Photo by @_JohnVerwey via @SCIofficial on IG


The String Cheese Incident closed their 25th anniversary tour at Denver’s new Mission Ballroom this weekend, welcoming members of the Infamous Stringdusters on Friday and busting out their Aged Cheese selection “Sunny Skies” for their first time since 2003 on Saturday.

The band was also quick to note on social media that these shows were their “first Incident in Denver proper in over 10 years!”

After opening Friday night with the positive vibes of “Close Your Eyes,” SCI were sure to throw in a mid-set “Group Hoot” before jamming-out “One Step Closer” and “Bolly Munster” with dobroist Andy Hall and banjoist Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters.

The band then focused on a segue-heavy second half, from the story-song of “Texas” through a number of live favorites such as “Galactic”> “Rollover”> “Sirens”> “Valley Of The Jig”> “It Is What It Is”> “Colorado Bluebird Sky”> “Let’s Go Outside”> “All We Got.”

A fun-filled “Blinded Me With Science” kicked off the Friday-night encore, and SCI closed the performance alongside Hall and Pandolfi, sandwiching “Stir It Up” within the Grateful Dead’s “I Know You Rider.”

“Wow @missionballroom! So much energy in the building last night! Always a pleasure to have  @andyhallmusic  and  @tradplus  from  @stringdusters join us,” SCI wrote on Instagram following the Friday-night show.

The band’s three-set Saturday offering, on the other hand, featured a first set entirely composed of cuts from the band’s 1995 cassette compilation, now known as Aged Cheese. Throwback tunes included the opening “Lester Had a Coconut,” the bluegrass classic “How Mountain Girls Can Love” (which also nodded to Denver’s geography) and the aforementioned “Sunny Skies” (last played 12/31/03).

Set two was highlighted by a nice “Best Feeling”> “Outside And Inside” segment, whereas set three offered a lengthy “Heads Up Jam” and SCI’s second-ever “Whole Lotta Love” (The Led Zeppelin cover emerged within “Rivertrance” which eventually gave way to a rockin’, set-closing “Colorado Bluebird Sky.”)

The String Cheese Incident closed their 25th anniversary tour with “Rosie” and a very-fitting “Good Times Around The Bend.”

Check out both setlists and watch a clip of the Stringdusters’ sit-in below:

The String Cheese Incident
Nov. 29, 2019
Mission Ballroom, Denver

Set I: Close Your Eyes, So Far From Home, MLT, Gone Crooked, Shine, Group Hoot, One Step Closer*> BollyMunster*

Set II: Texas > Galactic > Rollover > Sirens > Valley Of The Jig > It Is What It Is > Colorado Bluebird Sky > Let’s Go Outside > All We Got

Enc: Blinded Me With Science, I Know You Rider* > Stir It Up* > I Know You Rider

Notes:
^ with Andy Hall & Chris Pandolfi (The Infamous Stringdusters)

The String Cheese Incident
Nov. 30, 2019
Mission Ballroom, Denver

Set I: Lester Had A Coconut, How Mountain Girls Can Love, Sunny Skies*, Moonflower, Ryhtmess, Little hands->Dudleys kitchen

Set II: Can’t Wait Another Day, Get Tight, Best Feeling> Outside And Inside, 45th of November, Bhangra Saanj, Howard

Set III: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)> Heads Up Jam> Beautiful, Black Clouds, Wake Up>Way Back Home> Rivertrance> Whole Lotta Love^>Rivertrance> Colorado Bluebird Sky

Enc: Rosie
Enc II: Good Times Around The Bend

Notes:
*LTP- 12/31/03
^2nd time played