By String Cheese Incident //
Fox Theater Oakland – Oakland
April 24th, 2014 //
The String Cheese Incident returned to the Bay Area for a three-day run last week at the Fox Theater Oakland, a new venue for the band. Before Thursday night’s show, the band took to the legendary Amoeba Records in SF for a meet and greet and short set of all “new” tunes from their first album in a long time, Song in my Head.
The Amoeba show was filled to the brim with people swaying back and forth, Colorado flags waving and singing. SCI’s new LP consists of many songs the band has been playing on the road since their return to touring several years ago. Hearing them fleshed out with a new approach was amazing to see and hear. The stripped-down set included no drums, just a couple of shakers added for an intimate, unique show. However, the big one that night in Oakland pulled no punches.
Thursday shows are sometimes seen as a warm-up to the weekend. People leave early to make sure they go to work and so on, but the boys came to kick ass and take names. In traditional Cheese fashion, the band blended songs together and opened with a nice, long jam. We knew then that this wasn’t going to be your typical Night 1 show. SCI brought the heat and blew the roof off.
Being a big fan and never missing a SCI run, I was only able to make the one night. Although most die-hards would feel cheated or bummed, I was not. Thursday was a fantastic show that brought every bit of what you loved about them back again. Given the crowd reactions I have read from Friday and Saturday, we can only hope they return sooner than later!
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