Last night, The String Cheese Incident kicked off their 2017 Spring Tour with their first of two performances at St. Paul, MN’s Palace Theatre. After a successful run of shows in the band’s favorite ski towns on their Winter Carnival 2017 Roots Revival tour earlier this year, the band showed no signs of rust in their Spring Tour debut, delivering improv-heavy selections, skilled segues, “Terrapin” (Grateful Dead) and “Crosseyed and Painless” (Talking Heads) teases, and more.

The show’s first set was highlighted by a 25+ minute “Stay Through” > “Joyful Sound” followed by a set closing “One Step Closer” > “Let’s Go Outside,” connected by a top-notch space-funk segue. The band kicked off set two with “Piece of Mine,” followed by 2016 tune and namesake of the band’s upcoming album, “Believe.” You can watch crowd-shot footage of the second set-opening “Piece of Mine” below, thanks to YouTube user Ryan Legvold:

From there, the band delivered an extended “Windy Mountain” > “Can’t Stop Now” followed by “Seventh Step.” Cheese finished the show on a strong not from there, with “Outside and Inside” leading into a fantastic “Just One Story” > “Way Back Home” > “Just One Story” sandwich. After some quick banter about the upcoming tour and how glad the band was to be back in the midwest, they launched into a “Sweet Spot” encore to send it home.

You can listen to full audio of the show below via archive.org thanks to taper Tommy The Beard:

The String Cheese Incident will be back in action at the Palace Theatre tonight before heading to Madison, WI’s Orpheum Theater tomorrow (Friday, April 7th). For information on all of Cheese’s upcoming shows, or to purchase tickets, head to the band’s website.

Setlist: The String Cheese Incident | Palace Theatre | St. Paul, MN | 4/5/17 (setlist via SCI Facebook)

Set 1: So Far From Home, Falling Through The Cracks, Mouna Bowa, Stay Through > Joyful Sound, One Step Closer > Let’s Go Outside

Set 2: Piece of Mine, Believe, Windy Mountain > Can’t Stop Now, Seventh Step, Outside and Inside, Just One Story > Way Back Home > Just One Story

Encore: Sweet Spot

[Cover Photo by Adam Z Photography]