String Cheese Incident
July 3, 2009

Set I
Rollover > Can't Stop Now, Miss Brown's Teahouse, Mouna Bowa, Love Is Like A Train, Rain > Daryl, The Group Hoot, Joyful Sound > This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) > Rollover

Set II
Outside Inside > Desert Dawn, Black Clouds, Little Hands > Bumpin' Reel, Close Your Eyes, Way Back Home > Drums, Texas > Blackberry Blossom > Texas

Encore
Best Feeling > Higher Ground > Restless Wind

The String Cheese Incident officially reunited last night at Michigan's Rothbury Music Festival for an extended two-set performance that stretched from 8:45 PM to 1 AM. Like its pubic "sound check" earlier this week, The String Cheese Incident's first set focused on the group's earthier and more bluegrass-based material, while its second set recalled the Burning Man-inspired spectacles that characterized the band's final period.

The sextet bookended its first set with "Rollover," one of its signature tunes, dropping into "Can't Stop Now," the funky "Miss Brown's Teahouse," the beautiful "Mouna Bowa," "Love Is Like A Train," percussion-heavy "Rain," "Daryl," the groove-heavy "Joyful Sound" and Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" along the way. The band paused only briefly throughout its first set so that Bill Nershi could lead the audience in the traditional "group hoot." Michael Kang also thanked the Rothbury staff and mentioned that "one of the reasons [the group] decided to reunite at the festival was because they had so much fun last year."

Numerous glowing balloons were released into the sky as String Cheese took the stage for its second set to play a funky version of "Outside and Inside" with Nershi on electric guitar. As the band segued into an extended jam, the crowd erupted into a massive glowstick war, and the stage was filled with hula hoopers, dancers, acrobats and other Cirque du Soleil-like theatrics (including a few burlesque dancers that entertained the crowd from raised platforms in the field). The song slowly developed into a powerful "Desert Dawn" and then the staple "Black Clouds." The band slowed things down for a beautiful rendition of "Little Hands" that featured fire dancers onstage-and finally came to a close with "Bumpin' Reel," "Close Your Eyes," "Way Back Home," an extended drum segment and "Texas," the last song that the band played before its hiatus.

String Cheese returned to the stage for its encore with Keller Williams to play the standout song from their collaborative album Breathe, "Best Feeling." The band then closed the night with the package of "Higher Ground" and "Restless Wind" (a day earlier Keith Moseley joined Williams onstage for "Thin Mint and "Portapotty," while Moseley, Jason Hann and Kyle Hollingsworth sat in with the guitarist for "Kidney in a Cooler" and "Breathe"). String Cheese Incident's entire set was dotted with Michael Jackson teases, most notably "Thriller" and "Beat It."

As of press time, String Cheese Incident has no other confirmed shows, though all of the band members were in good spirits throughout their reunion performance. Backstage before the show, Hollingsworth played two new solo songs on Relix's Cold Turkey with the help of Moseley and beat boxer LYNX. Hollingsworth mentioned that he had tossed around the idea of recording a String Cheese Incident children's album with his bandmates, but that he plans to spend most of the fall on the road with a solo band that includes The Motet's Dave Watts and Garrett Sayers.

The rest of Rothbury's musical offerings placed a heavy influence on world music: the rising Michigan-based jamband The Macpodz, reggae-influenced folk singer Brett Dennen, a drumming workshop led by the members of Toubab Krewe, Afro-beat heir Femi Kuti and Nigerian bandleader King Sunny Ade and His African Beats. Bill Kreutzmann and Jason Hann were among the musicians who moved into the crowd to check out the latter musician's afternoon performance ("He's one of the performers I always wanted to see, but never had the chance before," Kreutzmann gushed backstage). Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley also played a set with world famous rapper Nas that leaned heavily of the pair's collaborative album Distant Relatives. "I can smell the good [expletive] stuff," Nas proclaimed from the stage. "I want to come back here every day."

Rothbury's late night festivities primarily consisted of electronic music, ranging from reigning dance-punk king Chromeo to West Coast psy trance stars The Glitch Mob to the livetronica powerhouse STS9 (who sampled Michael Jackson during its encore). Girl Talk also turned in a 90-minute mixtape that sampled countless pop, rock and rap songs-Girl Talk mastermind Gregg Gillis also referenced the festival's "enchanted" Sherwood Forest.

Other Friday highlights included G. Love and Special Sauce (who revealed that his first trip to his current hometown of Boston as a youngster was to see Rothbury headliners The Dead), Soulive (who brought along vocalist Nigel Hall and the horn section of Sam Kininger and Ryan Zoidis) and Broken Social Scene (who joked that some of their songs were "a little slow to hula hoop to").

Rothbury continues today with performances by The Dead, Umphrey's McGee, The Black Crowes, Les Claypool and Zappa Plays Zappa, among others.

From MLive.com:

It was the Incident everyone was waiting for. As Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Nas finished their set on the Odeum stage and Nas delivered yet another Michael Jackson shout-out, the throngs of fans, bedecked in pixie wings and hula hoops, made their merry way to see Friday night's headlining set by the semi-reunited String Cheese Incident.

Since my command of the band's catalog is, to put it generously, novice, I solicited some much-needed String Cheese Insight from Matt Lewison, a guy I graduated from high school with who has been to more than 70 String Cheese shows. He said he was impressed with the performance, and suggested certain elements pointed toward the possibility of String Cheese continuing as a unit beyond this concert (billed as its only show of 2009).

For example, the band performed newer songs (newer, as in circa the time they stopped playing in 2007) such as "Rain" and "Love Is Like a Train," rather than sticking to the fan favorites one might expect from a one-off reunion event.

The band did open with a staple, "Rollover," which it played in part, then returned to it to close out the first of its sets -- it's common for String Cheese to do two per performance. Their fingers must get tired, after all. Another highlight was its well-worn cover of Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)."

Its fleet and nimble jams -- rooted in bluegrass but incorporating elements of jazz, electronic music, straight rock and a grab-bag of other stylistic influences -- filled the night and fostered the biggest communal environment we've seen at Rothbury so far this year. As the sky darkened, String Cheese ratcheted up the spectacle, inviting fire dancers on stage and filling the sky with an elaborate light display while fans bounced inflatable balls -- one of them amazingly large -- and played with various glowing implements.

Plenty of magic to behold, for the expert and the novice alike.

Michael Jackson tribute watch: String Cheese teased a bit of "Thriller."

From WoodTV.com:

One of the sets I was looking forward to the most at Rothbury was this one - The String Cheese Incident. The jam band favorites had been on hiatus since 2007, so the crowd was starved for the sweet sounds of the Cheese they remembered. Could it compare to the old days? Had their sound evolved over that time? Had they practiced? The crowd of more than 30,000 was frenzied with anticipation as they waited to see if String Cheese would answer the call.

As the band stepped onto the stage, Singer/Guitarist Billy Nershi raised his arms in triumph - from that point on, the crowd was theirs.

"Rollover" would open the set - a nice jam, with plenty of opportunity for the band to stretch out and gel. The first set would continue to move from jam to jam, with many songs stretching towards the 10-minute mark. A great progression from the mellow groove of "Joyful Sound", into the Talking Heads cover "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", and then finally building into the blazing second half of "Rollover" to close out a satisfying first set.

If the first set featured the more acoustic-based, folk side of String Cheese, it was the second set that brought fans a more plugged-in, electrified Incident.Leading off with a funky "Outside-Inside" followed by the pseudo-bluegrass rocker "Desert Dawn", the jams in the second set strayed further from the song structure that they were born from. Fire twirlers, hula hoopers, and on-stage aerialists complemented the music visually.

The clearest memory of the show was the encore - in a way, it encompasses all the aspects of Cheese that drew me to them in the first place. "Best Feeling" saw longtime band-friend Keller Williams take the stage on lead vocals. The tune soared, as the band jammed as they always have - a cohesive freeform in and out of the verses. Though it's not technically a SCI song, this was one of the first tunes involving the band that I heard, so that sound has always been the definition of cheese for me. As Keller left the stage, the jam transformed at the hands of Kyle Hollingsworth on the keys. The unmistakable organ riff of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" assaulted the field at the Odeum, as the band took a brand new cover song for a ride. The show closed with "Restless Wind" a jammed out bluegrass number, which would turn out to be one of my festival highlights. I never thought I could like bluegrass - it always just fell into the same category. Then, as I discovered the String Cheese Incident, I gave it a chance. Their take on the bluegrass sound led me to similar bands, and I've been in love with that high-energy acoustic sound ever since. The jammed peaked, and then peaked again, as the Cheese brought the house down on the first full night of music at Rothbury.

I was lucky enough to be in the photo pit in front of the stage as the band first came out. It was a moment that a lot of people in this scene had hoped for, but never thought would come. To see the faces of the fans down in the front row was exciting and emotional - this band means a lot to them. I really loved being so close as one of their dreams come true on that night in Rothbury.