The String Cheese Incident Wrap Oregon Run with Sprawling Performance in Troutdale (SHOW REVIEW)
If you want to get the best experience out of seeing a jam band, often the best way is to catch them on their home turf or at least in a place where they have a stronghold of fans. String Cheese Incident may be from Colorado, but the best place to see them is Oregon. The band has long cultivated a vibrant and dedicated fanbase in the Beaver State of people who come to party down and spread positivity while doing it (and not being feverish tarp-layers). As they get ready to release their new album Lend Me A Hand on September 8th, String Cheese is in the midst of one of their first lengthy tours in several years. On Saturday, July 29th, the band concluded an Oregon run that hit Bend and Eugene before making its way to Edgefield just outside of Portland. The band would channel their long history in this state through an expansive three-hour show that worked in longtime favorites, new tunes, and plenty of dancing.
Set one started light and fluffy as the band and crowd eased into their environment, kicking off with “Heart Of Saturday Night” before Kyle Hollingsworth laid down his funkified gospel organ on “Black and White.” Keith Moseley took the vocal reins for the freewheeling countrified mountain tune “The Walls of Time” before Michael Kang launched into a rousing “Lonesome Fiddle Blues” that got the crowd kicking up dust as the band built the tune into a full reggae-dub jam that got spooky before Hollingsworth let his organ soar once again. He also laid down some boogie woogie piano goodness on the titular new tune “Lend Me a Hand” that worked well off Kang’s blues-laden guitar. While set one was mostly on the mellow side, the band gradually ramped up the energy with Bill Nershi’s exuberant slide work on “Close Your Eyes” that kept the jam afloat and allowed Kang to deliver one of his first guitar bust-outs of the evening, paving the way for a fun and bouncy “One Step Closer.”
In typical fashion and just in time for…
..