THE AMAZING SUBWAY INCIDENT

It’s All Hallow’s Eve. There’s a blue moon looming over New York City’s crisp, black canopy. You can see it, plain as…well, night. It’s hanging just over the roof of the mammoth post office across 8th Avenue. All we really need now is some fog and Vincent Price to make it all cliché. Hell, I’ll take my warped, 80s-addled mind even further. Turn on some ghoulish howling, watch Michael Jackson become “undead” and give New York the tailor-made “Thriller” video it deserves!

But things were about to get even freakier inside Madison Square Garden, where five barefoot, Colorado rockers were gonna try to crack the ice during the Rangers’ hockey game--just a few, escalated floors up.

Walt Whitman (aka John Barlow) emerged from the pitch-black stage to greet the anxious revelers with a mood-enhancing poem full of dark patriotism to rile the Manhattan population.

And just like that, the Halloween Incident was in full swing. The bouncy melody to “Black and White” hooked the crowd and blasted them with some high-energy funk. Michael Kang’s Framptonite, talk-box vamp steered the band with some great, pillowy crescendos that just kept rising. And just when you think they’re gonna drop it back down, another musician jumps on the beanstalk and keeps on climbing--higher and higher and higher. Man, if only Karl Denson was in the house to take it to the next level.

“Way Back Home” was a distinct composition piece. With stop-on-a-dime timing courtesy of the rhythm section (drummer Michael Travis and bassist Keith Moseley), the chunky groove gave this jam engine some slick, hot grease. The song’s intro was distinctly "Guyute," too. So much that this novice Cheese-head thought it might have even been a tease. Progressing into a tropical island vibe “Home” eventually moseyed through to the ironically placed bluegrass classic “Hobo Song.” For, as the audience would learn later from Mr. Whitman, “when you’re homeless, you can call everywhere home.” But as country as this song was, it lacked a bit of that Boxcar Willie vibe that Old and In the Way gave it years ago.

The astonishingly slamming “Bam” was pounded out on a strong keyboard foundation that can aptly be described as “bison funk.” Ivory tickler Kyle Hollingsworth, easily the band’s most-consistent energy source, made some deep, dark, nasty-ass noise. Just as the funk was being felt a mini-bummer was just around the bend that threw all of this pent-up energy off the tracks. A somewhat languid, but superbly played couplet of songs (“These Waves,” “Rhythm of the Road”) served as the appetizer to the set closing “Come As You Are” that brought us out on a very high note.

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Set two opened with industrial banging and high-pitched squeals that resembled the steel-on-steel whine of a subway car passing around the bend into a tunnel. A parade of costumed patrons strided the stage from each side into the center-stage spotlight; among them the night’s main attraction. Concealed in their own get-ups, this was the shaggiest version of The Village People in all creation. For the sake of visuals, here’s a quick rundown of the String Cheese Incident costumes:

Kyle Hollingsworth: construction worker
Michael Kang: Times Square hooker
Keith Moseley: Latrell Sprewell with a blowout
Bill Nershi: back-country hobo
Michael Travis: bookish nerd

As Walt Whitman (John Perry Barlow) took his turn as narrator, the theater morphed into the A-train, and The String Cheese Incident was our soundtrack for a fantasy ride on the subway line that Duke Ellington made famous way back when. Starting at the top, Harlem’s 125th Street, the happy, whistling vibe of “Sweet Georgia Brown” cranked things up and plastered smiles everywhere. But when three basketball players came out to show off some street-cred ball-handling skills, the ghost of Meadowlark Lemon was summoned off the blacktop.

Next stop, 72nd and Central Park West, the Dakota building; better known as the former home of John Lennon. Welcoming the members of the Tom Tom Club made Lennon’s “Instant Karma” a rousing, fist-in-the-air rave-up. The former Talking Heads rhythm section brought the crowd to its feet and warmed its collective heart. “We all shine on/ Like the moon and the stars and Sun.” For the mostly young audience, this phrase took on a brand-new meaning. Without ever saying it, the String Cheese Incident let us all know that while terrible stuff happens, everything’s gonna be all right.

As we rumble into Times Square, our poet-laureate narrator bumps into a passed-out drunk Nershi in all his Hoboness. Helped to his feet, Nershi began to warble the Big Apple’s unoffical anthem “New York, New York.” As a struggling Yankee fan that second-guessed going to the gig (briefly), I thought this might have been calling out for a Yankee win—but nary an update even came my way. The song had been teased this summer in Central Park so the complete song was a welcome change. It’s not an easy song for a rock band to play, so the band deserves an “A” for their efforts.

Arriving at 4th Street in Greenwich Village gave String Cheese the opportunity to stretch out in true jazzbo style with the beautifully played Miles Davis staple “So What.” All players took a turn to shine and eased the crowd down with its mellow warmth. As the train shot over the East River into Brooklyn and you weren’t already blown away, you were about to be. The Incident’s got range, but who knew they were capable of tearing apart some old school Beastie Boys? “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” was given some jaw-dropping treatment as The Roots' Rahzel—the true human beat-box—broke it on down with some stellar mouth-scratching. Interestingly, Michael Kang handled all the vocal work and left the noise to Rahzel.

But the peak would eventually hit a shallow valley. And to bother touching on the rest of the second set seems foolhardy after “The Amazing Subway Incident.” But it did feature some truly great music that deserves to be recognized. The lengthy tail of set II was kicked off by the forgettable “Howard.” All was not lost as the great, old “Round The Wheel” segued masterfully into the happy “Good Times Round the Bend” that even helped Cat Woman in the balcony shake her pleather tail.

The always bright and cheery groove of Moseley’s “Joyful Sound” signaled that the show was far from over. In fact, they were just starting to live up to Kang’s set-closing comment: “We’re gonna play ‘til we get kicked off the stage.” As it moved graciously into the wildly popular “Land’s End” the crowd kept right on moving to the groovy sounds. In desperate need of a second wind, the band closed out this historic set with the great, big “Texas.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, Walt Whitman left us with one more lyrical poem as the String Cheese Incident dragged the Grateful Dead out from under its disco cover and nailed an amazing “Shakedown Street.” Attendees literally didn’t know what to make of it but knew it was something special as each and every turn was spot-on. And even Rahzel made his own encore of it by weaving another Beasties’ classic “Paul Revere” in and out.

My long-winded descriptions barely touched on the magic that was Halloween with the Incident. And I doubt if tapes will do it much justice. If there ever was a time to say "You had to be there" it's right now, after this epic display of all that is right with music.

Scott Caffrey
JamBase NYC & NJ Correspondent
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