The String Cheese Incident Play Intimate Acoustic Set & Jam On Phish At The Capitol Theatre

On Saturday night, The String Cheese Incident continued their three-night New Year’s run at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. The jamgrass act had something special up their sleeve as they hit the midpoint of their stand as they offered up an surprise intimate acoustic set, as well as fitting in a jam on a song from the band that was playing about 30-miles south of them at Madison Square Garden.

The night got off to an unexpected start as The String Cheese Incident treated their early arriving fans a special surprise set at The Cap’s venue inside the venue – Garcia’s. The Colorado-based band harkened back to their early bluegrass days by going acoustic and busting out some rarely played material. SCI’s acoustic set kicked off with “High On The Mountain Top,” which marked just the second time the old folk tune had been played since 2007. Next up came another traditional folk number as they dusted off their take on “Deep Elem Blues” for just the second time since 1999, and marking just their sixth take on it overall. The deep cuts rolled on with just their second cover of Dave Grisman’s “Chili Dawg,” from the mandolinists 1990 release Dawg ’90 in six years. The band looked to their catalog next finishing things off with the pairing of “Lost” > “How Mountain Girls Can Love.”

The String Cheese Incident moved into the main room for the electric portion of the night as they opened things up with “Outside Inside.” A take on Vassar Clements’ “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” followed, with the band looking to their most recent studio album Believe next for “Get Tight” and “My One And Only.” The old-school classic “Johnny Cash” once again showed off their string band chops, with “Turn This Around” and “Let’s Go Outside” bringing their second frame of the night to an end.

SCI once again reached back to their repertoire from their early days as they opened up their third set of the night with “Miss Brown’s Teahouse.” In an unexpected twist the band worked in a portion of Phish’s “Golgi Apparatus” playing the composed section of the song and then jamming on it in the midst of “Miss Brown’s Teahouse.” “Sirens” followed with just the twelfth take on “45th of November” in the last decade, which also featured the band working in a jam on the Allman Brothers Band’s “Hotlanta.” String Cheese filled out the rest of their set with “Bumpin’ Reel,” “Sing A New Song” > “Believe,” “Drums” and the classic setlist staple “Black Clouds.”

The night came to close with yet another bust out, as String Cheese revived their cover of “She Blinded Me With Science,” playing Thomas Dolby’s 1982 hit for just their second time overall and their first since October of last year, with “Believe” bringing the lengthy show to an end.

Watch pro-shot video of the openers from each set, including the band’s jam on Golgi Apparatus, and check out the full setlist below:

Videos

Setlist (via Phantasy Tour)

Acoustic Set: High On A Mountain Top, Deep Elem Blues, Chili Dawg, Lost > How Mountain Girls Can Love

Set I: Outside Inside, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Get Tight, My One and Only > Johnny Cash, Turn This Around, Let’s Go Outside*

Set II: Miss Brown’s Teahouse > Golgi Apparatus Jam > Miss Brown’s Teahouse#, Sirens, 45th of November**, Bumpin’ Reel, Sing A New Song > Believe, Drums, Black Clouds

Encore: She Blinded Me With Science^, Beautiful

* w/ Rolling Stones Miss You lyrics, **w/ Hotlanta Jam, # w/ Golgi Apparatus (Phish) jam, ^ Thomas Dolby cover