With 2015 signifying the half-century mark of the Grateful Dead forever changing the course of popular music, Jazz Fest saw a number of incarnations playing Dead music.

Bill Kreutzmann, who drummed with the Grateful Dead from it’s inception until Jerry Garcia died in 1995, played a number of shows in New Orleans with frequent collaborators such as Steve Kimock and Anders Osborne.

One of the many Grateful Dead collaborators in town for the weekend, drummer Joe Russo, brought his collection of musicians, dubbed Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, to The Joy Theater on May 2 to interpret the Grateful Dead’s extensive catalog.

Russo, who played with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh in Further, enlisted Marco Benevento on organ and keys, Tom Hamilton on lead guitar and vocals, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, and Scott Metzger on rhythm guitar and vocals.

Hamilton, another frequent collaborator with Kreutzmann in his band Billy and The Kids, was absolutely on point all set, nailing his solos and electrifying the crowd with wailing crescendos.

Hamilton also did a great job covering the vocals of Jerry Garcia, with Metzger providing backup vocals.

Benevento brought his unique sound, meshing classic sounding Grateful Dead organ sounds with his lightning fast movements up and down the keys. A number of organ solos left the crowd chanting for more as Marco slipped and slapped his way up and down the keys, trading licks with Hamilton as the two played off of each other impeccably.

Dreiwitz and Metzger both provided steady, consistent, and powerful rhythms with Metzger occasionally stepping forward to solo, bending his tone and switching from spacey slow grooves to blurred fingers racing up and down the fretboard on a dime.

Russo dutifully held down the drums for the evening, grinning like a mad man as he frantically drummed, constantly glancing at and coordinating the evening with his flanking band members.

It was clear that Russo was orchestrating the evenings tunes as he shouted out directions, but it became abundantly clear that he trusted his collaborators to take the music where they felt necessary.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead put on an impressive show, perfectly honoring the Grateful Dead’s legacy while also adding personal touches and a new, distinct sound to songs that have been played ad nauseam.