{"id":233449,"date":"2025-09-17T09:03:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/233449\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T09:03:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:03:36","slug":"jrad-delight-at-pier-17-rooftop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/233449\/","title":{"rendered":"JRAD Delight at Pier 17 Rooftop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Russo\u2019s Almost Dead, a.k.a. JRAD, delivered two nights of its signature Grateful Dead covers and more this past weekend at New York City\u2019s scenic Rooftop at Pier 17 location in South Street Seaport.\"\"<\/p>\n

The supergroup, made up of Joe Russo (drums), Marco Benevento (keys), Scott Metzger (guitar), Dave Dreiwitz (bass) and Tom Hamilton (guitar), celebrated two sold out shows and their only announced NYC plays for the remainder of the year. With a view of the Brooklyn Bridge framing the background of the stage, one of New York City\u2019s best venues was a feast for the eyes, and ears.<\/p>\n

Friday night<\/a> began with an opening selection of \u201cChina Cat Sunflower\u201d which was followed by a cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cTangled Up In Blue.\u201d The rest of the opening set contained other Dead staples like \u201cMe And My Uncle,\u201d \u201cViola Lee Blues,\u201d and \u201cAlligator\u201d before closing with \u201cFranklin\u2019s Tower.\u201d The second set opened with a funked out version of \u201cShakedown Street.\u201d JRAD also threw in a cover of Jerry Garcia\u2019s \u201cCats Under the Stars\u201d along with \u201cTurn On Your Lovelight,\u201d \u201cRamble on Rose\u201d and \u201cBig Railroad Blues.\u201d To close out the evening, they treated the rooftop crowd to a cover of the Allman Brothers Band\u2019s \u201cJessica.\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

Opening up Saturday night with nearly 20 minutes of \u201cEyes of the World\u201d paved the way for the tempo to kick up slightly as the band veered into Martha and the Vandellas\u2019 \u201cDancin\u2019 in the Streets.\u201d Deep inside, an obscure tease of Marc Ribot\u2019<\/a>s \u201cAqui Coma Alla\u201d and the previous night\u2019s encore of \u201cJessica\u201d surfaced, with \u201cThey Love Each Other\u201d following up for the long Jerry Garcia Band song this set. The Jimmy Bryant-penned \u201cOnly Daddy That\u2019ll Walk the Line,\u201d made popular by Waylon Jennings, was the deepest cut of the night, if not the weekend, shifting into an emotional Tom Hamilton-led \u201cWharf Rat\u201d before a thunderous \u201cPlayin\u2019 in the Band\u201d to close the set around 730 pm.\"\"<\/p>\n

A setbreak full of Tom Petty songs (many from Wildflowers) bridged the two sets together nicely, with a slammin\u2019 version of \u201cBertha\u201d leading the way in Set 2, shortly after 8 pm. What could be considered a \u2018fake out\u2019 of \u201cGreatest Story Ever Told\u201d began with a clear intro to the Bob Weir song, before the surprising arrival of Shorty Long\u2019s \u201cDevil with a Blue Dress On\u201d in the same fluid motion, before jumping into a proper \u201cGreatest Story;\u201d while not a mash-up, this sequence certainly had the crowd rapt with attention. \u201cReuben and Cherise\u201d would follow as nightfall finally woke, slowly worked into by Hamilton as he narrated the New Orleans love story nicely into a jam, shifting into a Metzger-led \u201cMinglewood Blues\u201d that somehow ended up in Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cWhole Lotta Love,\u201d perhaps a nod to one-time supergroup Bustle in Your Hedgerow, featuring four-fifths of JRAD (Russo, Benevento, Metzger, Dreiwitz).<\/p>\n

Another surprising cover, and the second Allman Brothers Band tune of the weekend was \u201cNo One to Run With\u201d that had Metzger and Hamilton trading guitar licks back and forth ahead of \u201cSt. Stephen\u201d and \u201cOne More Saturday Night\u201d to close the show. An encore of \u201cI Know You Rider\u201d finished the \u201cChina Cat > Rider\u201d sequence started on Friday night, the crowd amped with energy all throughout.<\/p>\n

Joe Russo\u2019s Almost Dead will next head to the Midwest for October shows in Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Paul for three shows, then shift west later that month for shows in Sacramento, Oakland and Los Angeles before Northeast shows resume in Pennsylvania in mid-November. Full info and tickets here<\/a>.\"\"<\/p>\n

Friday, September 12, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set 1:<\/strong> China Cat Sunflower, Tangled Up in Blue, Me and My Uncle, Viola Lee Blues, Alligator, Franklin\u2019s Tower<\/p>\n

Set 2<\/strong>: Shakedown Street<\/a>, Lost Sailor, Saint of Circumstance, Cats Under the Stars, Feel Like a Stranger, Turn On Your Love Light, Ramble On Rose, Big Railroad Blues<\/p>\n

Encore<\/strong>: Jessica\"\"<\/p>\n

Saturday, September 13, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set 1<\/strong>: Eyes of the World, Dancing in the Street, They Love Each Other, Only Daddy That\u2019ll Walk the Line, Wharf Rat, Playing in the Band<\/p>\n

Set 2:<\/strong> Bertha > Devil With the Blue Dress, Greatest Story Ever Told, Rubin and Cherise, Minglewood Blues, No One to Run With, St. Stephen, One More Saturday Night<\/p>\n

Encore<\/strong>: I Know You Rider\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Russo\u2019s Almost Dead, a.k.a. JRAD, delivered two nights of its signature Grateful Dead covers and more this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":233450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,125626,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,125627,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-233449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-joe-russos-almost-dead","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkcity","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-pier-17-rooftop","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115218835643181545","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}