Not a Psych Out: Kings and the Symphony Go Groovy

It’s doubtful anybody will be dropping LSD or getting silly on psilocybin, at least not on stage, at the third annual concert collaboration between Santa Barbara–based classic rock band Doublewide Kings and the Santa Barbara Symphony. But it might be easy to imagine you’re at the Fillmore in San Francisco circa 1969 during Psychedelic Symphony, the combined ensemble’s one-night-only celebration of the grooviest hits of the era.

There won’t be any beanbag chairs, shag carpet, Dreamachines, or lava lamps on stage—your humble correspondent owned at least three of those in his youth—but, we’re told, there will be some “trippy visuals” projected on the rear screen, an update from the famed Joshua Light Show at the Fillmore.

The six members of the Kings, combined with a sizable 50-piece subset of the symphony, should be entertaining enough.

Unlike the first two concerts in the series—tributes to Van Morrison and The Band—the November 8 show will boast single songs by more than 15 different artists. Tunes and artists will include The Beatles (“Strawberry Fields,” duh); Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “From the Beginning,” The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, and Sly and the Family Stone. Expect a grandly expanded definition of psychedelic music.

“We wanted a theme that would be both fun and experimental, with a spirit that you lean into,” said John Simpson, the Kings’ longtime lead vocalist and harmonica player. “There are so many good tunes that fall under that psychedelic umbrella. That era is in our wheelhouse. It’s when we and most of our audience grew up.”

The set list doesn’t have any super deep cuts or one-hit wonders like The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints” or The Lemon Pipers’ “Green Tambourine,” but the symphonic arrangements—created by two different collaborators, Bay Area–based Brett Strader and Carl Rydlund of Nashville—will likely be sufficiently mind-expanding on their own if they’re anything like the first two shows.

“Having the symphony is like bringing in super firepower and then pushing it into the stratosphere,” Simpson said. “There are strings and horns that fit with the songs, and the arrangers also composed overtures that lead into a few of the songs, which are extraordinary.”

The band will still be able to jam in a few spots, where musical cues will let symphony Music Director Nir Kabaretti know when to return to the charts, but the looseness that often characterizes a DWK set won’t really work at the Granada show.

“Definitely we are on our game much more strictly when the symphony is playing by the score,” Simpson said.

A Psychedelic Costume Competition has recently been added, so the audience might be as colorful as the images evoked by the music of the flower-power generation.

Add it all up, and the journey back to the Age of Aquarius looks like a mind-boggling trip down memory lane—or a first exposure to the scintillating sonic palette of the psychedelic era.

“It’s all about taking you on an adventure with an energy and vibe so that at the end you feel like you were on a phenomenal ride,” Simpson said.

Kind of like an acid trip.

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