68 search results for "grateful dead"

Grateful Dead: July 5, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 13, 2015

[screen shot from the livestream]

The Grateful Dead ended abruptly and without much warning when after a disastrous Summer 1995 tour, Jerry Garcia’s body finally gave out and the band decided to formally retire the name. While the public mourning for Garcia was ubiquitous and lengthy, the band itself never quite got the farewell it deserved. Twenty years later, these five “Fare Thee Well” shows reunited the remaining significant surviving members of the Grateful Dead and supplemented the band with keyboard wiz Jeff Chimenti and the guitarist who is perhaps the most deserving of the passing of the mantle from Garcia — Phish’s Trey Anastasio. While these shows certainly had ups and downs, overall the “Fare Thee Well” event was a fitting tribute to the band and ultimately a proper goodbye.

The final night in Chicago began with a furious run through “China > Rider” before an early set “Estimated” gave Trey and the band a chance to stretch out and jam. While Bob Weir’s vocals on Estimated were strangely timed, by the time the lyrics were ended and the instrumental segment began, the song kicked into gear and Anastasio switched from the Garcia heavy wah-wah tone to something more in his own style and made the closing jam his own. Bruce Hornsby did a very nice job on vocals for Garcia’s late-era mid-tempo ditty “Built To Last” before the set lost a little momentum. “Samson” was sloppy and Lesh’s vocals on a strange “Mountains of the Moon” took the air out of the building and “Throwing Stones” was not a strong set closer. The second set began with a rare repeat (Santa Clara opener) “Truckin” before the performance of what may very well be the highlight of entire group of shows — a damned near perfect rendition of “Cassidy” where every player shined and the song reached crescendos not often achieved in the late-era Grateful Dead versions of this song. Trey kept it rolling with a superb “Althea” before Lesh’s vocals again brought the momentum to a screeching halt. “Lady With a Fan” is one of Robert Hunter’s greatest set of lyrics and the phrasing and subtlety that Garcia brought to the song made it one of the Dead’s best ever. Lesh is simply not a vocalist with chops or range to carry off this song and it trudged along before Weir saved the day during the “Terrapin” segment as he brought passion and vocals abilities to the tail end of the number. Sadly, the post-drums “Days Between” did not play to Weir’s strengths and the song dragged — live at the venue people began to sit down and talk among themselves. This version of the “Days Between” — the last song Garcia ever composed — was not a fitting tribute to the fallen leader and it sapped the energy from the set. Fortunately, “Not Fade Away” brought the crowd back into the show and the expected “Touch of Grey” (with shared vocals) was indeed a fine tribute. And at the end, tears were shed and spines tingled as “Attics” closed the evening in very classy fashion and finally gave the Grateful Dead the goodbye they deserved.

This set was recorded by Bill in the same manner as the July 3 show and the July 4 show, and the quality is equally excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]
Please be kind and don’t re-post the direct links.

Stream “Estimated Prophet”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-05
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Busman BSC2 + AKG 480/CK61 + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:12:38]
01 China Cat Sunflower
02 I Know You Rider
03 Estimated Prophet
04 Built to Last
05 Samson and Delilah
06 Mountains of the Moon
07 Throwing Stones

Set 2
[Total Time 2:12:21]
08 Truckin
09 Cassidy
10 Althea
11 Terrapin Station
12 Drums-Space
13 Unbroken Chain
14 The Days Between
15 Not Fade Away
16 [encore break]
17 Touch of Grey
18 [second encore break]
19 Attics of My Life
20 [crowd – closing remarks]

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

Grateful Dead: July 4, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 5, 2015

By nyctaper

[screen cap from the live stream]

Tonight is the last official performance of the band formerly known as “The Grateful Dead”. The entity known as “NYCTaper” would almost certainly not exist in its current incarnation were it not for the Grateful Dead and the tapers who captured the shows. These fans were essentially the courageous pioneers whose persistence, imagination and sacrifice created the very idea that a rock band could have “tapers”. After years of back and forth, the band ultimately recognized the value of the tapers and created an official “taper’s section” for them to do what they do. I spent quite a few nights in the late-era version of that section and it was an orderly community with its own set of particular rules and mores. In our own way here at NYCTaper, we try to apply a similar set of rules and use the code that made the tapers so successful and apply it to today’s technology and the music world at large. Indeed, our friend Jesse Jarnow is writing a book about the early days of the Grateful Dead tapers and gave us a small sample of his work in an article published in Wired Magazine on Friday.

The community aspect of the tapers’ creed is also a large reason why these recordings are coming to NYCTaper and doing so very quickly. Our friend Bill won the “lottery” and nabbed taper tickets to each of the Chicago shows and very generously volunteered to have his recordings posted here at NYCTaper. I’ve met Bill and I’ve known him in taper circles for a while, and acidjack has spent time with Bill down in New Orleans, but this joint venture is more about a camaraderie between relative strangers bonding over a taper ideal that began back in the old days of the Grateful Dead. In a way, its our tribute the band’s last shows that we can come together to take the original idea and transform it to a 21st Century version of the old “taper’s section”.

The second of these three shows was a standard Saturday show — that is to say it was a show longer on songs and shorter on jams. A show not necessarily for the diehards, but more for the “weekend fan”. Its been a phenomena for these weekend runs in Grateful Dead lore for years. The Friday show is a high-energy party, the Saturday is a song night, and the Sunday show is a night for obscurities and jams. We’ll find out in a few hours if this final run follows the old trend. However, that’s not necessarily an indictment of this show. It certainly had its moments — a surprising spry first-set “Friend of the Devil”, the Jerry-tribute “Bird Song” to open the second set, and a wayback machine drive along “The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion” (streaming below).

This set was recorded by Bill in the same manner as the July 3 show and the quality is equally excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “The Golden Road”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-04
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:22:19]
01 Shakedown Street
02 Liberty
03 Standing on the Moon
04 Me and My Uncle
05 Tennessee Jed
06 Cumberland Blues
07 Little Red Rooster
08 Friend of the Devil
09 Deal

Set 2
[Total Time 2:02:16]
10 Bird Song
11 The Golden Road
12 Lost Sailor
13 Saint of Circumstance
14 West LA Fadeaway
15 Foolish Heart
16 Drums-Space
17 Stella Blue
18 One More Saturday Night
19 [encore break]
20 US Blues
21 [Fireworks]

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

Grateful Dead: July 3, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 4, 2015

By nyctaper

[screen capture from video stream]

If you follow my twitter or read my taperssection posts, you are abundantly aware that I have been brutally honest about these five “Fare Thee Well” shows. There are clear problems with this twenty-years-removed version of the “Grateful Dead” beyond the obvious absence of the band’s deceased emotional core — the tempo is way too slow, the aged players are making way too many simple mistakes, and there is no way on Earth that Phil Lesh should be permitted to sing lead vocals, particularly on Jerry Garcia’s songs. All that being said, the first two shows in Santa Clara did have some serious high points. Trey Anastasio’s lead guitar work has been thoroughly inspired and engaged and he seems completely committed to these performances. Additionally, the band’s setlist selections have been quite imaginative — perhaps the worst aspect of the late-era Garcia-led Grateful Dead was their predictable sets. These 2015 selections are both diverse and unpredictable. At the first night in Santa Clara, the threesome of primal Dead “Born Cross-Eyed”, “Cream Puff War” and “Viola Lee Blues” was my own personal highlight of last weekend and not coincidentally featured Trey on both lead vocals and extended lead guitar work.

But that was Santa Clara. These Chicago shows have a different feel from the outset. Early views of the crowd pre-show indicates a significantly more rowdy and celebratory air. As the show begins, there is definitely an East Coast/MidWest vibe and the band is pretty much into a groove from the beginning. The set begins with the song that ended the band’s last show ever, “Box of Rain”, in a nice bit of synchronicity which also shows that these guys are both aware and willing the celebrate the history. Trey is engaged throughout and actually takes the lead vocal on Bertha and is centerstage for all of Crazy Fingers. Its also nice to hear that the keyboards are right there in the mix and both Chimenti and Hornsby are playing well. The first set ends in typical fashion, but Bobby is also seemingly focused and the song is tight. A nice set, albeit with a fairly standard setlist.

The second set began with another one of those breakout numbers, the early 70’s unreleased and obscure track “Mason’s Children”. From there, it was another instance of Trey dominating the day, with a superb take on Garcia’s “Scarlet/Fire”. The early drums and space segment left much room for the “post-Drums” and the band did not disappoint. The primal “New Potato Caboose” was unfortunately a vocal lead for Lesh despite that Bob sang the song on the Anthem of the Sun album and all of the late-60’s live versions. Trey again shone during the “Help On The Way” and with his guitar throughout the entire Help/Slip/Frank suite. The band completed the night with a very sweet “Ripple” that featured a full crowd sing-along.

This show was recorded by friend of the site Bill who was in the taper’s section. He produced a 6-microphone mix that included a pair of Busman BSC2 mics, two AKG 480/CK61 mics and my Sennheiser cardioids that I sent to him especially for the occasion. The sound in the section is quite nice and this ambitious mix of microphones is indeed excellent. Enjoy!

Download the First Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Download the Second Set [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Passenger”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-03
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Please support this legendary band:
http://www.dead.net

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:11:01]
01 Box of Rain
02 Jack Straw
03 Bertha
04 Passenger
05 The Wheel
06 Crazy Fingers
07 The Music Never Stopped

Set 2
[Total Time 1:53:58]
01 Mason’s Children
02 Scarlet Begonias
03 Fire On The Mountain
04 Drums-Space
05 New Potato Caboose
06 Playing In The Band
07 Let It Grow
08 Help On The Way
09 Slipknot
10 Franklin’s Tower
11 [encore break / donor request]
12 Ripple

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

Grateful Shred: March 1, 2019 Brooklyn Bowl

March 13, 2019

By EricPH

Take a look around at a Grateful Shred show and you notice something…different. Folks in the crowd don’t look like they saw the Grateful Dead in the 70s, the 80s, or hell even in the 90s. No, Grateful Shred aren’t your dad’s Dead tribute band and here (mostly) everyone’s under forty. Maybe that’s just Brooklyn, but you can tell the Shred are aiming for something different as much by their approach to the catalog as by their openers and guests: local jammers Garcia Peoples opened this most recent pair of shows while San Francisco’s Howlin’ Rain played last year. The newly-local Ryley Walker (who seems to be showing up everywhere this month) joins in during “Space” and sticks around to solo on “Touch of Grey.” Touchhead or no, the result is delightful. That jam concludes a long second-set suite that includes “Estimated Prophet” into “Truckin” into “The Other One,” capping off over forty uninterrupted minutes of bliss and probably the highest high I’ve seen Grateful Shred hit yet. These guys just keep getting better.

I recorded this set with the MBHO hypercardioids from my usual spot at Brooklyn Bowl, resulting in a pretty good audience tape. There’s an expertly made board tape also over at the LMA, if that’s your thing.

Downloads available at the Live Music Archive

Grateful Shred
2019-03-01
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH

MBHO KA500HN/603A (FOB, ROC) > Naiant PFA >> Sound Devices MixPre-6 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (mixdown, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks [2:15:25]
01. Jack Straw
02. Mama Tried >
03. Mexicali Blues
04. They Love Each Other
05. Loose Lucy
06. Feel Like a Stranger
07. Shakedown Street
08. Cold Rain and Snow
09. Cumberland Blues
10. Estimated Prophet >
11. Truckin’ >
12. The Other One >
13. Space >
14. Touch of Grey
15. Man Smart Woman Smarter
16. Shining Star >
17. Samson and Delilah
18. Encore Break
19. Casey Jones

13-14 with Ryley Walker on guitar

• Grateful Shred Website

Grateful Shred: July 13, 2018 Brooklyn Bowl

July 19, 2018

By EricPH

[Photos by Bill Antonucci]

True confession: I’ve never seen one of the various latter-day projects of any of the former members of the Grateful Dead. (I know, I know. I’m working my way up to it.) But I’ve also never seen a Dead cover band—that is until Friday night. California’s Grateful Shred made their East Coast debut last week with a show at Garcia’s at the Cap (appropriate) and two nights at Brooklyn Bowl. It occurs to me that fidelity to the spirit of the Dead exists not on the stage, but in the crowd, the lot, the makeshift Shakedown Streets that pop up surrounding these events. I’m not qualified to judge whether the Shred performed these songs perfectly, hit the notes right, whether they were too faithful to the material or not faithful enough (Deadheads have lots of opinions, man). But what I can speak to is the vibe they created: good times were had with plenty of dancing and new friends. On night two, a guy named Rudy approached me, noticing the mic stand and thanked me for taping. He gave me one of a bunch of homemade Grateful Shred shirts he had made to commemorate the shows. We talked about how the Shred do a great rendition of “The Music Never Stopped.” There’s pretty much nothing I could imagine that would be more in the spirit of the Dead. Go forth, enjoy the Shred—we’ll be back in a little bit with night two.

Downloads available at the Live Music Archive

Grateful Shred
2018-07-13
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY

Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com

MBHO KA200N/603A (FOB, ROC, PAS) > Naiant PFA >> Sound Devices MixPre-6 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (balance, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)

Tracks: [2:20:12]

Set 1
01. Crowd
02. China Cat Sunflower >
03. I Know You Rider
04. El Paso
05. Althea
06. Unbroken Chain >
07. The Music Never Stopped

Set 2
08. Crowd
09. Help on the Way >
10. Slipknot! >
11. Franklin’s Tower
12. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
13. High Time
14. Estimated Prophet >
15. Drums/Space >
16. Eyes of the World
17. I’m a Hog for You
18. Sugar Magnolia
19. Encore Break
20. Casey Jones

Website

Dead and Company: July 3, 2016 Boulder CO

July 6, 2016

By nyctaper

[photo by hiandlo]

It was exactly a year ago when all of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead played their last shows together in Chicago. “Fare Thee Well” was a goodbye of sorts, but it certainly wasn’t the end of their careers or the end of the music. Later that year, the formation of “Dead and Company” brought together Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart with pop star John Mayer. The combination appeared odd at first, but Mayer seems to have dedicated himself to not only learning the material but adapting to the ebb and flow of a traditional Dead show. The band’s second full tour came through Colorado on Saturday and NYCTaper veteran hiandlo was out in the region on vacation and caught the show.

Our readers who have followed our coverage of various “post-Dead” bands know that we have two pet peeves among the various good and bad aspects of these bands — we can’t stand the mindless aping of Jerry Garcia’s style by various guitarists employed to fill his shoes, and cringe at the simply unlistenable vocals of Phil Lesh. Fortunately, Dead and Company have neither of those two issues. John Mayer’s guitar playing borrows heavily from classic rock and blues oeuvres, but it has always been his own. Mayer isn’t copying Garcia when he plays Dead songs, he’s placing his own stamp on the music and that makes all the difference. And vocally, although Bob Weir has aged quite a bit, the combination of his still-formidable vocals with Mayer and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti provides Dead and Company with solid singing that never reaches the cringworthiness of Lesh.

At this Boulder show, the band got off to a slow start, literally. Weir’s pacing is still painfully behind, so that “Stranger” was at times like playing a 45 record at 33. But fortunately the band kept it up after that and the tempo was never really an issue after the opener. The first set highlights included a sweet “Bird Song” with shared vocals, and Mayer’s take on “Speedway”, which allowed his blues roots to shine. The second set’s highlight was a really quite moving version of “He’s Gone” with “Smokestack” sandwiched in the middle. And although the band did offer a fairly truncated “Dark Star” out of “Space”, there were some out-there moments that made the trip worthwhile — reminding us that while this current incarnation isn’t ever going to be the Grateful Dead, Dead and Company is serving the music well and keeping the spirit alive.

Dead and Company continue to tour throughout this month, dates here.

hiandlo recorded this set from a prime front of board location with the “open card” Schoeps caps and the sound quality is simply superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Dead And Company
2016-07-03
Folsom Field
Boulder CO

Digital Audience Master
Recorded FOB Dead Center

Schoeps MK22 (STC-22) > KC5 > CMC6 > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by hiandlo
Produced by nyctaper

Set 1
[Total Time 1:08:20]
01 Feel Like A Stranger
02 Next Time You See Me
03 Samson and Delilah
04 West LA Fadeaway
05 Bird Song
06 New Speedway Boogie

Set 2
[Total Time 1:43:53]
07 China Cat Sunflower
08 I Know You Rider
09 He’s Gone
10 Smokestack Lightning
11 He’s Gone Reprise
12 Let It Grow
13 Drums – Space
14 Dark Star
15 Morning Dew
16 [encore break]
17 Brokedown Palace
18 US Blues

Support Dead and Company: Website | Merch | Grateful Dead Music

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks “Play Dead”: December 30, 2015 Rough Trade NYC

January 6, 2016

By acidjack

If you were a fan of the Grateful Dead, and you saw the actual band live, then you’ve probably got more than your share of opinions about the various combinations of the remaining parts of it who’ve tried to transact on the original’s greatness. As someone who never saw the actual band (but has seen some successful and less-than-successful related projects), I’m not here to convince you. But for my money, there’s something rewarding, something essential, about watching much-younger musicians, with full careers filled with their own original material in front of them, paying tribute to one of rock music’s foundational bands.

I loved the Brooklyn Bowl show that we posted by Alex Bleeker and The Freaks — that one a combo run through their new album and some other originals, followed by a “Play Dead” set that’s become a staple of many of their live shows. This one flipped that script, with Bleeker and pals offering up a 100-minute set consisting almost entirely of Dead covers. This — my final show of the year — was billed as the afterparty to Phish’s 12/30 Madison Square Garden show, and the celebratory air from that event (an especially strong performance from this year’s MSG run) carried over into the more intimate confines of Rough Trade NYC.

Overall, this “Play Dead” was a looser, better and arguably truer performance to the spirit of the original band. While the Brooklyn Bowl set consisted mainly of discrete run-throughs of each song, you’ll notice that this set was filled with segues, kicking off with “China Cat Sunflower” into a surging “I Know You Rider” before venturing into cosmic territory with “Eyes to the World” into “He’s Gone” into “The Other One,” taking a short detour through “Dark Star” and ending up, improbably, with a Bleeker original, “Sealong Hair,” from their latest record, Country Agenda. After that came three more non-Dead tunes (two more originals, plus their regular-rotation cover of Mountain Man’s “Animal Tracks,” a fierce jam in its own right. Where Bleeker was joined last time by Real Estate’s Martin Courtney, here we had another cameo by one of his Ridgewood, NJ pals, Julian Lynch and multi-talented Dave Harrington (of many bands, but perhaps best-known for his work in Darkside). The band managed to deliver a little birthday salutation to Harringon in between “Tennessee Jed” and “St. Stephen,” which closed the set. By that point it was 2 a.m. and the club’s neighbors weren’t going to tolerate any more. For those of us inside, though, this was an afterparty that we’d have been happy to continue all night.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Rough Trade engineer Leah, together with Schoeps MK4V microphones. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [FLAC] | [MP3]

Stream the complete set:

Alex Bleeker & The Freaks “Play Dead”
2015-12-30
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard [engineer: Leah] + Schoeps MK4V (PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:43:00]
All songs by the Grateful Dead unless noted

01 tuning>China Cat Sunflower>
02 I Know You Rider
03 Eyes of the World>
04 He’s Gone>
05 The Other One>
06 Dark Star Jam>
07 Sealong Hair [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
08 Downright Stinson [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
09 Animal Tracks [Mountain Man]
10 U.H.M. [Alex Bleeker & the Freaks]
11 Shakedown Street>
12 The Wheel>
13 Tennessee Jed>
14 [Happy bday to Dave]>
15 St. Stephen
16 [outro]

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, PLEASE SUPPORT Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, visit their Facebook page, and purchase their new album Country Agenda from Sinderlyn Records [HERE].

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead: June 5, 2015 Mountain Jam – Flac/MP3/Streaming

June 6, 2015

By nyctaper

[photo by Erin]

At this point, it is apparent that Joe Russo’s Almost Dead has achieved its mission of providing a fresh approach to the task of covering Grateful Dead songs. And at a Festival that has thrived on ability to provide a reliable recreation of the classic rock genre, JRAD were an easy stand-in for the greatest improvisational rock band of its era. The Grateful Dead made a one stab at the massive task of performing the band’s ultimate rock opus “Terrapin Station” in its entirety, but the performance failed to capture the majesty of the suite that owns the entire second site of the Terrapin Station album. “Terrapin” is perhaps the Grateful Dead’s crowning achievement in musical composition, but the complexity of the last half of the suite was not a task that the band had the fortitude to undertake at a live show and so it was only the first two sections that were performed consistently since its 1977 debut.

JRAD opened their set at Mountain Jam in the pouring rain with a jam that seamlessly merged with “Lady With A Fan”, the opening section of the Terrapin suite. When the band concluded the first section of the main theme and proceeded to the “Terrapin Transit” portion, it was a moment to smile. JRAD consistently takes this music to places where the original band never trod, and this was just another example — and the fun had just begun. Lead by the stunning keyboard work of Marco Benevento, JRAD took each section of the suite and transformed them into complete songs of their own. It was a breathtaking thirty-two minutes and this is a recording I’ve already sampled thoroughly four times and undoubtedly will experience many more times. The balance of this set consisted of meaty and committed versions of three more songs but the take away from this short JRAD experience was undoubtedly the complete Terrapin suite.

I recorded this set with the Neumann large diaphragm cardioids in a very advantageous location up the hill in front of the soundboard area. Considering the elements at the time of this performance, overall this is an outstanding recording. Enjoy!

Our soundboard/audience matrix recording of JRAD at the Capitol Theatre is still available here.

Download or Stream the Complete Concert at Archive.org [HERE].

Stream the Complete Show:

Joe Russo Almost Dead
2015-06-05
Mountain Jam
Hunter NY

Digital Master Recording
FOB Audience

Neumann TLM 102s > Grace Designs Lunatec V3 > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:12:59]
01 Terrapin Station
02 The Wheel
03 Greatest Story Ever Told
04 Cumberland Blues

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you’ll please support these artists, visit the JRAD website, visit the JRAD Facebook page, and visit their individual websites and purchase their official merchandise. Benevento-Russo Duo [HERE], Marco Benevento [HERE], Tom Hamilton [HERE], Scott Metzger [HERE], and Dave Dreiwitz [HERE].

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead: May 9, 2015 Capitol Theatre – Flac/MP3/Streaming (Matrix)

May 27, 2015

By nyctaper

We’ve been with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead from their very first show at Brooklyn Bowl, so it was especially exciting to see the band in the big room at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. Given the special historical relationship between The Cap and the Grateful Dead, this gig was a kind of affirmation for JRAD. And the fans agreed — this date sold out quickly and well in advance. So there was a palpable sense of excitement when the band took the stage and immediately burst into a ’76-77 era version of “Dancing In the Streets” filled with neat funky guitar fills and tons of energy from the rhythm section. JRAD is always full of surprises, but what happened next was especially nice for us here at NYCTaper — the entrance onto the stage of friend of the site Nicole Atkins. Nicole ostensibly performed the “Donna parts” throughout the night, except that she’s a significantly better vocalist than Donna Godchaux ever showed during her time in the Grateful Dead (check out Nicole’s solo verses on “Music”). And as expected, Nicole provided a series of breathtaking moments throughout the night, highlighted by her solo rendition of Pigpen’s late era classic ballad “The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)”, which like all JRAD performances balanced the tender line between tribute and respectful original take on the music. It was an interesting choice of material to feature Nicole on lead vocals and the selection proved brilliant.

This night was also featured an abundance what we have come to expect from JRAD shows — inspired and collaborative improvisational work which imparts new life into well-worn material. The version of “Dancing” definitely took its flavor from the late 70s GD, but JRAD took it out deep, and when the song reached to the final chorus after nearly twenty-minutes, it returned from places the Dead never imagined. “Cassidy” is a track that became fairly static in the later years of GD performances, which was a shame because the composition offers a jam-ready mid-song interlude. As expected, JRAD took that offer and upped the ante considerably. The mid-“Cassidy” jam contained a Playing-like deep space that gradually reached a manic Caution-like climax that we didn’t expect would ever return to the song proper. But return it did, ever so briefly, before exploding into a ’69-style “St. Stephen” that nearly took the roof off the old place. The first set continued with an extended “Eyes” that teased “Loose Lucy” before it flowed into a celebratory “Not Fade Away” that closed the meaty set. The second set’s opener “Music Never Stopped” followed the same path as “Cassidy”, taking a fairly static GD song that offered space for improvisation and taking full advantage. This “Music” extended past fifteen minutes before it returned to the final refrain. The remainer of the show was notable for its continued intensity, imaginative song selections and the true dedication to the music exhibited by all. By the time the band reached the set’s final song, a sweet “Ripple” encore, it was clear that Joe Russo’s Almost Dead had truly done the historic Cap proud.

This recording is a special one for the site. We were granted access to a soundboard feed in order to mix a special “matrix” of this show. I set up the mics in the taper’s section at the front right corner of the soundboard cage. I utilized the Schoeps cards and added the Grace V3 as a pre-amp to sweeten the capture. The room sounded terrific and the crowd was fairly respectful. The board feed was impeccably mixed by JRAD FOH Pete Costello — a perfect stereo pan, complete separation and superb balance. The matrix mix is fairly even between board and audience. The result is one of the best recordings we’ve ever offered on this site. Enjoy!

This recording would not have been possible without the generosity and assistance of three separate entities — the outstanding staff at the Capitol Theatre, Pete Costello, and of course the members of JRAD.

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Dancing In The Streets”:

Stream “Cassidy”:

Stream “Music Never Stopped”:

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
2015-05-09
Capitol Theatre
Port Chester NY

Digital Master Recording
FOB Audience + SBD Matrix

Soundboard [Engineer: Pete Costello] Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set One
[Total Time 1:31:44]
01 Dancing In The Streets
02 Dire Wolf
03 Cassidy
04 St. Stephen
05 The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion)
06 Eyes Of The World
07 Not Fade Away
Set Two
[Total Time 1:22:06]
08 Music Never Stopped
09 King Solomon’s Marbles
10 China Cat Sunflower
11 The Eleven
12 I Know You Rider
13 Morning Dew
14 One More Saturday Night
15 [encore break]
16 Ripple

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – January 24, 2015 Brooklyn Bowl – Flac/MP3/Streaming

January 26, 2015

By nyctaper

[screen snot from LazyLightning55a video]

It was almost exactly two years ago when Joe Russo’s Almost Dead made their debut at the Brooklyn Bowl. In our somewhat controversial review of that show, we found the band’s approach to the music of the Grateful Dead both musically proficient and extremely refreshing. JRAD is a core group of friends and accomplished musicians whose take on the GD catalog was that night in stark contrast from the world of “post-Dead” which had become to me uninspired to the point of becoming almost a gimmick. I’m happy to say that the last two years have proved us entirely correct. As “post-Dead” prepares to say “Fare Thee Well” this summer, JRAD has been an unqualified success. The band has toured several times throughout this period, and last month teamed with Phil Lesh to play a series of New Year’s shows at the Capital Theatre in Port Chester NY. This weekend JRAD returned to where it all began for two very sold-out shows at the Brooklyn Bowl for the “Freaks Ball”. We attended and recorded both but offer up the second night first because this was truly a remarkable performance, surpassing anything that I could have reasonably expected from this group.

The night began with what appeared at first to be a faithful take on Pigpen’s “Alligator” — that was until the jam segment when it became very apparent that JRAD would recognize no boundaries on this night. Led by the thundering bass of Dave Dreiwitz, JRAD weaved in and out of a “Caution Jam” that touched on themes as varied as “Rider” and “Slipknot”. The set’s opener would last nearly seventeen minutes before evolving into “Jack A Roe”. This traditional number was for the Grateful Dead almost always a short first-set Garcia-led song that followed a very specific pattern. For JRAD, there are no patterns as Jack A Roe became a ten-minute exploratory jam vehicle that led very nicely into a celebratory “Uncle John’s Band”. The balance of the first set continued with some interesting song selections that kept the energy high with much more to come. Saturday night’s second set was the highlight of weekend with a “Music Never Stopped” opener that went into some deep space mid-song before returning to finish in resounding fashion. What followed was truly the most inspired song we’ve seen JRAD perform — an eighteen-minute take on “Cumberland Blues” that stretched the song to previously unheard limits and really encapsulates what makes this group special. We’re streaming this song below. The balance of the second set was filled with multiple highlights and featured a wide variety of surprises and interesting and intelligent interpretations of the familiar catalog.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards riding very high on a stand about 30 feet directly in line with the right stack. Other than the persistent din of crowd yapping, this is a quite excellent recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Cumberland Blues”:

This Recording is now Available to Download in FLAC or MP3 or to Stream at Archive.org [HERE]

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
2015-01-24
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn NY

Digital Master Recording
FOB Audience – 30 Feet from Right Stacks

Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:09:01]
01 Alligator
02 Jack A Roe
03 Uncle John’s Band
04 Ophelia
05 Ramble On Rose
06 Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
07 Bertha

Set 2
[Total Time 1:37:18]
08 Music Never Stopped
09 Cumberland Blues
10 [band intro]
11 Help On The Way
12 Slipknot!
13 Shakedown Street
14 Truckin
15 Morning Dew
16 [encore break]
17 Brown Eyed Women

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you’ll please support these artists, visit the JRAD Facebook page, and visit their websites and purchase their official merchandise. Benevento-Russo Duo [HERE], Marco Benevento [HERE], Tom Hamilton [HERE], Scott Metzger [HERE], and Dave Dreiwitz [HERE].

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