This past weekend, the String Cheese Incident returned to Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., for two nights of back-to-back music at the picturesque venue, nearly a mile above sea level. During both nights, the hosts welcomed their openers to the stage to sit in on a select song, beginning with The Wood Brothers’ assistance on a classic Band cover. Then, on the second night, during openers, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country’s frame, they brought out percussionist and member of SCI, Jason Hann, before Donato’s ensuing assistance during the main frame for a song plucked from the Allman Brothers Band’s archive. 

During the Wood Brothers’ Friday night frame, they populated tracks from their studio sets, going as far back as 2006’s Ways Not to Lose, before landing on tracks that initially appeared on their sophomore set, Loaded, as well as follow-ups, Smoke Ring Halo, The Muse, and Kingdom in My Mind. After seemingly turning in their time on the Red Rocks, Wood Brothers returned during the onset of SCI’s latter Friday frame, helping their hosts on The Band’s classic, “Ophelia.” 

The String Cheese Incident kept a similar motif going during night two, welcoming Hann to sit in during Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country’s Saturday set, assisting on fan favorite, “Dance in the Desert,” which clocked in at over 12 minutes. Then, during SCI’s two-set follow-up, they welcomed Donato to assist on The Allman Brothers Band’s highly regarded Dickey Betts-penned “Blue Sky,” which also landed in slot one during the second set’s jump. Before saying so long to Red Rocks, String Cheese Incident nodded to their home state by co-opting Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place.”

Following this weekend’s stop, The String Cheese Incident will take a break from live appearances, ahead of their return, set for August 8 and 9 in Vail, Colorado. Tickets remain on sale and can be purchased here.

And, read our 30th anniversary band interview/ cover story.