Last weekend, The String Cheese Incident concluded their March Madness tour with three nights at the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, NV. Not to say that the Friday and Saturday shows were anything short of spectacular, but the final night had a little extra oomph, as the band played a special acoustic set to start the show.

The acoustic set was prompted by the visit of mandolinist Jack Rajca, the writing partner for SCI guitarist Bill Nershi from the early days of music. Rajca and Nershi wrote songs like “Lester Had A Coconut” together, which wound up being the first song of the set. With a four man band comprised of Nershi, Rajca, Keith Moseley and Michael Kang, the group spent just shy of a half hour warming up the crowd with acoustic joy.

Interestingly, Nershi recently spoke to us about wanting to do an acoustic tour, saying “I’m still pushing for an acoustic tour, ’cause I think right now we could do it.  We have the two drummers that can play congas and pull out all kinds of percussion instruments that don’t involve the full drum kits.  Mike’s got a great sounding acoustic mandolin now and his fiddle.  Keith has gotten really good on his upright bass and I’m always playing acoustic anyway, so for me it’s like falling off a log.”

While this was only one set, it’s certainly quite the treat to watch. Thanks to YouTube user Scott Fraser, we have full video of the acoustic set. Enjoy it!

Setlist: The String Cheese Incident at Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas, NV – 3/20/16

Set One: Lester Had A Coconut1, Blue Ridge Cabin Home1, Crosseyed Possum1, Temperance Reel1

Set Two: Just One Story, Sometimes A River, Little Hands, Yo Se, Falling Through the Cracks, It Is What It Is, Let’s Go Outside

Set Three: Birdland, You’ve Got the World, Hotel Window, Joyful Sound > Rumble > Howard, BollyMunster, Outside and Inside > Jessica

Encore: Late in the Evening, Restless Wind

Notes:

1 acoustic, with Jack Rajca