The String Cheese Incident

"the cheese were rockin it out pretty good this lovely day in aussieland. however most versions of the songs were short but did not lack energy. nershi and the boys seemed to slow things down a lot to play to this crowd on non cheesers. 2004 proved sci to be the hottest band out there and 2005 is going to be even better. even the group hoots are getting tripped out with vocal jams!!"

"After yet anthother epic day of waves, blue skies, and sunshine in a special place called Byron Bay, I was anticipating a magical evening of music at the 2004 Blues and Roots Music Festival. Stoked to see my first Indident of 2004, I made the pilgrimage up front to soak it all in... `Black Clouds` opener showcased The bands` classic funky style of bluegrass to many first-time listeners in the crowd, and it was a raging rendition. The boys seemed to be pumped up and eager to let loose in front of the capacity crowd under the Mojo Tent. `Lost` was tight, not a personal favorite of mine, but I was getting off on the tremendous energy building underneath the huge tent at this point. First time I`ve heard `Valley of the Jig` played live and everyone was going mental. Xavier Rudd and Michael Franti certainly stole the show with this one; Xavier plays the didg like a magician and Michael Franti displayed his sick freestyling abilities. `Sirens` was definitely a stand-out tune for me at Sunday`s Incident; The Cheese were sending out so many good vibrations during this one it was hard for me to keep my composure. `Desert Dawn` is hands down my favorite Kang song and it will always remind me of magical moments on NYE in the Bill Graham Auditorium; certainly the tune that makes me get down like no other. Lots` of tension in the jamming and Kang was just raging the vocals with such passion. `Little Hands` always provides a really nice vibe of tranquility and mellowness to a show; Great positioning after a pleasantly chaotic `Desert Dawn`. A really soothing version of this tune, with beautiful vocals and all of the instrumention blended in very well together. As soon as K-DUB took the stage I was crossing my fingers for `Best Feeling`, but how fitting to play a classic Aussie rock anthem like `Hells Bells`. As always, Keller provided mesmerizing guitar work, and I always love to hear two acousic guitars in the mix. Definitely played in a similar fashion as `Walk This Way`, playing verses in a Bluegrass style and ripping the chorus in an epic rock anthem kind of way. `Search` was a pleasant way to end the evening; great drumz sections to the tune and Billy was super tight. I didn`t expect the set to end after `Search` as I felt like The Cheese were holding something back during this one. Apparantly they were holding something back, as I would eventually find out.... Lots` of love and positive vibrations from the great white north... Gregi "