{"id":6135,"date":"2026-08-02T17:35:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6135"},"modified":"2026-08-02T17:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:35:40","slug":"the-best-grateful-dead-tribute-band-thrills-fans-on-jerry-garcias-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6135","title":{"rendered":"The best Grateful Dead tribute band thrills fans on Jerry Garcia&#8217;s birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>The birth of Jerome John Garcia was celebrated all around the Bay Area on Saturday, as fans and admirers gathered in Berkeley, San Francisco and other spots to show their respect and admiration for the man that most Deadheads simply refer to as \u201cJerry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6133\">Basabe has big night but SF Giants lose on Padres\u2019 walk-off<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chalk it up as further evidence of the connection that millions of people still feel with Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead co-founder\/vocalist-guitarist who was born on Aug. 1, 1942 and died at the age of 53 on Aug. 9, 1995.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia was certainly on the minds of the 2,600 Deadheads \u2014 including a number of whom who aren\u2019t actually old enough to have ever seen Garcia or the Grateful Dead in concert \u2014 who filled the beautiful Quarry Amphitheater in Santa Cruz to capacity on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>They had come to hear the very best of the (roughly) 714,865 Grateful Dead tribute acts in existence:<\/p>\n<p>Joe Russo\u2019s Almost Dead (aka, JRAD).<\/p>\n<p>Taking the stage just before 7 p.m. at this gem of a venue often referred to as \u201cRed Rocks in the Redwoods,\u201d JRAD \u2014 led by drummer Joe Russo and featuring bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist and vocalists-guitarists Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton Jr. \u2014 was in a noodly mood to start the show, strutting through space for a good five minutes before latching onto the melody of \u201cMississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The song moved at a leisurely pace for most of its run, much like what one hears on the version that kicks off the Grateful Dead\u2019s sixth album, 1973\u2019s \u201cWake the Flood.\u201d Then suddenly \u2014 as if someone flipped the speed on the turntable from 33 1\/3 to 45 rpm \u2014 the tune just went into massive overdrive, sounding like nothing you would have ever heard from the Dead. The group rode that high-speed rollercoaster right out of \u2018Mississippi\u201d and into a strong version of \u201cCassidy\u201d (a number that made its debut on Bob Weir\u2019s first solo record, 1972\u2019s \u201cAce\u2019) \u2014 with the segue, once again, coming across as something you would not have heard from Jerry and co. back in the day.<\/p>\n<p>But, really, that\u2019s what makes JRAD stand out from the very crowded field of Dead tributes out there. The thrill in this chase comes from the fact that the group can indeed play the songs pretty much note-for-note \u2014 and, at times, performs passages\/songs that are very faithful to what the Dead created\u00a0 \u2014 but the musicians usually go their own route and deliver high-octane, highly improvised reinterpretations of the material instead.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s the Dead songbook, covered with a more Phish-like brand of energy and playfulness, so it\u2019s really no wonder that JRAD has built such a connection with younger jam-loving listeners.<\/p>\n<p>The band is led by Russo, a longtime jazz\/jam-rock player who finally found his commercial niche with the music of the Grateful Dead. Yet, most of the attention goes to the twin towers of vocal delight and fretboard frenzy \u2014 Metzger and Hamilton. They nicely trade off on vocals, with the former handling the Weir tunes and latter going the Garcia route, but it\u2019s what they accomplish on their co-lead-guitar roles that really keeps pushing the crowd \u201cfurthur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d reckon that more than half of the 13 songs played during the course of two sets and three-plus hours of music contained true head-turning guitar spots, with Metzger flexing his might early on with \u201cCassidy\u201d and Hamilton following up with an artsy, experimental lead on a shotgun blast through the Dead classic \u201cSt. Stephen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it\u2019s hard to think of any current band that has a better pair of alternating lead guitarists in it then JRAD. And that point was driven home once again as Hamilton helped bring Set 1 to a close with an explosive, whirlwind of a solo during a showstopper take on another first-tier Dead classic \u201cJack Straw.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hamilton picked up right where he left off in the nightcap, delivering more big guitar moments in the otherwise fairly straight-ahead take on \u201cEyes of the World\u201d \u2014 another \u201cWake of the Flood\u201d favorite \u2014 that opened the second set.<\/p>\n<p>Then it was Metzger\u2019s time to shine, leading the way in turning the old Link Wray tune \u201cFire and Brimstone\u201d \u2014 a number that has no deep connection with the Grateful Dead \u2014 into a full-throttle rocker that was seemed oddly reminiscent of Eric Clapton\u2019s hit version of the J.J. Cale classic \u201cAfter Midnight.\u201d And then in one of those weird musical moments \u2014 which seem to happen more often in shows built from the Grateful Dead tradition than anywhere else \u2014 the band actually jammed right into \u201cAfter Midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group followed with \u201cIt Must Have Been the Roses\u201d \u2014 a version played slow enough to, indeed, give one time to stop and smell the roses \u2014 and then waltzed over to the other side of the dancefloor for an experimental, jammed-out \u201cLet It Grow.\u201d The quintet closed the second set with a terrific run through \u201cFire on the Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benevento, a wonderful keyboardist who brought so much to the table throughout the entire show, would finally get his turn at the microphone during the encore as the band turned from the Grateful Dead songbook to that of the great Warren Zevon for \u201cWerewolves of London.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Jerry most definitely would have approved of that selection, given that it\u2019s one that he made himself on several occasions with both the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Setlist:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Set 1:<br \/>\n1) \u201cMississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo\u201d<br \/>\n2) \u201cCassidy\u201d<br \/>\n3) \u201cSt. Stephen\u201d<br \/>\n4) \u201cLazy Lightning\u201d<br \/>\n5) \u201cStuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again\u201d<br \/>\n6) \u201cJack Straw\u201d<br \/>\nSet 2:<br \/>\n7) \u201cEyes of the World\u201d<br \/>\n8) \u201cFire and Brimstone\u201d<br \/>\n9) \u201cAfter Midnight\u201d<br \/>\n10) \u201cIt Must Have Been the Roses\u201d<br \/>\n11) \u201cLet It Grow\u201d<br \/>\n12) \u201cFire on the Mountain\u201d<br \/>\nEncore:<br \/>\n13) \u201cWerewolves of London\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6129\">\u2018Spider-Man: Brand New Day\u2019 nets second best North American opening ever with $355 million<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6131\">Cupertino celebrates India Independence Day on Aug. 13<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Russo&#8217;s Almost Dead, aka JRAD, brought music of Grateful Dead to the Quarry Amphitheater in Santa Cruz on Jerry Garcia&#8217;s birthday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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