Photo Credit: C Taylor Crothers

On Thursday, May 16, The String Cheese Incident returned to the road at long last, staging its first solo headline performance since its hometown New Year’s Eve incident. In the loving style honed over 30 years of performance, the group made up for its time away with a thrilling series of dates through the weekend, loaded with live debuts, classic covers, new entries and a top-tier sit-in when Leftover Salon’s Jay Starling joined the celebration at the tour opener.

Beyond the excitement that mounted over its uncharacteristic five-month break, The String Cheese Incident’s May 16 touchdown at Charlottesville, Va.’s Ting Pavilion was also distinguished as its first proper date in the year of its 30th anniversary. To honor that landmark and thank the fans who made it possible, the band presented a thrilling two-set show, beginning with a bust-out cover of the traditional folk standard “Lonesome Road Blues,” last staged in 2016.

SCI kept the energy high with a medley of the Lend Me A Hand standout “Enjoy the Ride” and its time-honored treatment of Jean-Luc Ponty’s “Mouna Bowa,” which has figured into shows nearly every year since 1995. Shortly after, the group presented a live debut of its new single “Roll Around the Sun,” a sprawling cosmic jam centerpiece inspired by the recent total solar eclipse and aiming to “bring back some of those same feelings of awe and wonderment,” per co-writer and SCI percussionist Jason Hann.

Highlights continued into the second set when the band welcomed Starling to the stage, who donned his dobro to support the ensemble in its fan-favorite version of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman.” After cycling through more classics, including a treatment of The Midnighters’ “Tore Up Over You,” the band invited the guitarist once more to play along to 2001’s “Rollover.” Finally, following “Valley of the Jig,” Starling joined the band to close the show with a bust-out of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” which SCI last covered in 2017.

The String Cheese Incident returned to the stage the following night, May 17, at Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena. For this second date, the band delivered a collection of classics with a slight location-specific twist, saluting the city with cuts like “Las Vegas” and the more recent “‘Round the Wheel.” Within this cycle, the band included a few classic covers, returning Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” and Weather Report’s “Birdland,” which have thrived in the SCI canon for 13 and 25 years respectively.

The jam heavyweights continued this thread on May 18 at Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway with treatments of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Lonesome Fiddle Blues,” both of which have thrilled fans for over two decades. Finally, on May 19, The String Cheese Incident issued Pure Prairie League’s “Pickin’ to Beat the Devil,” The Police’s “Walking on the Moon” and an encore of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Revival,” which marked the band’s second performance of the 1970 Southern rock essential. This Sunday show also featured a debut performance of “We’ll Be Talkin’ ‘Bout Tonight,” a brand-new song from the ever-evolving legacy act.

The String Cheese Incident will perform again on May 21 at Pittsburgh’s Stage AE, which will prime the group for its headlining appearance at the inaugural Solshine Reverie in Chillicothe, Ill. on May 23 and 24. For tickets and more information on the band’s 2024 touring, visit stringcheeseincident.com/#tourdates.

Watch a fan-recorded video of SCI and Starling’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” and review the May 16 setlist below.

The String Cheese Incident
Ting Pavilion – Charlottesville, Va.
5/20/24
Set I: Lonesome Road Blues+, Outside and Inside, Enjoy the Ride, Mouna Bowa^, Get Tight, Roll Around the Sun%, Restless Wind > Trip The Light Fantastic
Set II: Group Hoot, Black Clouds*, Boogie On Reggae Woman*~, Eye Know Why, Tinder Box, Tore Up Over You#, Song in My Head, Rollover, Valley of the Jig
Encore: Ring of Fire*@
Notes:
+ Bust-out of “Lonesome Road Blues,” last performed 6/1/2016
^ Cover of Jean-Luc Ponty’s “Mouna Bowa”
% Live debut
* w/ Jay Starling on dobro
~ Cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman”
# Cover of The Midnighters’ “Tore Up Over You”
@ Bust-out of Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire,” last performed 7/7/2017