The String Cheese Incident | Mission Ballroom | 12/31/22
To close out 2022, The String Cheese Incident decided to play it close to home and ring in the new year at Denver’s musical gem, the intimate Mission Ballroom. Topping out at 4,000 heads, getting to see SCI in such a small venue for three consecutive nights and so close to their own front doors meant that the band and extended community were in for a sold-out homecoming of sorts filled with familiar faces from both sides of the stage. Although the first two nights were billed as having special guests, the New Year’s Eve celebration touted the usual “all cheese, all night” dynamic of genre-bending splendor and what the band brought was nothing short of spectacular. Laying out three sets comprised of 25 songs, the band delivered on the “home for the holidays” theme in a myriad of ways including performing many classics from their earlier years, most of which originated in before the year 2000. The band also invited ticket holders into their cabin for soul-filling refreshments with multiple fireside jams and premiers under the enchantment of a night sky of starlight, snowflakes, a full moon, and visions of the Rocky Mountains.
Arriving within an hour of doors, it was clear that many had claimed their place in one of three lines early on. Of the three, one was reserved for early entry and was filled with VIP purchasers who certainly took the costume cake, dressed to the nines for the occasion. The second one paralleled early entry and was occupied by those who felt that they had one upped the third line, thinking that the narrower opening, a single set of double doors, would move faster when the time came than the line that touted the bulk of the patrons waiting to get in. As general admission drew closer, the VIPs were allowed in, calm, cool, and collected, entering the venue with grins and sequin, ready and willing to give it all over to the new year. Fifteen or so minutes later, security breached the multiple sets of doors and began choreographing…
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