String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks
When it comes to music, I’m more of a “three yards and a cloud of dust” kinda guy. Give me a well-written song, maybe throw in a guitar solo, keep it all under five minutes, and I’m happy. And I’ve been this way for most of my life, until I started to warm up to jam bands in my early 50s via conversations with my former oncologist (yes, the guy who saved my life was also a dedicated Widespread Panic fan). I never doubted the musicianship – these folks, without exception, can play with the best of ‘em. But would I enjoy a show completely bereft of songs that make me cry? I certainly did so the night of my first Panic show, and I have several times over since then. My latest jam band excursion was a trip to Red Rocks to see Colorado’s own The String Cheese Incident. With the added bonus of Sunday night’s show, dubbed The Nashville Incident, boasting bluegrass masters Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Sierra Hull, the hottest of evenings in the foothills just west of Denver promised to be a musical scorcher.
With temperatures still hovering in the low 90s as the band took the stage just before 7pm, excusing their slight tardiness with the explanation they’d been jamiing with their new bluegrass friends for the past three hours (oh, to have a chance to hear that partnership develop). SCI kicked off the night with their funky “Sweet Spot,” from 2017’s Believe. After four songs, the band brought their Nashville guests to the stage and began the bluegrass portion of the night with “I Feel the Blues Movin’ In,” a Del McCoury Band song that Hull has truly made her own – always a gifted mandolin player, she lets her voice loose on this song, and it absolutely filled the world’s most beautiful amphitheatre. Other first set highlights included Sam Bush’s fiddle work on the Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run,” Jerry Douglas’s absolute Dobro mastery (to borrow another football reference, Douglas is the Jerry Rice of music – he’s the best ever at his position, and there’s not a close second), and a stellar cover of New Grass Revival’s “Reach” to, well, reach the end of the evening’s first half.
During the intermission, I took time to soak in the atmosphere. Jam band fan bases have a…reputation. And, truthfully, they can be cult-ish, but in the very best sense. Each show of the three-night Red Rocks run had a theme, with costumes (credit to those who braved the warm-even-for-Colorado-heat in stoles and capes). There were long (string cheese-esque) crepe paper ribbons passed up though the crowd. There was a never-ending supply of stickers handed out. And each picture attempt was greeted with a loud, friendly “Say Cheese!” Most of all – and this is something I’ve seen at all jam band shows over the past few years – folks were swaying, dancing, hugging and (yes) toking, but they weren’t TALKING through (and over) the music. Jam band fans are damn committed, a lesson most other fan bases could stand to learn. I’d gladly take Sunday night’s crowd to any show with me.
Session #2 began with the cosmic “Rivertrance” and what the band billed as “Colorado’s largest drone show” – 1,000 of the little buggers flew into the sky above Red Rocks, forming a series of images before coalescing into the band’s SCI logo (here, Michael Kang’s violin work was nearly as outstanding as the light show). Other standouts included Hull’s “Poison” (it’s the second time Hull has played Red Rocks this year – she’s more than earned her own headlining gig there) and “Enjoy the Ride,” from SCI’s most recent album, Lend Me a Hand. Closing out the three-night stand with (appropriately enough) a 10-plus minute take on their “Colorado Bluebird Sky,” The String Cheese Incident sent fans of jam bands, bluegrass, newgrass and whatever other good music inhabits the sandstone walls of Red Rocks happily into the warm Colorado night.
Check out upcoming The String Cheese Incident tour Dates here: https://www.stringcheeseincident.com/#tourdates
Read our review Lend Me A Hand here: https://americanahighways.org/2023/09/06/review-the-string-cheese-incident-lend-me-a-hand/