Picture Show: SCI Winter Carnival
String Cheese Incident @ 1st Bank Center, March 12
With Colorado-based jammers String Cheese Incident opting to perform infrequently since returning to action at Rothbury 2009, the few shows that the band plays each year have become highly anticipated events. SCI’s touring schedule pretty much dictates the entire year’s travel schedule for many of their fans. Earlier this month, the 2011 edition of the group’s Winter Carnival – which was held at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, CO – delivered the visual and musical spectacle that has come to be expected from the String Cheese Incident.
Saturday night’s performance opened up with a set from funk powerhouse Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, which set the tone for the whole evening. Both Cheese sets would have a very funky vibe tying the rest of their eclectic mess of genres together. Members of Dumpstaphunk joined Cheese on stage for a boisterous rendition of Will It Go Round in Circles. In a set of music where it may be impossible to label one particular moment as the true highlight, this musical collaboration stakes as much claim as anything.
The second set opened up with security guards trying, and failing miserably, to form an aisle out of the crowd for a “parade.” The parade seemed disjointed with about three people in costumes dancing through the crowd. The true visual spectacle of the night happened at the same time as the “parade”, as dancers were raised on platforms, the lights went crazy and confetti rained down from the ceiling. The resulting chaos was one of the more visually stunning experiences one can see in a concert, but at the same time it more or less overshadowed the music happening on stage.
READ ON for more from String Cheese Incident in Broomfield…