If you want to get the best experience out of seeing a jam band, often the best way is to catch them on their home turf or at least in a place where they have a stronghold of fans. String Cheese Incident may be from Colorado, but the best place to see them is Oregon. The band has long cultivated a vibrant and dedicated fanbase in the Beaver State of people who come to party down and spread positivity while doing it (and not being feverish tarp-layers). As they get ready to release their new album Lend Me A Hand on September 8th, String Cheese is in the midst of one of their first lengthy tours in several years. On Saturday, July 29th, the band concluded an Oregon run that hit Bend and Eugene before making its way to Edgefield just outside of Portland. The band would channel their long history in this state through an expansive three-hour show that worked in longtime favorites, new tunes, and plenty of dancing.
Set one started light and fluffy as the band and crowd eased into their environment, kicking off with “Heart Of Saturday Night” before Kyle Hollingsworth laid down his funkified gospel organ on “Black and White.” Keith Moseley took the vocal reins for the freewheeling countrified mountain tune “The Walls of Time” before Michael Kang launched into a rousing “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” that got the crowd kicking up dust as the band built the tune into a full reggae-dub jam that got spooky before Hollingsworth let his organ soar once again. He also laid down some boogie woogie piano goodness on the titular new tune “Lend Me a Hand” that worked well off Kang’s blues-laden guitar. While set one was mostly on the mellow side, the band gradually ramped up the energy with Bill Nershi’s exuberant slide work on “Close Your Eyes” that kept the jam afloat and allowed Kang to deliver one of his first guitar bust-outs of the evening, paving the way for a fun and bouncy “One Step Closer.”
In typical fashion and just in time for the setting sun, set two started off with the disco dance party “Beautiful” before completely switching gears with the blues-drenched Nershi-led “Sing a New Song” to offer a display of their versatility. This would morph a massive funk jam that kept the groove going. “Valley of the Jig” saw Kang injecting his fiddle into the heavy EOTO-style house beat brought by Michael Travis and Jason Hann, who pushed the band to take it into a deep tribal realm before the maximum chill of the almost-rapped “Joyful Sound.”
As the band themselves remarked onstage, the venue brought back memories of their times at Hornings Hideout, the North Plains, Oregon campsite where they staged numerous epic performances over the last couple of decades. They seemed at home as they wrapped up the evening with “Rosie,” thus concluding a strong run of Oregon shows that solidified their bond with the state and its fans. Though it would have been nice to see them work in some more old favorites and staples into the setlist, their performance was proof that, these days, it feels like Cheese has reached a new phase of musical cohesiveness with sets that feel tight and clean while still containing that element of surprise and plenty of sparks.
Edgefield Amphitheatre – Portland, OR – 7/29/23
S1: Heart Of Saturday Night, Black and White, The Walls of Time, Group Hoot, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Lend Me A Hand, Climb, Close Your Eyes > One Step Closer
S2: Beautiful, Sing a New Song, One More Time, Just One Story > Valley Of The Jig > Joyful Sound > Rumble, The Big Reveal > Just One Story (Reprise)
E: Rosie
