (tour dates here… mostly music festivals), Bros. And dance like this heady dude in the white shirt.

Here’s a version of “The Wheel” from a little later in the show:

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com