As the last rays of light glimmered over the Red Rocks of Morrison, Colorado, a thickness could be felt in the air. It was a heady stew of man made fog and anticipation, that thick, stifling air that only comes before both a literal and metaphorical downpour. After what felt like an eternity, but was most likely around 15 minutes past their given start time, The String Cheese Incident ascended the stage and began what was to be an epic 3-night homecoming run.
The band kicked off their first set with a heartfelt rendition of “Believe”, the titular track to their recently released album, before segueing into a funky island inspired jam of “Smile” and “These Waves”, before eventually bringing it back to their roots with a spicy Newgrass Revival cover, lead by Michael Kang’s relentless fiddling. The crowd responded with utter joy, singing along in rowdy chorus to subsequent southern funk organ-heavy renditions of “Miss Brown’s Teahouse” and “Parker’s Blues”. Perhaps sensing the crowd’s energy or maybe because these days it’s almost mandatory, the band broke into an Eoto-esque funk chromatic breakdown before eventually meandering into a straight barn burning “Orange Blossom Special” bookended by the jazz funk standard “Birdland”. As firefly visuals began to twirl with an ever increasing rapidity the band responded in kind, leading to an epic guitar and keys duel of Nershi and Hollingsworth, both battling for sonic supremacy that left the crowd spun and thankful for a set break to recuperate.
With the advent of the 2nd set the worlds of anticipation and precipitation collided, and what began as a slow trickle grew into a near full downpour both aurally and elementally as the skies opened up and decided to play a part in the atmospherics of the evening. Undeterred, the band responded with the Celtic fire of “Valley of the Jig” and the crowd answered in kind, raising hands to the heavens and giving thanks as if they had personally summoned Poseidon for the evening. From this point the details of the evening began to blur as whiskey coursed through veins to stave off the chill but epic sing-a-longs of “Joyful Sound” and the remaking of the classic “In the Hall of the Mountain King” into an absurd jam that stood out as a highlight while the rain eventually subsided and the evening ran its course.
Purists may grumble about the recent forays into the world of electronica but it’s safe to say that no band has a more electric, eclectic, and wider ranging presence than the String Cheese Incident, and if Friday was any indication, the rest of the weekend was most assuredly going to get a whole lot weirder for the betterment of all.
Setlist:
S1: Believe, Smile, These Waves > Djibouti Bump > Can’t Stop Now, Falling Through The Cracks, Miss Brown’s Teahouse > Parker’s Blues > Miss Brown’s Teahouse > Birdland > Orange Blossom Special > Birdland
S2: You’ve Got The World, Valley Of The Jig, Windy Mountain > Joyful Sound > Rumble, Outside and Inside > You Wreck Me > In The Hall of the Mountain King > Beautiful
E: Drums (w/ Jyemo Club), Don’t It Make You Want To Dance
