After three decades of touring worldwide, The String Cheese Incident anted up on its spring tour with a stop on Friday, May 17, at Hard Rock Live at the Etess Arena at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The crowd welcomed New Jersey native Bill Nershi, who plays guitar, before the band dove into its set with “Close Your Eyes.”
The band didn’t take long to warm up, and by the time they hit “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance,” a cover of Texas singer-songwriter Rusty Wier, Kyle Hollingsworth had the crowd rolling with organ and piano solos and a sing-a-long chorus.
The highlight for me was the band’s cover of “Birdland” toward the end of the first set. The Weather Report song, named after the famous New York City jazz club that saw some of the greatest names in jazz in the 50s and early 60s, was recorded in a single take and led the band’s spellbinding 1977 album “Heavy Weather.”
The band closed out its first set with “Water” and “Colliding,” which led multiinstrumentalist Michael Kang to break out his fiddle for some killer solos throughout.
After leading off the second set with “Sweet Spot” Kang said, “It was nice to get out on the beach today and walk around a little while. I think that’s an ocean or a big lake. I’m not sure. I’m from Colorado,” which led to a wave of chuckles from the crowd before the band dove into “Cedar Laurels.”
In a nod to the East Coast gambling mecca, the band played both “Las Vegas” and “‘Round The Wheel” before closing the second set with “Desert Dawn.” Just before midnight, the band emerged from behind the curtain one final time to perform “BollyMunster” as an encore.
See String Cheese Incident, which celebrates 30 years on stage with The Wood Brothers June 8 at the Beech Mountain Summer Concert Series in Beech Mountain, North Carolina.
Setlist
Set 1
Close Your Eyes
Rhythm of the Road
Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance – Rusty Wier
Black and White
Cottonmouth
The Remington Ride
Birdland – Weather Report cover
Water
Colliding
Set 2
Sweet Spot
Cedar Laurels
One Step Closer
Let’s Go Outside
Las Vegas
‘Round the Wheel
Desert Dawn
Encore
BollyMunster
