Raising The Dead performed at The Beats Go On in Royal Oak, MI on September 6, 2020 in this pro-shot video.  It will premiere at 8pm on 9/30/2020. 

We are excited to help raise funds for the Arts Beats & Eats Musician's Fund! If you donate to Raising The Dead via the links below, all donations will be matched by Oakland County and put towards the ABE Musician's Fund. The fund benefits professional musicians whose livelihood has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic shut downs and cancellations. Thanks for giving!

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Raising the Dead made our first two-set show as a 6-member ensemble one to remember!  Playing the Cadieux Cafe always seems to bring out our best.  Last February we were inside, pre-COVID, and featured the debut of Matt and Joe, with an unforgettable second set featuring an intense medley of The Music Never Stopped > Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Drums > Samson and Delilah.  This time, we debuted no less than 6 songs, took our full band improv next-level, and really showed what having 5 great singers in the band can sound like. 

The crowd was masked and distanced and ready to move. We brought 2 subwoofers to make sure Bill's new Eden amp and stack got their due.  The neighbors complained before the setbreak and we toned it down a bit, without decreasing the intensity.  Some highlights of the night: we debuted our first Laurie-led songs, the Pigpen classics Big Boss Man and Midnight Hour, Dave preached on Throwing Stones, Max worked out his Crazy Fingers, Joe led a soulful Wharf Rat, Bill sang a well-harmonized Uncle John's Band, and Matt led the out-there improv on Playin' in the Band.  

Relive the show below, with crispy soundboard audio and video, with a Healy-inspired wide mix, rhythm guitar and keys panned hard.  

Oh, two more things: Day Job isn't really Matt's favorite song, and no, you can't play Joe's drums.

9/19/2020 Cadieux Cafe  Detroit, MI

Set I
Help on the Way > Slipknot! > West LA Fadeaway* > Throwing Stones, St. Stephen, Jack-a-Roe, Big Boss Man*, Crazy Fingers* > Uncle John's Band
Set II
Day Job*, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Wharf Rat > Deal, Playin' in the Band > Iko Iko* > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower > Playin' in the Band, Midnight Hour*
Encore
Sugar Magnolia > Casey Jones > Sunshine Daydream
*first time played

Raising The Dead was really excited to play The Beats Go On on September 6.  The event was the result of some creative thinking by the team who produces the Arts, Beats, and Eats festival every year in Royal Oak.  With the restrictions on crowd size and safety considerations of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Beats Go On was a way to help Detroit area musicians perform and raise money for themselves and other musicians in the area who have been hit hard by the inability to perform live music.  

Raising The Dead was selected for a drive-in performance, and paired with the Santana tribute band The Santana Project.  Each group got 30 minutes to perform, with sanitization and appropriate social distancing separating the shows.  50 tickets, each admitting one car with two people were sold, and the RTD-TSP show sold out. 

We took the stage at 4:30 and had a tight, 30-minute set of Grateful Dead favorites planned.  It's no small thing to whittle down what we do to just 30 minutes, but our performance seems to have turned some heads nonetheless.  We started with Sugar Magnolia, pivoted into the Dead's biggest commercial hit Touch of Grey, and then started the American Beauty track Casey Jones.  We all howled with laughter when, during the third chorus of Casey ("Driving that train, high on cocaine"), a train barreled down the tracks immediately adjacent the performance site.  The timing was perfect!    After that notion crossed our minds, we pivoted into a Jammy Truckin'.  Since we couldn't play a whole show, we thought we'd give the Deadheads in the crowd a taste of what might have come next, so we teased The Other One, I Need A Miracle, He's Gone, and Dark Star before returning to end Sugar Mag with Sunshine Daydream.  It was the first time we'd played the complete Daydream tag, with Laurie (who made her auspicious debut with RTD) singing Donna's parts with confidence.  We ended on a high, Dave introduced the band, and we were at 30 minutes, on the nose.  

Then, a funny thing happened - the event producer, Jonathan Witz, hopped on stage and asked us not to leave - a surprise when playing such a tightly timed show.  He asked if we'd encore Truckin' while Channel 4 took footage for the evening news.  Of course, there's only one answer when the producer wants an encore, so we hung out for a while.  Unfortunately, the Channel 4 crew didn't end up recording us after all, but it's a moment we'll never forget.  Our friend Warren Nelson captured the event and broadcast it to Facebook Live, and that feed is included here.  Watch for the pro-shot footage from Arts Beats and Eats coming soon!

We hope to be a part of the Arts Beats and Eats shows in the future, and really enjoyed seeing all the fans that came out to support us.  We'd like to ask you to support The Beats Go On as they work to raise $500,000 in order to match Oakland County's grant.  Money donated will go towards supporting professional musicians in the Detroit area.  Thank you for your support! 

On August 20, 2020, Dave played a solo acoustic show at the Detroit Yacht Club.  It was a request by Debbie Sapperstein, whose husband Leon was celebrating his birthday.  Both are lifelong Deadheads who have seen Raising The Dead perform at The Watermark in St. Clair Shores.  They contacted Matt, who was unavailable, but recommended Dave for the gig.  The weather was warm and humid, but the breeze was beautiful.  2 hours of un-mic'd acoustic Dead followed, and it's archived here for your pleasure. 

In addition, Dave helps plan and create music for online Sunday services for the Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church.  On September 13, the Jerry Garcia Band song "My Sisters and Brothers" was a perfect fit.  The band recorded the song at our rehearsal on Tuesday, September 9 and had a really nice performance on the second take.  Unfortunately, the audio files that captured it were corrupted, which was discovered on Wednesday.  That meant Dave had to get to work!  In his small office studio, Dave recorded the drums, bass, guitar, organ, and 3-part gospel harmony vocals, and produced the recording here.  He hopes you enjoy it!