12/9/11 The String Cheese Incident @ Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL

The String Cheese Incident
12/9/11
Aragon Ballroom
Chicago, IL

I: Best Feeling > Eat My Dust, Doin' My Time, So Far From Home, MLT, Born on the Wrong Planet, Way Back Home, Bumpin' Reel

II: Rosie > Bonafied Lovin' > Rosie, Las Vegas, These Waves > Drifting Away, It Is What It Is, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Colorado Bluebird Sky

E: Kashmir > Whiskey Before Breakfast




I didn't have to work on Friday so I purchased my ticket the night before when an allotment was re-released to this previously sold out performance.  I hadn't seen SCI since 6/22/02 at the first Bonnaroo.  Many older fans wondered what SCI could produce if they actually toured and this fall that's what happened.  I purchased 5 shows on iclips.net for $21.99 which I felt was very reasonable.  From what I saw and heard I was impressed enough to go see them again for my 21st Incident at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.  My friend Steve and I went to Costello's in Roscoe Village before the show where I had a toasted Italian sub.  We were able to find a spot on the floor close near Kyle/Billy. 

Best Feeling was a sing-a-long to get things started.  I was unfamiliar with the next two bluesgrass numbers.  So Far from Home has been a new song on this tour which I wasn't wild about.  It wasn't until MLT that I really got into the show.  I liked the screens and felt they did a good job of augmenting the lights.  For some reason I didn't care for this take on MLT.  I was happy to hear them play Born on the Wrong Planet but was not thrilled to see Billy up there playing electric guitar.  That was a complaint I had was that he played electric too much of the show.  Jason Hann seems like a hood ornament.  This was my first time seeing a 6 piece SCI.  I was unfamiliar with the vocal intro to Way Back Home.  Bumpin' Reel is one of the newer songs that I enjoy.  I does a good job of fusing bluesgrass/irish jig/dance music.  Kang sounded great on his fiddle.  I met some Cheese fans from Oklahoma who knew the material and I was able to relate to. 

Rosie is a new Kyle song that I like.  During the jam portion I noticed Keith wake up out of his slumber and start playing a bassline that I recognized as Chromeo's Bonafide Lovin'.  Kyle did a great job on the vocals in a version that I felt was better than the one I've seen Umphrey's McGee do.  After finishing up Rosie it was Billy who took over the show with a wild version of Las Vegas.  This rarely played tune was amazing with the backing video of sin city.  It felt like we were flying down the Vegas strip.  These Waves > Drifting Away was an appropriate cooldown.  Unfortunately, the talkative Chicago crowd was not appreciative.  Drifting Away is a song that brought back a lot of memories of when I saw the band back during the Outside Inside album era.  It Is What It Is was a Kang showcase.  They do a great job with that Talking Heads cover which I always associate with the ending of the film Wall Street.  Colorado Bluebird Sky has turned into a legimate jam vehicle on this fall tour.

Ironically,they played Kashmir at the last time I had seen the band.  Whiskey Before Breakfast would wrap up the evening as I made my way toward the door.  It was a fun experience.  I didn't go in with a lot of expectations and simply had fun.  This Roots Run Deep tour has seen The String Cheese Incident return to what made them successful.  Many older fans like myself gave the band another shot on this tour and they stepped up to the plate when I saw them during the second show of their three night run in Chicago.