Raising The Dead is excited to begin our fall residency at the Tangent Gallery and Hastings Street Ballroom this Sunday, October 24.  We'll play from 7pm to midnight with a selection of songs from the Dead catalog spanning their entire career.  The show will be a special treat for fans of the now defunct People Mover's Band - as James Waldecker will be filling in for Matt Cole on lead guitar, meaning a third of the band (including Joe and Laurie) are PMB alumni.  We'll perform some of their signature tunes and arrangements.  

Matt will rejoin us for performances on November 12 and December 17.  Shows will feature live painting by Martina Sanroman, artist of our poster shown above, and we'll be offering signed prints of the poster at the gigs.  

On Friday, October 29, Marcus Rezak's Shred is Dead returns to Otus Supply, and we've assembled a supergroup of Detroit musicians to open for him.  Detroit Dead includes Dave Martin (guitar), Laurie Lester (vocals) and Matthew Cole (guitar) from Raising the Dead; John Lyle (bass) from Dead Again/Deep Space Six; Justin Lee (keys) from Dead at the Winery; and Chaim Tolwin (drums) from Supercrunch/Deadicated. They'll get the Shred is Dead party started with some sing-along jam favorites!

We hope you'll join us, and mark your calendar for a BIG gig coming up on December 4!  

On September 25, Raising The Dead performed an awesome show at the Oddly Specific Gathering in Jerome, Michigan.  The 3-day camping festival  hosted by our friend Gracie featured amazing home-grown food, vendors with all sorts of goods, a big bonfire, lots of super-kind people, and a great lineup of musicians keeping the groove all weekend long.  

On that Saturday night, we took the stage after the fourth set that weekend by the extraordinary Full Cord Bluegrass.  The temperature was about 60 degrees when we took the stage, and steadily declined through the night, dipping down into the 40s.  But the air was still, and we heated things up with a jam-filled show to remember.  

The setlist, written by our drummer Joseph Waldecker, featured only songs whose lyrics were written by Robert Hunter.  Our show was preceded by a reading of the complete Terrapin Station Suite poem by our friend Bonnie.  Inspiration moved us brightly, and we played late into the night as the crickets and cicadas sung along.  Check it out below. 

On August 21, Raising the Dead performed an epic show for the patrons of the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit.  Our second set was so special, we decided it deserved to become our first official album release.  Starting today, “Terrapin Stations & Other Ones: Live at the Cadieux Cafe” is available to stream on all major services (links below), and available for download purchase on platforms that support it (We will actually make some money on this, so please consider purchasing it!)

The album consists of our second set from that night, conceived by our keyboardist Max Katz (with a little help from his friends), who took some of the Dead’s most commonly played song segues and mixed them up inside each other, and then wrapped them in the Terrapin Suite, which we’d premiered Hippies at the Village on July 31, and played again at the Cabbage Patch on August 1st. 

Help>Slip>Frank, Dark Star>St. Stephen>The Eleven, and Cryptical Envelopment>The Other One are all encompassed in this set, but not in the way you might assume a typical Dead tribute would play them.  

We open with Lady With A Fan, and as soon as the first solo section comes in, we segue into Help On the Way.  Help gives way to Slipknot, as you would expect, but we don’t finish the jam, saving the return for later.  Instead, Dave plays the familiar chords of Dark Star, and we take a long detour through space, landing on St. Stephen.  We nest the musical matryoshka once again, and Matt leads us into Cryptical>The Other One.  (If you listen to just one song, we recommend The Other One!)  Next, we slide back into Terrapin Station to finish the song - or so you think.  Once the refrain has built and released (and built and released), Joe stabs his cymbal for the second half of the Suite.  Terrapin Transit and At a Siding are interrupted by Bill's bass bombs harkening “The Eleven” and then, finally, Slipknot finishes, and Laurie's harmonies roll away the dew at Franklin’s Tower.  Our next Terrapin station is the completion of At A Siding and Terrapin Flyer featuring insane drum breaks and frantic back and forth soloing between Max and Matt, finally returning home for the Refrain and the end of a one hour, thirty-nine minute psychedelic voyage.  

Rhythm guitarist Dave Martin took the multitrack soundboard recordings and lovingly mixed and mastered the show, making sure you wouldn’t miss a note of Deadly goodness.  The band is self-financing this release, and has purchased the rights to publish these songs from the copyright holders.  We’re very excited to give you this snapshot of our state of the band, and we hope you’ll be inspired to share it with Deadheads from Detroit and beyond.  

Raising The Dead finished off a busy summer of great gigs with some of our biggest yet.  Here's some recaps, setlists, and videos to tide you over until our performance at the Oddly Specific Gathering on September 25.  

On August 21, we played an epic show at the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit.  The show was so special, we decided to do something we've never done before with the recording - and you'll know what that is on Tuesday, 9/20.  So stay tuned!  This show was also our first time playing songs by Furthur - more to come on that front! Check out the second set, especially: 

Cadieux Cafe Detroit, MI 8/21/21
Set I: Werewolves of London, Picasso Moon, Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again*, Brown-Eyed Women > Black-Throated Wind > Mountain Song, Victim or the Crime > Fire on the Mountain
Set II: Lady with a Fan > Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Dark Star > St. Stephen > Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Terrapin Station > Terrapin Transit > At A Siding V1 > The Eleven > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower > At A Siding V2 > Terrapin Flyer > Refrain
E: Broken Arrow*
*first time played

Our next performance was one we'd looked forward to all summer: Arts Beats and Eats in Royal Oak.  We were jazzed to be the headlining band on the Soaring Eagle Rock Stage Saturday, September 4th. When we arrived, we were greeted by the music of Frame 42, an awesome, high energy teenage combo from LaPeer working through 70s and 80s hard rock and metal.  Starship was playing on the main stage, and the House of Dank stage not far from ours was blasting beats.  There was Dancin' in the streets everywhere you looked!  

Our set was fun and energetic, with premieres of that motown classic, and a tribute to the recently departed Charlie Watts with our version of Dead Flowers.  Here's the show for you to check out: 

Arts Beats and Eats Soaring Eagle Rock stage, Royal Oak, MI 9/4/2021
Feel Like a Stranger, Dead Flowers*, Estimated Prophet > Eyes of the World > Dancin' 77* > Samson and Delilah
E: Not Fade Away
*first time played

Less than a week later, we returned to Otus Supply to provide support for Dave McMurray, the Detroit saxophonist we'd first become aware of when he played with Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers at the Fillmore in Detroit in March of 2019.  Dave had assembled a combo and released the album "Grateful Deadication" with his distinctive, sax-led Detroit style take on some of the Dead's most immortal songs.  We couldn't wait to hear them tear the place down, but before they did, we had a job to do.  Our set was rockin' and we met some new fans that night.  You can see it all for yourself in this multi-cam video live streamed by The Funk Shop.  The audio on this video is a matrix of the soundboard and an audience recording, so it's like you're in the room. 

Otus Supply Ferndale, MI 9/9/21
Liberty > Big Bad Blues > Easy Wind, Pride of Cucamonga, Here Comes Sunshine* > Cumberland Blues, When I Paint My Masterpiece
*unfinished

When Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers played Detroit in March 2019, they welcomed Detroit saxophonist Dave McMurray to the stage.  Two years later, Dave has released an album called "Grateful Dedication," a collection of sax-driven jazz arrangements of songs by the Grateful Dead.  On September 9, he'll play at Otus Supply with his band.  Raising The Dead will be opening for them, and it will surely be a night to remember! Dead and Company plays DTE the very next night, so you never know who might show up to hang out or sit in.  Join us, tickets are $25. 

The band celebrated the end of the Days Between with a live stream from Otus Supply.  Dave was away Phishing at Deer Creek, so James Waldecker sat in on rhythm guitar and vocals.  Other guest stars included Adam Bodeep and Andrew David.  The opening band was the Grateful Society Acoustic Band, which featured Matt and Joeseph playing an acoustic set with Warren Nelson on keyboards, accordion and vocals, and Richard Rickman on upright bass and vocals. . 

Otus Supply Ferndale, MI 8/8/2021

The Grateful Society Acoustic Band 
Wang Dang Doodle, Jack A Roe, Operator, Me & My Uncle, Maggie's Farm, Bird Song, New Speedway Boogie*, Stealin' Stealin'*, Midnight Moonlight*, Reuben & Cherise, Dark Hollow
* with John Yax on mandolin

Raising The Dead 
I: Alabama Getaway, Me and My Uncle > Big River, St. Stephen, Althea, Friend of the Devil, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Day Job, Tennessee Jed*
​
II: Harder They Come, The Music Never Stopped > Scarlet Begonias > The Music Never Stopped, Looks Like Rain, Mission in the Rain, Cassidy, Crazy Fingers > Like a Road (Leading Home), Around and Around** ***, One More Saturday Night***
*with Adam Bodeep on guitar
**first time played
*** with Andrew David on guitar
Entire show with James Waldecker on guitar and vocals

Last year, Raising The Dead played an awesome 30 minute drive-in show at The Beats Go On, a socially-distanced version of Arts Beats and Eats in Royal Oak.  This year with the full event scheduled, we’ve been tasked with headlining the Soaring Eagle Rock Stage on Saturday night, playing live Grateful Dead from 9:45-11:15pm.  We hope you can join us!  In the mean time, here’s a video of our performance from last year. 

Raising The Dead had an awesome weekend kicking off the Days Between, performing a ton of live Grateful Dead for appreciative audiences at Hippies At The Village in Burton, MI (our 3rd year) and at Grosse Pointe Park’s Cabbage Patch Saloon (our first time).  It is our practice to not repeat songs on consecutive gigs, but while we debuted no less than eleven songs this weekend, one we played twice: the fabled Terrapin Suite. 

Our drummer, Joseph Waldecker worked for a solid month, practicing the extremely difficult drum parts (it took Mickey and Billy to do the album, he did it by himself!) and he also researched if any other Dead band had ever played it in Michigan before.  As far as we could tell, The Grateful Dead, Further, The Dead, Phil and Friends, Dead and Company, Ratdog, Dark Star Orchestra, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, local bands Dead Again, Deadicated, Dead at the Winery, Supercrunch… Nobody has ever performed the full Terrapin Suite in Michigan before!  So, we had to give it a shot.  And another!  

The results are here for you to see, and we are as thrilled as the audience who was there to witness it.  And now, you can also enjoy our performance from the Cabbage Patch.  More audio and video to come soon! 

Had a great time at Hippies at The Village today. Hope you all had as much fun as we did!

7/31/2021 Hippies at the Village Burton, MI

Set I: Promised Land, Here Comes Sunshine* > The Wheel > Mr. Charlie*, Blow Away > Terrapin Suite*
Set II: Stop That Train, Viola Lee Blues, Cats Under the Stars* > I Know You Rider > Cats Under the Stars > Playin in the Band > The Eleven > Bird Song, Johnny B. Goode

8/1/2021 Cabbage Patch Saloon Grosse Pointe Park, MI

Set I: Don't Ease Me In, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues*, When I Paint My Masterpiece*, Mountain Song* > Waiting for a Miracle > I Need a Miracle* > Standing on the Moon*, Next Time You See Me*, Box of Rain
Set II:  Weather Report Prelude, Easy Wind*, Ship of Fools*, Big Bad Blues*, Unbroken Chain, Ramble on Rose, Let it Grow, So Many Roads, Terrapin Suite

*first time played

RTD is excited to perform for the Oddly Specific Gathering on Saturday, September 25.  We’ll be performing two sets of live Grateful Dead at the festival site in Cement City, MI.  Day passes are available, as are full weekend camping passes.  Get them all from the Third Coast Herbal Collective website.  

RTD is returning to the Hippies At The Village festival - now located in Burton, MI - on Saturday, July 31.  If you follow Joe's social media, you know we'll be debuting one of the most difficult and rarely played songs in the Dead's catalog.  Don't miss it!  

The days between Jerry's birth and death kick off August 1 at the Cabbage Patch Saloon and end at our home base, Otus Supply.  We hope you'll join us for the both! August 21 we return to Cadieux Cafe to play in the sand once again.  We have more fall gigs to announce soon, including a big headlining gig in September you won't want to miss!  See you soon, NFA
​

• ​July 31 • Hippies At The Village • Burton, MI • 4-7pm
• August 1 • Cabbage Patch Saloon, 15130 Mack Ave. Grosse Pointe Park, MI • 8p • $5
• August 8 • Otus Supply, 345 E. 9 Mile Rd. Ferndale, MI •  $10 
• August 21 • Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Rd. Detroit, MI 48224 • $10 • 7pm​​