JRAD WITH OTEIL BURBRIDGE @ RED ROCKS

man, this about sums it up.

>>>JRAD offered a non stop throw down of high energy, masterful, exploratory music. It’s not like anything many of us know of as Grateful Dead music.

>>>The band is unpredictable in the best ways possible. There’s no real formula. JRAD’s musicianship, unique approach, and uncanny cohesion as a unit keeps the listener active. If you get too comfortable and fail to lock in with what’s going on during the live performance you’re most likely going to miss out on at least one if not a few of the many nuances that accentuate the JRAD experience ... Nothing felt forced, the fluidity is truly something any live act that takes improvisational chances ascribes to employ on stage ... JRAD is an active live music listening experience that is without a doubt a completely new, 2017 Dead experience.

>>>A music geek could literally spend hours and thousands of words picking apart last night’s show-in a good way. At times, following the band might be the trickiest thing for even the most locked-in listener as the band bounces from idea-to-idea so smoothly you wonder what it would have been like had they actually settled in played “Music Never Stopped” instead of just teasing it in there as a reprise, or actually going for “Born Cross Eyed” at the end of “Truckin’”. With such chemistry is seems JRAD can really go anywhere with this music. They don’t need to drop “the hits” to anchor a set. They can play whatever they want and while it is done respectfully to the tune of the Grateful Dead, the Dead’s songs seem to act as mere vehicles for the incredible audible adventures with this truly all-star cast. Marco Benevento is compelling to watch on stage, moving from keys, to the organ, even playing the strings of his piano at one point with the ease of only the most seasoned of vets. Joe Russo continues to drum in a way that sounds as though he could be hammering for two...

>>>...to respect what went down, JRAD is doing something different. In the end it might be called a tribute or cover act in the popular press, but the way they’re doing it is why many of us go so far out of our way to see live music. And to this wealth of unparalleled music, JRAD is adding a new layer to the legacy of the original band beyond description, something only a lover of live music-not necessarily a deadhead, should try to experience at some point.