
Jerry Garcia performs with the Grateful Dead in 1981
Photo: Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images
Grateful Dead Announce New 'Shakedown Stream' Online Concert Series, Donations Benefitting MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund
Legendary psychedelic rock group Grateful Dead have announced a brand-new weekly online concert series: Shakedown Stream, premiering Friday, April 10, at 8 p.m. EST on the act's YouTube channel. The pioneering jam band will contribute donations from the series to MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The series, which will stream archived live performances and concert films every Friday, will launch with a live screening of Truckin' Up To Buffalo, a live album and concert film documenting the group's legendary Fourth Of July show in 1989 at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y. The kickoff event will include a live on-camera interview session with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux and historian Gary Lambert at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST before the screening.
Read: Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund
"We've decided to start the streaming video series with the Buffalo '89 show for a couple of primary reasons," Lemieux said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. "Its excellence is indisputable and is something that we think pretty much everyone will enjoy in the absence of actually being able to see live concerts; and, as a tribute to the many rabid, loyal Dead Heads from the hard-hit tri-state area, which has been affected more than anywhere else in the country. To all of the Dead Heads in New York State and beyond, this one's for you."
As well, the Shakedown Stream sessions will include live interviews with members of the Dead community before or after the show, according to the band's social media channels. Fans can submit questions for the live Q&A session.
In other Dead news, Dead & Company, the Grateful Dead offshoot led by founding member and former guitarist Bob Weir and seven-time GRAMMY winner John Mayer, recently launched One More Saturday Night, their new free weekly "couch tour" series in which they stream past live performances; the band is helping to raise funds for MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund via the series.
Dead & Company's previously announced U.S. tour is still scheduled to proceed this summer.