No other band embodies the Colorado jam music scene quite like the . For 20 years the band’s genre-melding approach — from bluegrass to reggae, blues to EDM — has brought together a Rocky Mountain fan base that spans generations in the name of community and happiness through music. The Cheese family united again on Friday for the first of two nights at .
Friday’s show opened at sunset with a feel-good “Shine” before multi-instrumentalist Michael Kang took lead for a fiddle-filled “Mouna Bowa.” Other set highlights included the fusion of Brian Auger’s “Freedom Jazz Dance” and the classic “Don’t Say.”
The second set started of with the sing-a-long “Lets Go Outside” and ended with a speedy and climatic “Just One Story,” but it was the encore that stole the show. Easing the crowd into things with the West African chanting and percussion of Peter Gabriel’s “Shakin’ the Tree,” the band unleashed into a synthy disco dance party with “Rosie.” The four-to-the-floor jam evolved into a funky take of Daft Punk’s electro anthem “Around the World,” driven by Keith Moseley’s heavy bass. When the packed amphitheater finally heard Kyle Hollingsworth return to the catchy riff of “Rosie,” the celebration was the loudest of the weekend.
Now known for their extravagant stage productions (recent sets at Electric Forest included aerial performers, fireworks, and pyrotechnics), SCI took an artsy, nature-inspired approach to lighting at Red Rocks. The stage was centered around an array of colorful geometric flowers complemented by LED panels. The visuals often featured the work of psychedelic artist Android Jones in addition to sweeping mountain landscapes and animals.
While SCI left plenty to be desired for the sold-out crowd that awaited them on Saturday, Friday’s performance was one of the most uplifting and impressive shows of the summer to date.
Follow our news and updates on , our relationship status on and our search history on . Or send us a telegram.
Nate Etter is a Boulder-based musician and a regular contributor to Reverb. You can reach him at Nate@EcoVessel.com.
Dylan Langille is a Fort Collins-based photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb. See more of his
