Billy Strings Hits The Cap for Six Nights of The Déjà Vu Experiment
It’s true that we cannot be there in person, but that hasn’t deterred Billy Strings from plowing forward with a project he has been contemplating fro some time. Fans of The Relix Channel Present The Déjà Vu Experiment, a Six-Night Live-Streaming Event starring Billy Strings.
It is not by coincidence that these six shows will take place February 18-21, 23 & 24 at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester NY. Those are the precise dates and same location for a legendary run of shows by The Grateful Dead 50 years earlier, sharing the bill with The New Riders of the Purple Sage. In fact, even the days match up, with an off night on Monday, February 22.
This concept has been in discussion for a year, notes Strings’ manager Bill Orner: “We did not think in any way, shape or form that these would end up being virtual shows.” Strings sold out his two nights at The Cap last January, before the pandemic crushed the music industry (and much more). “Every single thing was just about being able to keep the fans engaged with new content, and just something to take their minds off of the unknown. All we wanted to do was just keep moving forward as if we were touring, with a self-created plan of just getting out there and grinding it out.”
So live-stream is the method of choice. The first and last shows will be broadcast for free on The Relix Channel (new to Twitch); the others will be available individually or as a subscription. There will be posters for each evening as perch options, and a portion of all proceeds will benefit The Rex Foundation and Backline.
There are many reasons for the reverence given to that 1971 run of shows. The Grateful Dead had played four West Coast shows in January before heading to Port Chester, then returned to The Fillmore West for their penultimate show at that classic venue. This run saw breakouts of seven songs that are integral to the Grateful Dead canon. Three of these — “Loser,” “Deal,” and “Bird Song” — would appear in January 1972 on Jerry Garcia’s eponymous solo debut. Three more would debut on the album fondly known as Skull and Roses, which was recorded in March and April of 1971 and issued in October: “Bertha,” “Wharf Rat,” and “Playing in the Band.” The last one was “Greatest Story Ever Told” from 1970’s American Beauty.
Three nights from original Dead run have been issued officially:
02.18.71 with American Beauty 50th anniversary reissue
02.19.71 Three from the Vault
02.21.71 with Workingman’s Dead 50th anniversary reissue
We cannot wait to see how Billy Strings and friends fill up six nights. We just know it will be EPIC.
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Déjà Vu Experiment