Hear The String Cheese Incident Debut Funky Taylor Swift Cover At Red Rocks

The String Cheese Incident debuted a Taylor Swift cover during a three-night Red Rocks run this past weekend in their home state of Colorado. SCI offered Taylor’s “Style” in the first set on Saturday, July 15.

The Swift song was the culmination of a gag SCI hatched on Friday when keyboardist “Karl Washington” filled in for Kyle Hollingsworth in the first set as he was “sitting in” with Taylor Swift who was performing at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver that night. Hollingsworth “returned” in time for the second set John Fogerty Incident.

The gag continued into Saturday with Kyle presumably bringing some of the material he learned “playing” with Taylor back to Red Rocks. Following an intro from longtime friend of the band Jack Mento and a “Group Hoot” led by Bill Nershi, SCI opened night two with original “Can’t Wait Another Day” followed by Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance. Cheese then delivered the title track to their first studio album in 6 years, Lend Me A Hand,, which led into The Allman Brothers Band instrumental “Jessica.”

The Hollingsworth-composed “Let’s Go Outside” then encompassed the debut of Taylor Swift’s “Style,” off the pop star’s 2014 album, 1989. SCI delivered a funky rendition of the hit full of wah-wah and naturally led by Kyle on lead vocals. After the Nershi classic “Miss Brown’s Teahouse,” SCI headed into “Desert Dawn” within which they fit another cover debut, David Bowie’s “Golden Years,” ahead of a return to “Desert Dawn” to wrap the frame.

The second set got underway with a 16-minute version of Kyle’s electro-tinged “Trip The Light Fantastic.” After “All We Got,” the band delivered “Blue Bossa” and “Into the Blue,” with the “blue” tunes both clocking in at around 12 minutes each. The Celtic-inflected “Bollymunster” came next before Cheese closed the second set by coupling substantial versions of “Sirens” and “Colorado Bluebird Sky.” The String Cheese Incident returned to cap night two at Red Rocks with their classic cover of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody),” always a favorite at Cheese on the Rocks.

Listen to SCI’s complete June 15, 2023 show below taped by Michael Frasca:

Setlist (via SCI Facebook)

Set 1: Intro (Jack Mento), Group Hoot, Can’t Wait Another Day, Don’t it Make You Wanna Dance, Lend Me A Hand > Jessica, Let’s Go Outside > Style* > Let’s Go Outside > Fifty On The Rocks Jam > Miss Brown’s Teahouse > Desert Dawn > Golden Years > Desert Dawn

Set 2: Trip The Light Fantastic, All We Got, Blue Bossa, Into the Blue, BollyMunster, Sirens > Colorado Bluebird Sky

E: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

Notes:

* Taylor Swift