Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD)formed in January 2013 in Brooklyn, New York. They debuted on January 26, 2013, at the Brooklyn Bowl as a last-minute fill-in for the Freaks Ball XIII festival.
The organizers originally requested that drummer Joe Russo and his Led Zeppelin tribute band (Bustle In Your Hedgerow) play. Instead, Russo decided to pivot, recruited guitarist Tom Hamilton, and formed a Grateful Dead tribute supergroup. Initially intended as a one-off performance, the band’s immense chemistry transformed them into a prominent, high-energy touring act celebrated for fast-paced, exploratory, and punk-infused reinterpretations of the Dead’s catalog.
