String Cheese Incident - Boise, ID - The Knitting Factory - 1/22/2015

The second night of Boise had a line down the alleyway waiting to get inside the small Knitting Factory.  After the first night people showed up the second night bringing their friends and wanting more. 

The show opened with Song In My Head the title track off the newest album.  This was the same opener as the first night of the Winter Carnival Tour, but it always seems to get the vibe going inside of the venue.  Then they busted out first time played on Winter Carnival the original Lost.  I thought after there was a slight Johnny Cash tease other thought it was a Boo Boo’s Picnic tease.  Regardless of the tease it ended up bring the first MLT of tour.  Kyle shining in Boise played a short Daft Punk’s Get Lucky tease in the middle of the jam then came back around the jam to finish MLT.  The jam in MLT was such a building jam that captured the crowd.  It kept building and building until finally coming back into MLT.  The band was feeling the energy from the crowd in this intimate venue.  They slowed the pace down with a cover of Honkey Tonk Heroes by Billy Joe Shaver as Billy said but also co-written and made famous by Waylon Jennings.  The band then played Sometimes a River and it seemed as though the whole venue was singing along.  The fans have grown to love this song.  The band members were all smiles as they started Sittin On Top Of The World.  They hilariously played a couple bars of My Sharona and once again had the crowd laughing.  This flowed right back into finish Sittin.’  The band finally then played the whole version of Let’s Go Outside.  They played the slow part they recorded on the album.

Second set started with a huge DIRK!  They jam kept the same flow as the slow part from Let’s Go Outside.  They then played Gimme the Love.  It was great and Kang really played the jam well and his solo carried around the Factory.  The beautiful jam of Gimme the Love went perfectly into Sweet Melinda.  Keith crushed it.  So glad that played it this tour and it fit so perfectly into the set.  The new song Beautiful about Kang’s wife was the next song.  It was fitting since this section of the show continued to be so beautiful and that was the best way to describe it.  The Beautifulness continued to finish this set in Boise with Lands End>Glory Chords and continued to finish set with an astounding Restless Wind.  The crowd sang along loud and proud to be a part of this special experience. 

They encored with Steve Miller’s The Joker and the fans continued to sing.  SCI sing along night in Boise!  The fans are ready for more in Reno for the final 2 nights of this 8 night run.

String Cheese Incident - Boise, ID - The Knitting Factory - 1/21/2015

String Cheese Incident comes to Boise to play in a less than 1000 person venue, The Knitting Factory.  The anticipation has been building for me since the announcement of this tour.  This is the smallest venue I will have ever seen String Cheese in.  M first show 12 years ago, 9/26/03, was in an over 5000 capacity venue at Fox Theater in Atlanta.  Upon arriving to the venue, I asked the box office how many tickets had been sold and the number was around 550.  It wasn’t even sold out, this show was going to be special!

Every night of the tour has started around 8:30 and Boise was no different.  They opened with a strong On The Road which I love when they are actually On The Road.  The song was hard to watch on those one off they were playing a couple years ago.  Kyle sprinkled the middle of On The Road with a Hungry Like a Wolf tease.  He has been loving that tease.  Michael Kang then picked up his fiddle to bring on a bluegrass jam that led into Orange Blossom Special.  Billy picked up the electric and they played the Kyle song, Way That it Goes.  The first repeat for the night was the amazing Keith song Until the Music is Over.  It flowed into, for the third time this tour, the Grateful Dead’s Slipknot tease that carried on for a minute leading to the bust out Black and White.  Black and White got super funky with another tease in the jam of I want to dance with another.  That got the crowd going crazy.  Everyone was cracking up and dancing their asses off. 

Right after this a good friend of mine, Scott Deppe, explained to me that if I thought this room was small then imagine this.  His first show was 21 years ago in Boise at a place called the Rose Room with about 30 people.

Billy before the next song started he couldn’t figure out electric or acoustic, laughed at himself and told the crowd, “This is a fucking song I wrote” dropping straight into Wake Up.  2^nd time played on tour and before that had not been played by String Cheese Incident since Electric Forest 2011.  It makes me smile that I wanted this song for the last tours and was fortunate enough to catch it twice during Winter Carnival.  Maybe they will play the old extended version soon if it is back in rotation.  It is great (Tony the tiger’s voice) that I can even think that is possibility.  Billy mid jam moved to electric and Wake Up was as powerful as ever.  They finished the set with dance party, Colliding. 

Second set started with a Come As You Are>Life During Wartime>I Know You Rider.  What a way to start second set.  They continued with an all-time favorite String Cheese song Rhythm On The Road.  “This is what you wanted now look what you got,”  is one of my favorite lines from any song ever.  Next the sounds of John Coltrane flowed through the Knitting Factory with a great version of Freedom Jazz Dance.  The band brought it all together with Kyle letting loose on Eye Know Why.  The electronic jam that followed flowed nicely.  Andy Cass on lights played some interesting lighting tricks during it creating a look where all the white beams he had on stage moved onto Michael Travis’s cymbals creating a unique affect.  Kyle was breaking loose in this second set moving his hands all over his keyboards to create key heavy jams.  The band finished 2^nd set with a huge Howard.  

The show finished with the Billy favorite Colorado Bluebird Sky.  The hard curfew of 11:30 was easily surpassed as the encore started at 11:33 and lasted per usual for this song over ten minute.  The show was solid and the small crowd loved it.  Boise with less than a 700 person crowd was going crazy!

String Cheese Incident – Eugene, OR –McDonald Theater - 1/19/2015

The crowd was fired up pre show for the 2^nd night in sold out McDonald theater 1250 person venue.  People were outside the venue at 6 PM anticipating MLKT day in Eugene.  Round 4 here we come.

String Cheese came out with a Close Your Eyes to start the night that flowed through a happy vibed jam leading into a big Valley of the Jig.  Valley had a sick jam with Billy ripping into Kyle killing the keys.  Kyle brought the dance party to the McDonald.  Glad he was shining through on this show already.  Valley ended with a huge applause from the crowd.  The fans was very well receptive and the venue was jumping already.  The band dropped it back to a lovely tempo with the next song Smile.  It was perfect, the band really knows how to control the vibe.  The crowd was singing along, “Think of you honey all the time.”   After a great Smile, Billy followed with the slow new song, I’m Still Here.  It slowed the pace and the crowd calmed.  They brought the vibe right back with another bust out for the Winter Carnival, These Waves.  This song was last played on the first night of New Years in Colorado and it was great to see it still in rotation.  The These Waves jam had a great old cheese style with Kyle in lead for a little and Billy to follow.  I love Billy Kyle jams obviously.  Ryan Kozmatka turned to me during the jam and said, “The three triangles that Andy Cass is using for lights sometimes look like blocks of moldy cheese.”  What a great comment.  They closed the set out with a huge Round The Wheel.  This set was so far my favorite of the tour.   

The set break music was real funky and at one point it sounded as though SCI had come back on really early and was already playing Jellyfish.  False alarm but funny that it sounded like that and they came back for second set with a Jellyfish opener.  Billy actually hit the lyrics even adding some funny noises with the lyrics to add to the fun during the fan favorite.  2^nd song they brought the heat and another String Cheese banger, Desert Dawn.  The setlist and the playing were on point.  Monday night String Cheese who woulda thought.  They came down real heavy in the jam almost metal sounding and then funky and floating.  Best way to describe it really.  The Desert Dawn jam had three huge parts and must have been way over 20 minutes.  

Scott Law was brought on stage with a great intro and came out to sing The Honkeytonk Homeslice song, “Glendale Train.”  Scott exited after this, but this wasn’t the end for him.  The band carried on the fan favorites with Sirens.  “I just want to say I love you” String Cheese.  Jason finished it off with his rap that is in audible until the last word and this time it was function.  The rest of the set was solid and long.  Cant Wait Another Day, Shanytown, and Rollover.  Rollover jam was held in the pocket and Michael Kang was there in that pocket to shine.  The show was so heavy hitting with songs.  They picked so many amazing songs during this show.  It was great to see the band so pumped as they finished the 2^nd set.  They knew after those three songs that they had captured that audience and transformed the venue into a venue full of happiness.  

Billy came back out before encore and thanked everyone for coming out to Northwest and brings all their great energy.  He invited Scott Law back on stage for an awesome version of Jesse Stone’s song made famous by Jerry Garcia, Don’t Let Go.  This show was on for the books.  So far I thought this show was the best of the tour and they can only get better.  Stay tuned for Boise the smallest venue on the tour.

1/19/2015 McDonald Theatre, Eugene, OR

SETLIST

Set One

Close Your Eyes > Valley of the Jig, Smile, I'm Still Here, These Waves > Round the Wheel

Set Two

Jellyfish, Desert Dawn, Glendale Train¹, Sirens > Drums, Can't Wait Another Day, Shantytown, Rollover

Encore

Don't Let Go¹

Notes

¹ with Scott Law

String Cheese Incident Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater - 1/18/2015 - My Birthday - Review coming soon

Winter Carnival Night 2 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater - 1/17/15

Night 2 Seattle 

The rain is coming down and people were all ready to get inside the venue.  After the first night the vibe was high (in many senses).  The crowd and the band knew after the first night the anticipation was build for night two at The Paramount Theater.

The String Cheese Incident came out with a great improv intro that led into the heavy hitting fan favorite Shine.  You could hear the energy flow through Kang’s voice in the lyrics.  The crowd raised its hands to the air and sang along with Michael.  The Shine was left unfinished and the jam flowed right into Weather Report’s Birdland.  The band was dancing on stage while playing this one and the energy was all over the stage.  All of the songs so far were extended and they were letting loose.  This was exceptional version of Birdland, Keith was killing it on the bass.  They played the whole version similar to the Live Weather Report Album 9:30.  Sounded way different but played all of the parts.  It The Sweet Spot was played next and fit so well into the set.  Keith was already feeling it and Sweet Spot is a great new Kieth tune.  It continued with a huge jam and the fans were excited that they were starting to jam out the song.  The highlight of first set and the best part of the show in my opinion was the Little Hands.  

The Little Hands was the jam.  It flowed from the lyrics into a nice funky jam that eventually led into the intro and the lead of Greatful Dead’s Darkstar!  They carried that on for a while about 3 to 4 minutes and the Little Hands kept going after that into String Cheese jam and then worked their way to back to the finish of the song.  It had to be more than 20 minute Little Hands.  It kept continuing with a huge segue until the slow starting Ms. Browns Teahouse to end the set.  The set was so long and only consisted of 5 songs.  I remember last year at Phish Dicks last year and all of the Phish fans lost it over a 6 song set.  String Cheese just played 5 songs over an hour for the first set.  Very extended jams, can’t wait to see how long those songs actually were.

Far From Home opener which I chilled for but it got the crowd clapping and dancing.  Seattle was getting into it.  The Seahawk spirit was flowing through the venue.  It was nice the 2nd night too because String Cheese has such a strong Wisco following and they are named String Cheese so Cheese heads were present as well it made for an awesome vibe despite the shit talking.  The new song Beautiful was next and they added a great Kang filled jam.  The crowd was loving the new songs.  Both Sweet Spot and Beautiful got a great response.  They are really developing the jams in both of these.  Beautiful segued into a nice extended Drums.  This was a clean drums with both drummer smiling from ear to ear and no beats.  From there they worked their way back into Way Back Home.  This was the first time that Kyle got to shine during the show.  The Way Back Home was huge and went straight the Billy favorite Hotel Window.  This song was fitting for Seattle and the rain coming down realizing that we would all be partying in hotel rooms later.  Hotel Window had a great soulful electric guitar jam and teased Coming Back to Life by Pink Floyd during it.  They finished it and then slowly jammed into Restless Wind that flowed into the nod to Jimi’s hometown with the first Voodoo Chile since I can remember.  The crowd was loving it.  The band knew how to finish it and brought the Voodoo Child>Rosie.  Everyone was dancing, spinning, and crushing it.  

The set finished and the crowd went nuts.  When the crowd settled, the band came back out for encore and thanked the city of Seattle.  They liked the venue and enjoyed Seattle's energy that they played The Talking Heads Naive Melody.  This couldn’t be the end though the needed to finish Shine with the best part of the song.  Shine On  The crowd left with smiles of their own from ear to ear.  First two nights were a huge success.

Nathan Eggebrecht - "Shoulda known they were gonna play Voodoo Chile.  Loved it."

Christopher Berry - "How many songs did they play in that first set again."

01/17/2015 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA

SETLIST

Set One

Shine, Birdland, Sweet Spot, Little Hands, Miss Brown's Teahouse

Set Two

So Far From Home, Beautiful, Way Back Home, Hotel Window, Restless Wind, Voodoo Child, Rosie

Encore

This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Shine