The String Cheese Incident Celebrates New Orleans With Special Guests & Drone Show At Red Rocks

A band well known for their storied winter carnival tours around ski towns of the west, The String Cheese Incident celebrated their thirty-year anniversary this weekend with a trio of themed shows in their home state, returning for an annual run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Friday’s opening night was titled “The New Orleans Incident”, a nod to the Crescent City’s influence on the band, where many early appearances around the city during Jazz Fest and influences from The Meters, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint were reason enough to pay homage back to the city that has given them much inspiration and adoration over the years.

The currently evolving Meters / Dumpstaphunk mashup billed as “George Porter Jr., Ivan Neville & Phunky Friends” opened things up at 7 p.m. as cloud cover provided some relief from a remarkable summer heat wave in the region for fans who made it in early. This makeshift powerhouse was beefed up by guest appearances by Tarriona “Tank” Ball in addition to a horns section and on a set consisting mostly of classics by The Meters and Dumpstaphunk originals. Multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Tony Hall and Porter riffed off one another, warming up the crowd for the remarkably joyous and epic occasion that was soon to unfold.

In true carnival fashion, SCI encouraged showgoers to dress up for the evening bacchanalia in the spirit of the city with carnival masks, Jazz Fest BayouWear®, beads or whatever comes to mind when nodding to NOLA. The band matched the spirit of the crowd and the night’s openers with a expansive and dramatic performance filled with well-rehearsed and executed covers. The clearly well-planned out show remained admirably freewheeling and sit-ins (a literal musical chairs throughout most of the night onstage) were airtight as can be, transporting the Morrison crowd into the heart of NOLA for an affair that would’ve fit just as well at the Saenger Theatre on Canal, Tipitina’s on Tchoupitoulas or the New Orleans Fairgrounds at Jazz Fest as it did on this special evening at Red Rocks.

The set opened with a lengthy “Best Feeling” before a trio of SCI tunes “Outside Inside,” “Joyful Sound” and “Can’t Wait Another Day” before any sense of familiarity and predictability was thrown out the window for the remainder of the show. After Bill Nershi peered up into the crowd and introduced the Colorado locals Brothers of Brass for a second line from the mid-30s rows down to blast off the party in proper second line fashion and finished up center stage, the on-theme party went full force from then on, with a Halloween show’s worth of covers, guest appearances and an imaginative drone show to follow.

For the next hour-plus, SCI served as a house band for a revolving door of Phunky Friend sit-ins, playing a run of NOLA classic covers that included Earl King’s bona fide NOLA canon tune “Big Chief” (first time played since 2001), Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time,” an inspired and expansive George Porter-led take on The Meters’ “People Say,” Allen Toussaint / The Meters’ “Sneakin’ Sally” (first time played) and a burndown set closing “Fiyo on the Bayou.”

Perhaps carrying on longer than anticipated in the first frame and caught up in the extravaganza (set one went over 100 minutes), the band took a very brief setbreak of about fifteen minutes to stay on ‘schedule,’,before returning with Dumpstaphunk’s Tony Hall for another first time cover of “Get To You”. Undoubtedly the big ticket moment of the evening came next, as Tank and Ivan Neville joined the krewe onstage to sing lead on Allen Toussaint’s “Last Train” while the “largest drone show ever in Colorado” with “1,000 drones lighting up the sky” deployed from the Lower South lot for fans viewing pleasure stage left over the venue, taking the form of a traditional locomotive, a New Orleans streetcar and several orbs and geometric designs for the duration of the song. This marked the first ever drone show at Red Rocks (and first time for yours truly), leaving a lasting impression on the lucky audience.

While the guests wouldn’t appear again til the tail end of the encore, the surprises and covers weren’t entirely done after the choo choo train lit up the sky – following the Celtic-tronica rave-up “BollyMunster” and “One Step Closer,” Kyle Hollingsworth (who won SCI MVP for the evening and did a notable amount of heavy lifting during the performance) took the band into a cover of Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets To Paradise” and an extensive instrumental tease of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years.” To knock off set two, Michael Kang led the way on “It Is What It Is,” a song that encapsulates the band’s early era improvisational sound as much as any (along with “Round The Wheel” and “Restless Wind,” perhaps).

For the encore, the Dumpsta Horns returned to the stage for a sandwiched segue of SCI original “Miss Brown’s Teahouse” with Joe Zawinul’s soulful jazz standard “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” breaking up the bridge.

A singularly special Colorado band with some of the most talented living New Orleans musical guests at a monumental mountain venue celebrating a milestone anniversary. SCI met the grandeur of the moment and then some, such a night indeed.

Watch fan-shot video of The New Orleans Incident highlights below:

The String Cheese Incident returned to Red Rocks on Saturday night for the “Colorado Incident” and closed out the run with a heavy-pickin’ “Nashville Incident” on Sunday featuring special guests Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Sierra Hull.

Photos by Wesley Hodges

Livestream Replay (via nugs.net)

https://www.nugs.net/live-download-of-the-string-cheese-incident-red-rocks-amphitheatre-morrison-co-07-12-2024-mp3-flac-or-online-music-streaming/37103-WEBCAST.html#q=string+cheese+incident&gotocontent=results-products&start=1

Setlist (via SCI Instagram)

Set One: Best Feeling, Outside And Inside, Joyful Sound > Can’t Wait Another Day, New Orleans Parade Intro, 2nd Line Jam (Brothers of Brass), Big Chief (Ivan Neville). Right Place Wrong Time (Tarriona “Tank” Ball), People Say (George Porter) > Sneaking Sally Through The Alley (George Porter), Fiyo On The Bayou (Tank)

Set Two: Get To You (Tony Hall), Last Train (Tank), BollyMunster, One Step Closer, Two Tickets to Paradise > It Is What it Is > Colliding

Encore: Mrs Brown’s Teahouse > Mercy Mercy Mercy > Miss Brown’s Teahouse