You know you’re in for a good show when tickets sold out within hours of the on-sale. That’s exactly what happened for both nights of the String Cheese Incident’s run in Madison, WI. Ultimately, both shows lived up to the expectations. Last night built on their momentum generated from Friday and was exactly the Saturday night all Cheeseheads wanted.
With cheese stickers plastering shirts, hats, cheeks, and foreheads, and cheesehead hats adorning a few heads, SCI took the stage. Even a cheese title belt was thrown on stage to let the band know they were the champs of the jamgrass genre. They opened up with “Search” and then went into “Little Hands.” The latter had a great piano part from Kyle Hollingsworth, as it always does, but the most impressive part was how he played with a backpack on. With a banana in one of the outside compartments, a lot of fans in the front row were wondering what was inside. If only bringing backpacks into shows were as easy as Hollingsworth made it look. The set ended strong with a great trifecta of “Impressions” into “Rollover,” which was, without a doubt, the best segue of the night, leading into Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean.”
With “Eye of the Tiger” blaring over the speakers, Jason Hann, portraying Rocky Balboa, took to the stage in a red boxer’s robe while Billy Nershi came out and acted as the trainer Mickey. As Nershi toweled off Hann’s head and gave him the encouragement to keep on keeping on, it was a great tribute to a classic movie and a fun way to start the second set.
As the other members came onstage, they were all having a good laugh provided from their band mates until starting in with “Desert Dawn.” “You’ve Got the World” had Hann go over to the drumset while Michael Travis moved over to the percussion set. The tune had a really good groove that sadly was not long enough. Then the audience sang along to the chorus of “Sometimes a River.” They then moved to another new tune that will be released on their upcoming album Believe. “Flying” is a slower song, perhaps one of the closest things Cheese has to a traditional rock ballad. The song has potential for growth to develop itself into a second set stalwart for the band in the future. The song segued into “Valley of the Jig” which was probably the highlight of the night. The set ended with “Long Train Running” sandwiched in between “Colliding.”
The encore was a tad schizophrenic. Nershi dedicated the song to his home state of Colorado, beckoning a “Colorado Blue Sky” encore, but instead included a verse of “One Step Closer” before actually going into “Colorado Blue Sky.”
Multiple times the band mentioned how much they love coming to Wisconsin and playing here. They were very appreciative of the crowd support, as the crowd was equally as thankful for the music played. SCI will be hitting Austin, TX in one week before laying low until festival season gets in full swing.
Listen to the full show audio below, courtesy of Couch Tour Connection.
Enjoy the full gallery below, courtesy of Daniel Ojeda.
Setlist: The String Cheese Incident | Orpheum Theater | Madison, WI | 4/8/17
I: Search, Little Hands> Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance, Until The Music’s Over, Impressions > Rollover > The Ocean
II: Desert Dawn, You’ve Got The World, Sometimes A River, Flying> Valley Of The Jig, Group Hoot, Jellyfish> Colliding> Long Train Runnin > Colliding
E: One Step Closer > Colorado Bluebird Sky
