The String Cheese Incident, photo by Erik Kabik

Bender Jamboree is back. Last night, the Sin City sensation returned to Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino to set off its thrilling 2025 festival, running through Saturday, Sept. 13. After last year’s presentation triumphantly resurrected the fan-favorite event from a five-year absence, Wednesday’s kickoff program matched high expectations with a warm welcome from The String Cheese Incident, who shared the first two of six sets booked through the coming days.

Day one of Bender Jamboree provided a first taste of a festival that will welcome some of the biggest names in jam, bluegrass and their broader musical orbits. After an early picking circle hosted by Timber! introduced a collaborative spirit for the day, revivalist folk outfit The Last Revel primed the crowd for a main stage opening set from Eggy. Newly reunited onstage with bassist Mike Goodman, the rising indie-jam quartet covered the Grateful Dead’s “Cassidy” and America’s “Sister Gold Hair” before closing with the 2025 debut “Shatter,” complete with a tease of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration.”

At sundown, The String Cheese Incident stepped into the spotlight for their first festival set with the title track from 2014’s Song in My Head. The jamgrass pioneers looked back to the ‘Round the Wheel classic “Got What He Wanted” for only the second time in 2025, then merged into their cover of Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance.” After the year’s second “MLT,” the band wrapped up their first frame with an energetic extended take on “The Big Reveal.”

Following a set-break showcase from The Last Revel, The String Cheese Incident returned for their second set with 2017’s Believe standout “Sweet Spot.” In the wake of their tender recent Lend Me a Hand cut “I Will Follow You,” the group saluted their surroundings with the two-decade fan favorite “Desert Dawn,” which set off a string of segues into “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Pack it Up.” With another nod to their surrounds in the funky “Las Vegas,” SCI returned to “Deset Dawn” for an explosive show closer and treated the crowd to a grand finale of “Long Journey Home.”

Bender Jamboree will continue tomorrow with sets from moe., Railroad Earth, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The Motet, Karina Rykman and more. Find more information at benderjamboree.com.

Get an inside look at day one in the gallery below, courtesy of photographers Dave Vann, Paul Citone and Erik Kabik, and read on for The String Cheese Incident’s full setlist.

The String Cheese Incident
Bender Jamboree
Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino – Las Vegas
9/10/25
Set I: Song In My Head, Got What He Wanted > Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance, MLT, The Big Reveal
Set II: Sweet Spot, I Will Follow You, Desert Dawn > am > Magic Carpet Ride > Pack It Up, Las Vegas > Desert Dawn
Encore: Long Journey Home