Chamblee, Ga. ? After attending more than 100 Widespread Panic concerts, Julie Stevens knew what she was talking about when she said a show this month at Atlanta’s Fox Theater was different.

“You can see a lot better, and you can hear the music, and there’s no smoke,” said Stevens, 27, of Atlanta, during a break between sets. “That’s cool because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them up close.”

The difference? Stevens was watching this concert live on a big screen 12 miles away from the Fox at a movie theater in this Atlanta suburb.

Widespread Panic, the jam band from Athens, Ga., that has built a massive following based on the strength and carnival atmosphere of its live shows, joins acts like the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and Green Day, who in the past 18 months have rolled out concerts simulcast on big screens offsite. Sometimes way, way offsite.

Combining rock shows and movie theaters is an idea at least as old as 1970’s “Woodstock,” the movie version of the previous year’s legendary three-day festival. But advances in technology are making it easier to pull off events like the May 9 Widespread Panic show – when the concert was beamed live to 114 theaters around the country, from California to Florida.

And an increasingly competitive marketplace is making the special events attractive for bands looking to reach new audiences and offer something special for their existing fans.

A cameraman records Widespread Panic during the band's concert at the Fox theater in Atlanta. The performance was simulcast to various theaters across the country. The option gives musicians a chance to perform to wider audiences without the grueling touring schedule.

“The artists, the managers, the promoters … have all come to see there is a terrific value in bringing their music to movie-theater screens so fans can gather together to see them nationally – but in a very local and personal way,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of digital programming for Big Screen Concerts.

The Denver-based company is jointly owned by three of the world’s biggest movie theater chains – AMC, Cinemark and Regal – and has the capacity to broadcast concerts and other special events in as many as 850 theaters nationwide. Other companies have occasionally simulcasted concerts, but not as frequently and to as many theaters as Big Screen Concerts.

The company kicked off by offering recorded performances by bands like KISS, Rush and the Grateful Dead in 2003. But with changes in technology, the number of live simulcasts has steadily increased in the past two years.

Big Screen broadcast 21 concerts in 2004, including Phish, Jimmy Buffett and Prince, and 10 last year. They’ve done six already this year – most recently a May 16 show by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour.

Tickets range from $10 to $20, depending on the group and whether the event is live or, as in still a few cases, recorded. And most concerts are scheduled for weeknights – when the vast majority of movie theater seats are typically empty.

“Clearly, we’re primarily focusing on nontraditional, non-peak nights,” Diamond said. “We’re not trying to compete with our core movie business.”

The company’s most successful event was a simulcast of the last concert by jam rockers Phish. About 40,000 tickets were sold for the August 2004 show.

Widespread Panic vocalist John Bell said simulcasting a concert allows the usually hard-touring group to still reach out to fans without the rigors of an extended tour.

He also called it a chance for the band, formed in 1986, to continue a tradition of exploration that has kept music-making exciting for the group’s members after two decades.

“The kids buy into the novelty of it, just the way we do,” said Bell, hours before their recent simulcast show. “It’s a new way to have that concert experience with your friends in your hometown – and you get to buy popcorn.”

Buck Williams, the group’s manager and agent, sees a different upside to the simulcasts in movie theaters. He said an estimated 25 million to 40 million people would see the band’s name on posters, trailers or other theater promotions for the concert event.

The Fox Theater May 9 broadcast marked the first time Widespread Panic performed in concert all the songs from “Earth to America,” its new album due for release June 13. The show also featured songs performed with full brass and string sections – which Bell said the band never would be able to bring along for an extended tour.

At Hollywood Stadium 24 in nearby Chamblee, a few dozen fans geared up for the show by tailgating in the parking lot – lounging in lawn chairs and drinking cans of beer from coolers, as Widespread music blared from their car stereos.

When the band tore into “Pigeons,” a driving, groove-based rocker and the second song of their first set, the movie theater audience hooted and cheered. Pockets of fans danced in the aisles and in the back of the theater as others were content to sit in place – albeit cheering and clapping at the end of each song and, in some cases, even shouting out requests at the screen.

Several fans said they were enjoying themselves but didn’t feel the same energy they feel when attending a concert in person.

“It’s nice seeing things I don’t normally see and hearing things I don’t normally hear,” said Jarett Bellini, 27, of Atlanta, who has seen the band live about five times. “That being said, I’d still rather be at the Fox.”