The String Cheese Incident & Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Swap Sit-Ins In California

The String Cheese Incident closed out a three-show swing through Southern California featuring support from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong with a two-night stand in Del Mar this past weekend. Both bands traded guest spots on Friday and Saturday night during the concerts held at The Sound.

On Friday, PPPP welcomed SCI keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth for “Overtime,” the penultimate song of their lone set at The Sound. “Overtime,” which featured a “new jam,” bled out of the quartet’s first cover of the Pink Floyd classic “Run Like Hell” in 41 shows. Pigeons then went sans Hollingsworth to cap the frame with “The Liquid.”

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong lead guitarist Jeremy Schon returned the favor by joining Cheese on an expansive “Outside And Inside” in Del Mar. The collaboration followed SCI’s “Sweet Spot” second set opener as part of an Incident that featured such beloved favorites as “Born On The Wrong Planet,” “Black Clouds,” “Rollover,” “Howard” and “Valley Of The Jig.”

The String Cheese Incident went heavy on covers in their first set on Friday, including “Walls Of Time” (Peter Rowan/Bill Monroe) and a “Birdland” (Weather Report) that encompassed “Remington Ride” (Traditional). The veteran jam sextet ended the night with an “I Know You Rider” sandwich featuring Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up” as the filling.

Fittingly, Pigeons dusted off the Greg Ormont-penned “Say Cheese” after 108 shows on the shelf as part of their support set on Saturday. “Say Cheese” was wedged between a cover of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and setlist staple “Water.” SCI percussionist Jason Hann emerged after the segment to accompany PPPP on the recently debuted instrumental “The Labyrinth” and fan-favorite “Horizon” before leaving the band to close with “Doc.”

The String Cheese Incident kicked off their Saturday night encore in Sublime fashion as they brought out PPPP frontman/rhythm guitarist Greg Ormont and drummer Alex “Gator” Petropulos on percussion to contribute to “Santeria.” The Sublime song had been on the shelf for SCI since the debuted the cover during their “Smells Like Teen Spirit Of The Suwannee” set of ’90s tunes at Hulaween 2019.

“Jamming with @sci_official was a total dream come true! I vividly remember being in awe of them when I first caught a show… these full circle/pinch me moments mean the absolute world 🥹 Thanks for being such awesome guys!” wrote Ormont of the experience on Instagram.

Cheese guitarist Bill Nershi then pointed out Saturday would have been late bassist Phil Lesh's 85th birthday. “Thank you for all the music. A lifetime of music that’s awesome. People like that make the world go around and apparently he liked this tune,” Nershi explained before the sextet went it alone to punctuate the weekend with “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.”

Phil handled lead vocals when the Grateful Dead would perform “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.” The String Cheese Incident hadn’t played the Bob Dylan cover since 2018 as per Setlist.FM.

Watch fan-shot video of SCI’s Saturday night encore, including the collaborative “Santeria,” below:

The String Cheese Incident are off until they begin their spring tour on May 14 with the first of two shows in Wilmington, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong resume their current tour tomorrow, May 18 in Chico, California. Scroll below for a full list of both bands’ tour dates.

Setlists, Photos & SCI Official Audio (via nugs.net)

March 14

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March 15