Billy Strings announced that he and his band will embark on a six-show residency at the legendary Capitol Theater. The shows are taking place on the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s six-show run at The Cap. The concert series, titled The Déjà Vu Experiment will also raise money for charity. It will be six shows with great music for a good cause.
The first and last nights of the series will be free. So, you can watch the first night and see how good of a show Stings and his band put on. Then you can buy tickets for the other nights.
The Déjà Vu Experiment When, Where, and How to Watch
You have plenty of time to prepare for Billy Strings’ The Déjà Vu Experiment. The shows are February 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th. Each show will begin at 9 pm Eastern. The first and final nights of the series will be free to watch on the Relix channel on Twitch. The other nights only cost $19.99 through FANS. If you buy all four, you save a little money. The total cost for all four nights is $59.99.
Buying one of the FANS shows will give you 48-hour on-demand access to the concert. You can re-watch it as many times as you want in that period.
Billy Strings Offers More Than a Concert
The Déjà Vu Experiment will be more than just great live music. As the name suggests, it will be an experiment. During the Grateful Dead’s six-show run at the Cap, they conducted ESP (extrasensory perception) experiments. Fans were shown images and then asked to mentally broadcast those images to a “receiver” who was asleep across town. Billy Strings and his band aim to recreate those experiments. Each night, a special guest receiver will be chosen and fans will be asked to mentally send imagery to them.
In a statement connected to the announcement, they acknowledge that it is not a scientifically-backed study. It is, “a hypothesis that the collective mind has the power to tap into extrasensory perception and manifest connection.”
Livestream concert events became popular in 2020. During these events, fans around the world are connected through live performances. This connection and the Grateful Dead’s experiment have convinced Billy Strings to try a modern version. The size of the audience allows Strings to capture more minds in one moment than the Dead had at all six of their shows. If there is something to ESP and the power of collective focus, this run of shows should have some interesting results.
Great Music for a Good Cause
Live stream shows are fun. They aren’t the same as being in a venue but they definitely have their perks. With this run of shows, you get the added bonus of knowing that some of your ticket fees are going to a good cause. A portion of the proceeds from the shows will go to The Rex Foundation and Backline.
The Rex Foundation, originally set up by the Grateful Dead, is an organization that covers several facets of charity work. According to their website, the foundation, “aims to help secure a healthy environment, promote individuality in the arts, provide support to critical and necessary social services, assist others less fortunate than ourselves, protect the rights of indigenous people and ensure their cultural survival, build a stronger community, and educate children and adults everywhere.”
Backline’s mission is to connect music industry professionals and their family members with trusted mental health providers. They understand that working in the music industry presents its own issues and works to connect music industry professionals with people who understand the issues that can come from life in the industry.
Billy Stings and the Grateful Dead
Billy Strings is a renowned bluegrass musician. At the same time, he and his band are heavily influenced by the Grateful Dead and other jam bands. Some may not understand the connection but it makes perfect sense. One of the beautiful things about bluegrass music is its improvisational nature. For the most part, musicians learn the melodies, chord progressions, and lyrics of songs and fill the rest in with improvised solos. Jam bands like The Grateful Dead do the same thing.
The psychedelic sound of the Dead can be heard in some of String’s music as well. Check out this live version of “Meet Me at the Creek,” it doesn’t take long for the psychedelic elements to seep into the song.
That video not only shows the connection to jam bands of the past but also highlights how great Billy Strings’ live shows are.
