Following their 40th Red Rocks Amphitheatre performance on Friday night, The String Cheese Incident returned to the iconic venue on Saturday to celebrate a pair of milestones: the 20th anniversary of their Keller Williams collab album, Breathe, and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

After a show delay due to some Colorado mountain thunderstorms, the second of The String Cheese Incident’s Red Rocks run kicked off with a complete performance of Breathe featuring Keller Williams and percussionist Jamie Janover.

Breathe – The String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams & Jamie Janover – 07/20/2019

[Video: Kyle Isaac]

After their Keller Williams collaborative set, The String Cheese Incident opened up their first of two regular sets with “Jack Mento Greeting” before Kyle Hollingsworth highlighted his keytar playing skills in “You’ve Got The World”. A driving jam followed with a “Rhythm Of The Road” that lead into the Grateful Dead‘s “I Know You Rider”. The love tune “Sirens” made an appearance next before moving into a beachy-rock sequence of “Sand Dollar” and “Rollover”. A spacey “Colliding” jam closed out the first set, setting the hint for what was about to come second set.

“Jack Mento Greeting” – The String Cheese Incident – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – 07/20/2019

[Video: Nugs.Net]

Coming back from a brief set break due to the band’s late start at the beginning of the night, SCI started into “All We Got”, projecting the Mario Kart “Rainbow Road”-inspired visuals found in the new video for the track before moving into a tribute to the locale with “Colorado Bluebird Sky”. Kyle Hollingsworth took the reigns on the 2018 Grateful Dead-inspired tune, “The Big Reveal“, regaling the crowd with his early experiences with live music. The three-piece horn section Horns Bruceby was introduced onstage for a tequila-hungover “Jellyfish” jam with a light and airy rendition of Little Feat‘s “Willin'” placed in the middle.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United States’ Apollo 11 landing on the moon, the band finished out the night with an epic 15-minute “Lunar Landing” moon medley that moved through various different space-oriented musical themes. Bassist Keith Mosseley started off the celebratory jam with the 1977 science-fiction Close Encounters film theme song, bouncing off melodic licks from the horns.

Next, the band worked through a three-song Star Wars jam which touched on the film’s iconic “Title Theme” and “Cantina Jam” as well as a dark and ominous “Imperial March”, with electronic flourishes washing over the mountainous surroundings. The journey through space continued with takes on the themes of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and the original Star Trek before the band found their way into “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, commonly known as the theme song to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Knowing time was running short to finish the space show before the venue’s midnight curfew, Michael Kang brought back the spaceship to safety with surprise return to “Rollover” to close out the night.

“All We Got” – The String Cheese Incident – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – 07/20/2019

[Video: Nugs.Net]

“Lunar Landing Jam” – The String Cheese Incident – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – 07/20/2019

[Video: Live For Live Music]

The String Cheese Incident finishes off their three-night residency at Red Rocks tonight with Del McCoury Band to celebrate 80 years of Del‘s bluegrass royalty. For a full list of the band’s upcoming tour dates, ticketing, and more information, head to The String Cheese Incident’s website.

Setlist: The String Cheese Incident | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 07/20/2019

Set One: “Breathe” album in full w/ Keller Williams & Jamie Janover

Set Two: Jack Mento Greeting, You’ve Got The World*, Rhythm of The Road > I Know You Rider, Sirens, Sand Dollar > Rollover > Colliding

Set Three: All We Got, Colorado Bluebird Sky, The Big Reveal, Jellyfish^ > Willin’ > Jellyfish > Lunar Landing Jam^ > Close Encounters Jam > Star Wars Title Jam > Cantina Jam > Imperial March > Star Trek The Next Generation > Star Trek Theme > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Rollover^

* = Kyle Keytar solo
^ = w/ Horns Bruceby