Relive The String Cheese Incident's Red Rocks Musical Tour De Force [Review/Pictures/Videos] 07.17 & 18.26 Concert Review RAV:ZO 0017
"Ain't No Incident Like A String Cheese Incident!"
The String Cheese Incident made their annual visit to the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Co one for the ages with a dense, fun filled guided tour of their any eras and epochs. They’ve played Red Rocks so many times its easy to think they might be taking these shows as almost perfunctory but in practice they never fail to ratchet up their already top shelf game for the occasion. Hopes were running high for a special weekend and Cheese delivered the awesomeness. To help the cause Cheese recruited Denver’s own Clay Street Unit for the opening night with cool collaborations obviously on the menu. For five sets over two nights the faithful who made the sacred sonic seeking pilgrimage in search of something truly memorable learned their hopes were well founded, once again!
Here’s an awesome 90 some odd second video recap of the weekend released officially by the band to get us started. Dig it then read on for an intenseive full break down!
Friday
Show openers Clay Street Unit (Mandolinist Scottie Bolin, banjo plucker Jack Cline, pedal steel guitarist Brad Larrison, drummer Brendan Lamb, singer-guitarist and mastermind Sam Walker and newest member fiddler Dan Andree) released Sin & Squalor, their first full album, earlier this year to rave reviews. The band has been gigging across the country in support of this very well received release winning themselves new fans nightly. It didn’t hurt to have Grammy Award winning bluegrass stalwarts The Infamous Stringdusters co-founder and banjo wizard Chris Pandolfi sitting in the producers chair this time around.
The leveling up CSU has done since their 2021 debut EP, A Mighty Fine Evening, is very impressive. The difference in the overall Clay Street Unit in the five full years distant first disc, which was recorded in a three hour rush accompanied by a single case of beer, to a multi day stint in a high end studio with such an experienced figure in the bluegrass world was sure to have that sort of effect, obviously. Pandolfi did an impressive job capturing Unit’s singular mix of drums and bass driven jam-grass and effects laden inter-dimensional interstellar instrumental breaks from reality.
Though their set was short, Clay Street showed off some wicked jam grass chops. Their frequent cosmic excursions were often initiated by Larrison and Andree but it was the rock solid pocket work of Cline and Lamb that made those wanderings happen.Not that CSU didn’t speed through some more traditional structure Americana tunes as well…they seem equally at home on the ground as they do in deep space. Tough it seems weird to talk about an obstinately bluegrass music based band’s “Pocket Work” that’s the beauty of “Jamgrass” and unclassifiable acts like headliners String Cheese. After CSU’s Walker led his merry jamsters through their set and the first moments of dusk arrived it was finally time to get the Cheese party started.
For a band staring down their fortieth anniversary as a unit The String Cheese Incident are remarkably fresh and constantly expanding their collective sonic style. From their more laid back beginnings to becoming a veritable Swiss Army knife of musical genres the constant evolution they have collectively embraced is a perfect example of how multi-generational bands should behave. No coasting on your successes, no simply “grinding-for-your-check”…just ceaseless, pedal-to-the-metal boundary pushing music making.
Thanks, as always, to nugs.net for not just streaming the show but for dropping the first twenty or so minutes on YouTube as a free taste/enticement of the subscription freebies. The entire String Cheese weekend run was available to base subscriber as simply part of the insane amount of music available for a low monthly fee! Check out the tunes then scroll on for more love and Cheese!
After guitarist Billy Nershi did a little of his trademarked crowd rallying to get everyone as primed and pumped as possible the show proper got underway. From the bluesy first notes of the keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth-centric Friday night set opener “Lend Me A Hand” String Cheese sounded dialed in. Their always impeccable sound was on point, and every instrument, from Michael Travis’ drum kit to the highest pitches of multi-instrumentalist Michael Kang’s highest fiddle notes were clear, distinct and balanced.
Nershi took over the vocals for the Cheese classic “Miss Brown’s Tea House” into Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” back out to the big “Miss Brown’s” finale. It wasn’t just the first long stretch of the weekend it also served as an early example of one of Cheese’s most important hallmarks…the mix of impressive talent and balance these players share. Though some might get to shine brighter as the songs require every member of The String Cheese Incident is incredibly gifted AND skilled. A bass solo from Keith Moseley is just as sweet as a wild percussion fill from Jason Haan or a blistering lead guitar line from Kang.\
The rest of the set tumbled out quickly though no song or pause was without highlight. Mosely welcomed the crowd as “Friends” he urged everyone to introduce themselves to those around them and build new bridges of love. “Enjoy The Ride” had some truly towering electric piano work from Hollingsworth. The Caribbean flavor of “Pirates” gave it an element of sunny island charm. Clay Street Unit members Dan Andree and Sam Walker elevated the cover of Old And In The Way’s bluegrasss masterpiece “Midnight Moonlight” extra street cred points galore. Just seeing Andree and Kang trading lines and leads with such impressive dexterity was worth the price of admission. Cheese then proceeded to reel off a delightfully bouncy take on “It Is What It Is” before closing out the first set with “Shantytown” that gave old school fans a reason to really get their groove on.
Not too long after departing String Cheese came bopping back out, properly warmed up, sun long gone and ready to get going under their always impressive sky high light show. Oddly, for all the visual delights to behold Cheese chose “Close Your Eyes” to kick off the second set. The subsequent “One Step Closer” featured some of of Hollingsworth’s trippiest work on keys of the evening but the true highlight was the jaw dropping hand and stick work by Haan on a smaller, cradled djembe.
Building on Haan’s percussive firestorm Michael Travis slipped out from behind his kit as the rest of the band left the stage to make space for their drum core to get down. After the percussive pair wound down their tour through Haan’s impressive array of instruments Haan switched it up and took up residence on the drum kit throne while Travis remained behind in Haan’s percussion palace. As the furious firestorm finally calmed down Mosely took to the mic to reunite the various members and get everyone in earshot in a harmonious “Sweet Spot”.
With the crowd and band united it was the perfect opportunity to experience some farther flung rhythms starting with the East Indian modality of their studio collaboration with Beats Antique, “Bhangra Saanj”. It would be hard for most bands to top the mind blowing jam that is “Saanj” but Michael Kang tried his best with a brand new song, his recently penned, densely layered “Osiris”. The hour was getting late as perr the venues cut off so with the time remaining Cheese went with a two song jam to close the set, “Rhythm of the Road” and “Trip the Light Fantastic” that was a prime example of one of the most important aspects of the String Cheese Incident’s sound: Literally NO ONE can do what they do.
Cheese can make music in any number of genres in so many ways and yet it’s always completely idiosyncratic to them, no matter what they’re doing. In closing the set as they did with the last three tunes they went from complex world music to moments of “stripped-down-to-the-bare-bones” jams to chaotic feel good explosions of joy without ever not stepping outside their musical identity. In a musical niche that heavily features covers very few jam bands cover Cheese tunes and If they try they only try one.
Their Friday night encore, “Hi Ho No Show”, sounds like a psychedelic Irish fiddle based folk tune. Not a lot of bands scrambling to compete with them for that space in the sonic spectrum for a lot of obvious reasons…such as no actual fan base exists for it as a general thing and the impossible range of chops needed to achieve it, period. In other words…String Cheese can practically do anything within and without their comfort zone and always sound at home and ready to make something all their own.
Saturday
A new day meant a fresh chance for The String Cheese Incident to make some fresh magic, In fact, after a rousing introduction that’s where the music for the now bright and sunny day and night to come began…at the beginning of Cheese itself. String Cheese dropped one of their so-called “Couch Sets”, which are basically semi-acoustic throwback interludes that honor their humble beginnings as a cadre of buskers coming together to form a band.String Cheese has deployed these at multiple shows this year and, predictably, the format has been somewhat divisive among the fans. You can check out the laid back jam vibe of the “Restless Wind” from the Couch Set below!
The faithful who have been around since the beginning, the old guard, are happy, for the most part, to be reminded of the simpler jams of times past. Meanwhile newer fans of their now far denser sound and vibe seem to be a bit cold on these sparser, stripped down jams. Neither contingent is completely unified, mind you. There are certainly longtime fans who lived through the era and prefer what Cheese has become and newer fans who love this peek into how the band started. Personally, I love ALL eras of Cheese but I definitely have mad passion for how they began and the mid-to-late nineties were when I “Discovered” SCI. It’s very sweet to “Re-experience” things like a back-to-basics version of “Joyful Sound” and “Rollover”.
Though The String Cheese Incident focused on material from bygone eras they managed to slip a very welcome Paul Simon cover, “Late In The Evening” and a couple later songs like show opener “Joyful Sound” and “Let’s Go Outside". Thanks once again to nugs.net you can get a nice feel for the vibe below.
After a short set break Cheese came back out, ready to plus in and plunge on back in the present day. Between the psychedelic circus vibe of the second set opening “Carnival” and the double time energy and ever building momentum of “Can’t Stop Now”the crowd and band locked into a speeding circle of joy released and given. Holingsworth, always upbeat, looked so delighted that it was an almost valid thing to worry he might somehow overload from the emotional high he was clearly lost inside. That’s what I look for in any live band…the players who aren’t just making the music but living it as well.
The blues-y base of “Got To Be You” contrasted nicely with the funky deep end bass break down from Moseley in “Song In My Head” There was also a “Way Back Home” that felt extra special given the home turf location and crowd reception. Set two ended on an appropriately named “Beautiful” that more tan lived up to it’s name.
Set three had some of the highest energy and biggest stand out moments of the weekend as you would hope a last set of a fun would have. There were many cool highlights like the simple “Group Hoot’ led by Nershi to kick things off and solidify crowd energy one last time before the music got going and the continued energy of Hollingsworth during set openers “Dirk” and the hula hoop insanity when the winners on an online hosted contest got to come out with glow-in-the-dark LED hoops to show off their skills. Here’s quick video of that awesome barrage of skills in the clip below.
While the next few songs blended together is one long trippy haze…for me at least (Mileage may vary…cough cough) the set closing “Rivertrance”, “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” Pink Floyd cover back into “Rivertrance” that featured some serious shredding and massive crowd payoff. You can check out the choice Floyd cover in all it’s amazing-ness below:
With an all-too-brief “Black Clouds” encore the curtain was finally ready to fall on this 2026 Red Rocks edition of the never ending (Hopefully) String Cheese Incident traveling show it was coming down on a band that had just set the bar higher than ever before for themselves and other acts on this hallowed stage. For those lucky enough to have been there in person there was the long trip down the mountain and back to their homes and hotels For online fans that had the music still ringing in their ears like me there was only one thing to do…rewind and watch the whole thing again!
You can find The String Cheese Incident online at their own site, plus all the obvious social media places like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. You can also catch them live as they wind their way around the country and points beyond! This year they have some special fun planned at The Morroccan Incident in far-flung Marrakesh, Morocco! Oh and don’t forget there is still the Suwanee Hulaween Incident on the way at the end of October! It’s a good year to be a String Cheese Incident fan…but honestly isn’t that always the case?
Tickets and info for the Morocco shows HERE and Hulaween HERE! Few places better to see Cheese than that magic musical Park in Florida and Morocco! You can check out their special globe spanning jams, ALL their up-to-the-minute tour dates as well as the set lists below!
The String Cheese Incident | Red Rocks | Morrison, CO | 07.17.26
Set 1: Lend Me a Hand, Miss Brown’s Tea House > Chameleon (Herbie Hancock cover), Miss Brown’s Tea House, Enjoy the Ride, Pirates, Midnight Moonlight (Old & In the Way), It Is What It Is, Shantytown
Set 2: Close Your Eyes, One Step Closer, Drums, Sweet Spot, Bhangra Saanj, Osiris, Rhythm of the Road, Trip the Light Fantastic
Encore: Hi Ho No Show
The String Cheese Incident | Red Rocks | Morrison, CO | 07.18.26
Set 1 (Acoustic Living Room Set): Joyful Sound, Restless Wind, Road Home, Late in the Evening (Paul Simon cover), Good Times Around the Bend, Rollover, Let’s Go Outside
Set 2: Carnival, Can’t Stop Now, Got To Be You, Song in My Head, Way Back Home, Fete Tama, Beautiful
Set 3: Dirk, Round the Wheel, Star, The Lightning Sky, Just One Story, Rivertrance > Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (Pink Floyd) > Rivertrance
Encore: Black Clouds