The String Cheese Incident brought the lights and fired up the party with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at The Sound.
On Friday March 14th, Colorado-based jam band The String Cheese Incident brought an absolute party of a show to The Sound San Diego. Like many others in the jam band community, the group has a very dedicated fan base, and a ton of them showed up en masse for two nights of fun in Del Mar. It was really cool to see the eclectic mix of fans for this show, from tie-dyed hippies, stoners in the smoking section, families dancing in the back, to large sections in the venue dedicated to accessible seating. These special seating sections seemed packed to the brim, and it was so cool for the band and venue to have those spaces available for their fans. The atmosphere of the concert was electric, and many people danced and swayed through the spacious venue with plenty of folks seen twirling in the aisles.
The String Cheese Incident’s music can best be described an eclectic mix of bluegrass, rock, electronic, country, funk, and Latin music. If you enjoy great instrumentalists, good rhythms, and fun original songwriting you should give this group a listen. Their songs are all jam friendly long grooving tunes with plenty of space for epic solos, and several of the members also sing Formed in 1993 this band has been doing things its own way for 30 years and has a loyal fan base all over the world as a result. Their impressive lighting rig is also no joke, with a beautiful kaleidoscope of color and patterns illuminating the band throughout the concert.
Opening this show was the Baltimore funk based jam band Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. This group was so much fun, with front man Greg “Scrambled Greg” Ormont bringing great energy and fun vibes to his performance. This band is super funky, with a great tight rhythm section featuring Ben Carrey on Bass and Alex “Gator” Petropulos on drums. Lead guitarist Jeremy Schon played some soaring epic solos that weaved perfectly in and out with the rhythms from the rest of this talented group. This band is easily a headliner in its own right and seeing them open this fantastic show with a superb set was an added bonus.
The String Cheese Incident really put in their work for the fans on this evening, playing two long sets and an encore, taking the audience on a musical journey and dance party all night long. Front men Bull Nershi and Michael Kang acknowledged the San Diego crowd’s enthusiasm early and commented on playing at the beautiful Sound venue and previously the associated Belly Up Tavern. Highlights of the first set included a fast paced bass heavy “Black Clouds,” and some wonderful fiddle work on “The Remington Ride.” “Sweet Spot” in the 2nd set featured some great percussion work by Jason Hahn and some lovely grooving drumming by the rock solid Michael Travis. “Howard” is a long heavier rock influenced song with some funny farm themed lyrics, that featured some awesome jamming from bassist Keith Moseley and highlighted talented keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth as well. The encore featured the traditional blues song/Grateful Dead cover “I Know You Rider” mixed into a spirited cover and sing-along of Bob Marely’s “Stir It Up.” This wonderful evening of positive vibes, great music and beautiful colors ended on a high note for everyone in attendance.
