The String Cheese Incident Performs John Perry Barlow Co-Written Song ‘Crazy Angel’ For 1st Time

The String Cheese Incident resumed their spring tour last night with a concert at Steelhouse Omaha. The Colorado-based jam band debuted their version of “Crazy Angel” during the first set.

SCI guitarist/vocalist Bill Nershi co-wrote “Crazy Angel” with Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow and his wife Jilian Nershi. While Billy had performed the song previously with a variety of side projects, including Honkytonk Homeslice, it had never been played by his main band until Wednesday night.

In 2005, The String Cheese Incident released their fifth studio album, One Step Closer. The record included a track spawned from “Crazy Angel” featuring different words. “The song ‘Drive’ on the album was originally something written by John Barlow and myself, but the band wound up writing all new lyrics in the studio for the song,” Nershi told the Seattle Times in a 2006 interview.

“Drive” was premiered live by SCI in 2005 but was shelved after its 14th and most recent performance on July 7, 2012. As mentioned, Billy still performed “Crazy Angel” with Barlow’s original lyrics at many of his non-Cheese gigs. John Perry Barlow died in 2018 at age 70.

Nershi addressed the crowd before the first Cheese take on “Crazy Angel” and told the audience the band had spent the last few days hanging in Omaha following their Southeast run. He then previewed the debut, explaining:

“We’re gonna do one that we haven’t played before until now. This is the first time for this tune. This is a tune that I wrote with my wife Jilian and John Perry Barlow, who wrote for Bobby [Weir] for all those years. He came up to the house and hung out for a few days. We wrote three tunes and this is one of those tunes that we wrote with him. This one’s called ‘Crazy Angel.'”

The String Cheese Incident nailed “Crazy Angel” as if they had been performing the song for decades. It had a different arrangement than both “Drive” and the versions Nershi plays outside SCI. Michael Kang threw in a powerful mandolin solo and contributed harmony vocals along with bassist Keith Moseley.

“Crazy Angel” came amid a first set loaded with classics. The sextet covered Vassar Clements’ “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” to open, took “Black & White” deep and played the beloved “Mouna Bowa” ahead of the debut. SCI paired the instrumental “Valley Of The Jig” and fan-favorite “Close Your Eyes” to punctuate the frame.

“Sweet Spot” kicked off the second set. The String Cheese Incident then fit a rare take on The Beatles’ “Get Back” between “Way Back Home” and “One Step Closer.” From there, the band offered a standalone “Look At Where We Are.” Cheese ended the set with a one-two punch of oldies “Water” and “Texas.” An encore of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” and staple “Bumpin’ Reel” was tacked on for good measure.

The String Cheese Incident hits the stage at The Factory in Chesterfield, Missouri tonight. A livestream replay of the Omaha show and webcasts of all spring shows can be viewed on nugs.net with an All Access subscription.

Setlist (via Friends Of Cheese)

Set One: Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Black and White, Mouna Bowa, Crazy Angel* > Valley Of The Jig, Close Your Eyes

Set Two: Sweet Spot, Way Back Home > Get Back > One Step Closer, Look At Where We Are, Water > Texas

Encore: I Wish, Bumpin’ Reel

* – First Time Played