The String Cheese Incident kicked off its 30th Anniversary last night with a three-set New Year’s Eve celebration at Oakland’s Fox Theater.
Most bands either fall apart, drift apart, or just plain run out of steam after just a few years, which is what makes it such an achievement to not only make it 30 years, but to still be making new, vital, beloved material at this stage of the game. Night one and two were pretty dang special, but SCI definitely saved the best for last. To mark the occasion, Cheese filled each set with music from a different decade of their career, from start to finish. It was a wild night of songbook highlights full of delight for fans in the venue from across the country and online around the world thanks to Nugs.net.
As he loves to do, guitarist Bill Nershi got the band and crowd united in spirit and intention with a huge group hoot before strapping on his guitar and putting his shoulder to the wheel. Set one was dedicated to String Cheese’s first decade and therefore delighted the many old-school fans in the audience. Keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth arrived in 1996 and brought his many bells, whistles, and melodic talents to the forefront of the band’s sound, alongside multi-instrumentalist Michael Kang and Nershi.
Though he’s a remarkably unaged man, Kang seems to have undergone the biggest metamorphosis among the band, sprouting new skills across his litany of music-making tools. He made the most of his various implements over the course of the nearly four-hour show, and it was quite telling to see and hear his many contributions to the group aesthetic over the years, starting with some of set one’s highlights that sprang from his bow and fiddle.
Though classic tunes like “Smile”, “Texas”, “Land’s End”, and the rest have clearly evolved over the 30 years since some of them were penned, it’s a clear sign they were onto something from the very beginning that tunes like these are still in heavy rotation after all this time.
The String Cheese Incident – “Group Hoot”, “Smile”, “Joyful Sound” – 12/31/23
Set two saw songs and sounds from the band’s middle period, where percussion, in the form of drummer Michael Travis, alongside 2004 arrival, percussionist Jason Hann, started to drive things more and more. Hann, already a seasoned road performer, hit the ground running and proved to be terrific at fitting in his musical additions to the band’s sound as if they had always been there. Some of the highlights from the set included a fierce opening “Colliding” and a flowing sequence of “Sometimes a River” > “45th of November” > “One Step Closer”.
As the hour grew late and midnight fast approached, the third set kicked off with tunes from the most recent decade of Cheese. Songs released as recently as earlier this year from their latest disc, September’s Lend Me A Hand, along with other highlights like “Sweet Spot” and “Into The Blue” preceded a flurry of balloons, confetti, and general insanity to mark the passing of 2023 and the official kick-off to the 30th Anniversary celebrations sure to fill 2024.
The last set finished with “Colorado Bluegrass Sky” most fittingly, as the song could have been created in any of the previous eras. The encore, “Hi Ho No Show”, was among the most recent era’s tunes, and SCI took the opportunity to tease a new song, heralding the band’s upcoming forth decade of making music and magic together.
Click below to view fan-shot videos from The String Cheese Incident’s 30th anniversary New Year’s Eve show courtesy of Psilocybonaut.
The String Cheese Incident has a few festival appearances on the schedule for 2024, including Texas Eclipse, Solshine Reverie, CaveJam, and Electric Forest. For a full list of upcoming dates and to purchase tickets, visit the band’s website.
The String Cheese Incident – “Born on the Wrong Planet” – 12/31/23
Setlist: The String Cheese Incident | Fox Theater | Oakland, CA | 12/31/23
Set 1: Group Hoot for 30 years!, Smile, Joyful Sound > Born on the Wrong Planet, Moonflower*, Resume Man, Texas, Land’s End > Glory Chords > San Jose
Set 2: Colliding, Sometimes a River > 45th of November > One Step Closer, Valley of the Jig, Sirens > Desert Dawn
Set 3: Sweet Spot, Eventually, Into the Blue (Ball Drop), All We Got, Get Tight, The Big Reveal, Colorado Bluebird Sky
Encore: Hi Ho No Show
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