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Ivan Neville, Ian Neville & Tony Hall Guest With The String Cheese Incident In New Orleans

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The String Cheese Incident closed out a three-night run in New Orleans on Saturday with a show at Mardi Gras World featuring support from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and special guests Ian Neville, Ivan Neville and Tony Hall. SCI keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth sat-in with PPPP before the Dumpstaphunk members helped Cheese end their first of two sets.

Pigeons concluded a busy three nights that started at Red Rocks on Thursday and saw them open for Cheese at the same venue on Friday by delivering a set that included the Kyle guest spot and two celebrations of Star Wars Day. The quartet kicked off their performance with “Too Long” and fit in “The Imperial March” from Star Wars on May The Fourth. PPPP staples “Whoopie” and “Somethin’ For Ya” led into a version of “Porcupine” featuring another tune from the 1977 film, “Cantina Theme.” Next, Hollingsworth joined in for “F.U.” before Pigeons said farewell with “The Liquid.”

The String Cheese Incident’s first set began with a sequence of “On The Road,” “Eye Know Why” and “Black Clouds.” From there, the sextet played recent Sound Lab single “I Want You” live for just the second time. The recently debuted “Into The Blue” came next and then Ian Neville, Ivan Neville and Tony Hall emerged.

The SCI/Dumpstaphunk summit got underway with “Get To You,” a song Cheese recorded with Lyle Divinksy of The Motet for release as a single in 2018. A pair of huge surprises followed as the augmented ensemble presented the beloved Neville Brothers classic “Yellow Moon” and The Meters gem “Fire On The Bayou.” Cheese had only performed each song once in the past with the prior “Yellow Moon” taking place at the Phases Of The Moon festival in 2014 and the prior “Fire On The Bayou” played way back on April 25, 1998 at NOLA’s The Maple Leaf. Both Ian and Ivan have strong ties to each band as Ian’s dad and Ivan’s uncle Art Neville was a founding member of The Meters and the Neville Brothers. The Neville Brothers also featured the pair’s uncles Cyril and Charles as well as Ivan’s dad and Ian’s uncle Aaron.

SCI’s final set of the run in New Orleans was stacked with jams. A set-opening “Beautiful” gave way to an expansive and unfinished “Vertigo” that eventually bled into “Valley Of The Jig.” Guitarist Bill Nershi vacated the stage at one point but returned after the extended “VOFJ” intro. The six-piece then tipped their hat to The Rolling Stones, who were originally slated to headline Jazz Fest before Mick Jagger’s health issues led the band to cancel, by covering “Sympathy For The Devil.” A wild and exploratory “Howard” and “Let’s Go Outside” ended the frame. Cheese wasn’t done yet as they treated fans to an encore of fan-favorite original “Jellyfish” and the traditional “Sitting On Top Of The World.”

Fan-Shot Videos

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong w/ Kyle Hollingsworth – F.U.
Captured by Kyle_On_Keys

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong w/ Kyle Hollingsworth – F.U.
Captured by schitzoflink

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong w/ Kyle Hollingsworth – F.U.
Captured by lesliezigel

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – Cantina Theme Captured by clayleser

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May the 4th be with you @pigeonsplaying

A post shared by clay (@clayleser) on May 5, 2019 at 7:29am PDT

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – Cantina Theme Captured by luvpod

The String Cheese Incident w/ Ivan Neville, Ian Neville & Tony Hall – Fire On The Bayou
Captured by booksnflats

The String Cheese Incident w/ Ivan Neville, Ian Neville & Tony Hall – Fire On The Bayou
Captured by scohen211

Setlists

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong (via Phantasy Tour)

Set: Too Long > The Imperial March > Too Long, Whoopie, Somethin For Ya, Porcupine > Cantina Theme > Porcupine, F.U. (w/ Kyle Hollingsworth), The Liquid

The String Cheese Incident (via SCI Family)

Set One: On The Road, Eye Know Why > Black Clouds, I Want You, Into The Blue, Get To You*, Yellow Moon*^, Fire On The Bayou*+

Set Two: Beautiful, Vertigo > Valley of the Jig, Sympathy For The Devil > Howard, Let’s Go Outside

Encore: Jellyfish > Sitting On Top Of The World

  • *- w/ Ian Neville, Ivan Neville and Tony Hall
  • ^- LTP 9/12/14 Phases of the Moon
  • +- LTP 4/25/1998 New Orleans