This concept of only playing a select few dates a year has given rise to a lot of discussion within the community. There are some that are thrilled that the band is back and playing together again, and there are others who feel that if they aren’t going to tour, they shouldn’t bother to play at all as their sound will never be as tight as it was at the band’s peak. There is some truth to the latter point, and bassist Keith Moseley had a response for those naysayers out there when we caught up with him in February, but what’s also important to understand is that SCI has always been about much more than just the music.
“I don’t buy the talk that the band sucks now or anything, but I certainly understand, and do agree, that there is a cohesiveness that you are only going to get when you are playing a lot together,” Moseley said. “So we are trying to address that with a whole month worth of rehearsals. We are working on new material as well as bringing back some of the old catalog that we haven’t played since 2007. We are trying to dig in hard, connect, and put a fresh spin and a fresh energy on things. The chemistry does take a while and you have to play a lot together to get that and we have that in mind and are thinking about it and addressing it. We hope to really come out and show people what we can do. We have to come out and be strong, we know that, and that’s out plan.”
With one year of this new model under their belts, the band is gearing up for their first Winter Carnival since 2007. The tradition of playing a series of winter shows in Colorado is a tradition that is almost as old as the band itself. “Way back when, I guess we are talking mid-’90s, we were doing the big ski town circuit, playing all the ski town bars, so we’ve always had a real connection to the Colorado ski scene,” said Moseley. “I don’t know when we started calling it Winter Carnival, but when we moved on to touring nationally we made sure we played some Colorado shows during ski season.”
While the band grew up around the skiing lifestyle as they took root in Telluride and Crested Butte, Moseley admitted that their days on the slopes have dwindled as their lives have become busier with families, side projects and other responsibilities. “I’ve personally been out at least a half a dozen days. It’s not a lot, but I’ve been out skiing with my kids which has been a real treat,” he said. “I know that Billy is out skiing right now on tour with Emmitt Nershi band in Salt Lake, Missoula and Vail and I talked to Travis and he’s been getting some days in. So you know, once a skier always a skier. We still have the desire to get out there, it’s just finding the time these days.”
In years past the band has played in Aspen, Steamboat, Telluride, Crested Butte, Vail, Boulder and of course The Fillmore Auditorium in Denver that was home to 20 Winter Carnival shows between 2000 and 2007. This year, Winter Carnival will be held in a relatively new space for String Cheese, the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, CO. The recently renovated arena has hosted the Fourmile Canyon Revival (where SCI closed out the show with a single set) and multi-night stands from Phish and Furthur in recent months, and Moseley thinks it’s a great place to stage what his band has planned. “We are going to pull out all the stops for Winter Carnival,” Moseley said. “We are very excited about playing 1st Bank in Broomfield, it’s got a big GA dance floor and given what we wanted to do with the production, sound, lights and all kinds of fun eye candy to go along with the show, I think it’s a great fit for us. I know it’s a little hard for people to travel and come in from out of town in the winter but this is going to be an event not to be missed.”
While Moseley did allude to “all kinds of fun eye candy,” Winter Carnival has always been special to fans because of the opening acts that the band invites to play with them. Always a different band each night, it’s almost like a little note from the band to the fans: “hey, if you aren’t already, you should be listening to this . . .” Past years have included Bruce Hornsby, Little Feat, Del McCoury Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Jack Johnson, Vassar Clements and Dr. John to name a few.
This year, the band is continuing the tradition and they have invited three very different artists to join them in Broomfield. Night one brings the world of electronica to the 1st Bank Center with a set from British Producer OTT, night two will take a look back on the band’s roots with a set of bluegrass from legends J.D. Crowe and The New South, and the third night will focus on the funky rhythms of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk.
Past Winter Carnival shows have gone down in history not only for the not to missed opening sets, but also because of SCI’s penchant for inviting the opener up to jam with them during the show. While some highlights of these collaborations included Bruce Hornsby joining the band on keyboards in 2001 for Grandma’s Hands, Don’t Say and I’ve Just Seen A Face and Ricky Skaggs and members of his band Kentucky Thunder in 2002 sitting in on Nine Pound Hammer, Hold What You’ve Got and Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Moseley had shared a few other favorite moments. “Little Feat at the Fillmore was a big one for me, and we’ve always loved playing with The Del McCoury Band. I also remember talking to George [Porter Jr.] when The Funky Meters played with us; that was a highlight for me and it was a real treat to play with Vassar Clements before he died as well.”
Building on his comments about Vassar Clements, Moseley added “a lot of the Bluegrass legends aren’t going to be around a whole lot longer, so it’s great to be able to play with these guys, soak up their vibe and treat the fans to a show with some of them while we still can. I would guess a majority of fans haven’t heard of J.D. much less seen him perform.” The same can probably be said of the night one opener OTT who Moseley said they planned on inviting to sit-in just like anyone else who opens a Winter Carnival Show. “He’ll do what he does and we’ll work around it,” Moseley said when asked how an electronic artist would fit into the mix. “Obviously we’ve got our EOTO liaisons to help us bridge the gap there to make it all work, I think it should be cool.”
While fans might logically leap to the conclusion that the opening band will set the theme for the entire night, Moseley said that wouldn’t necessarily be true. “We’ll cover the spectrum every night. It’s not like Friday night will be just bluegrass or anything like that. We’ll try to do our full deal every night because we know that some fans won’t make all three shows.”
[Photo by Brian Spady]
For those who don’t yet have tickets for the run, Saturday sold out quickly but Thursday and Friday are still available (as of press time) and for those lucky enough to have ordered through SCI Ticketing, a welcome surprise showed up on the doorstep recently in the form of some of the most original and beautiful concert tickets out there. The tickets are brightly colored, appear to have depth to them and some of the images appear or disappear as you move the ticket or look at it from a different angle. Think about those baseball cards you may have seen that show a batter going through his swing or a pitcher through his throwing motion. It’s really quite impressive and, as usual, the band is setting a new and higher standard for the concert experience. This time with a ticket.
For those thinking about passing on Winter Carnival and holding onto their hard earned cash in hopes of being able to score tickets for SCI’s traditional summer shows at Red Rocks, Moseley had some disappointing news. “Winter Carnival will be the only Colorado dates for the band this year. We’ve got some other things brewing for this summer that will be announced shortly but we are not going to do Red Rocks this summer.”
Those summer plans that Moseley was referring to have started to be revealed and since the interview they have announced that they will be playing at Bonnaroo and headlining the inaugural Electric Forest Festival which will take place in Rothbury, Mich. over Fourth of July Weekend. While no additional summer plans have been revealed yet, it’s fairly likely that we’ll see another announcement or two in the coming months.
The longevity of the current SCI performance model remains to be seen but it is a real treat to have one of the most creative bands in the business proving that can still do what they do best; set the bar for the concert industry consistently higher with new, and previously unheard of innovations, and move thousands of people to dance in harmony with those around them. Regardless of whether there is a misstep here, or a flubbed lyric there, The String Cheese Incident is back and the Incidents are getting more and more elaborate every time they happen.