Photo via SCI’s Facebook page

The String Cheese Incident kicked off their three-show New Year’s Eve run at Broomfield, CO’s 1St Bank Center yesterday. The Colorado-bred group are using their holiday shows to celebrate the start of their 25th anniversary campaign and will welcome a mix of friends throughout the coming days. Last night, SCI honored their bluegrass roots by inviting mandolin/fiddle ace Sam Bush and violinist Darol Anger during their first set and encore as well as digging into some of their earliest material.

The night opened with a relatively new song, “Can’t Wait Another Day,” from the ensemble’s 2014 release Song In My Head, before welcoming out Bush and Anger for the rest of their first set. The expanded outfit ran through a mix of covers and originals, including Townes Van Zandt’s
“White Freightliner Blues,” David Grisman’s “Eat My Dust,” Ola Belle Reed’s “High on the Mountain Top,” the original “Boo Boo’s Pik-a-Nic” and a version of Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run” that wove in and out of “Salt Creek,” Bill Monroe’s “Big Mon” and “Boo Boo’s Pik-a-Nic,” before bringing the extended segue to a close with  the debut of John Hartford’s “Vamp In The Middle.” (SCI had only performed the Steve Miller Band hit twice before and the song had sat on the shelf since March 30, 2005.)  The first set then closed out with their first cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” since October 29, 2016, “Sand Dollar,” a first-time reading of “Revival” from Bush’s time with the New Grass Revival and “Colorado Bluebird Sky.”

Though guest free, the band’s second set was an entirely segued, palindromic movement, book-ended by Kyle Hollingsworth’s “Close Your Eyes.”  The rest of the sextet’s set consisted of material from the group’s first two studio albums, including  “Black Clouds,” “Jellyfish,” “Texas” and “Land’s End” from their official 1996 debut, Born on the Wrong Planet.

Bush and Anger returned for an encore consisting of the live staple “Rivertrance” and the debut of another New Grass Revival Tune, “Reach.” SCI will return to Broomfield this evening. Robert Randolph, Ivan Neville, Tony Hall and Ian Neville will all sit in.

The String Cheese Incident
1stBank Center, Broomfield, CO

Set I: Can’t Wait Another Day, White Freightliner Blues*, Eat My Dust*^, High on a Mountain Top*, Boo Boo’s Pik-a-Nic* > Take the Money And Run*^^ > Salt Creek* > Take the Money And Run* > Big Mon* > Take the Money And Run* > Boo Boo’s Pik-a-Nic* > Vamp In The Middle*% (6), Signed, Sealed, Delivered*^^^, Sand Dollar*, Revival*%%, Colorado Bluebird Sky*

Set II: Close Your Eyes > Black Clouds > Jellyfish > Round the Wheel > Texas > Land’s End > Texas > ‘Round the Wheel > Jellyfish > Black Clouds > Close Your Eyes

Enc: Rivertrance*, Reach*

Notes:
*with Sam Bush and Darol Anger
^Last time played 3/18/17
^^Last time played 3/30/15
%Debut (John Hartford)
^^^Last time played 10/29/16
%%Debut (New Grass Revival)

Source: friendsofcheese.com