Wednesday, January 21, 2015

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



The crowd was fired up pre show for the 2nd 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.  2nd 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 2nd 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

No comments:

Post a Comment