The String Cheese Incident Cover the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Bob Marley and More in Vail

The String Cheese Incident, photo by Erik Kabik/MediaPunch

Over the weekend, The String Cheese Incident set off the next leg of their Summer Tour with two nights at Vail, Colo.’s Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre. For the Crested Butte, Colo.-bred jamgrass pioneers, the debut stagings at the beloved outdoor venue back in their backyard presented an opportunity to return to the road with a return to the basics, ringing in two masterful shows lined with classics. Highlights from the stand included covers of the Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, New Riders of the Purple Sage and more.

The String Cheese Incident tore into their first night in Vail with the 2014 Songs In My Head standout “Colorado Bluebird Sky,” which launched a roaring jam and led the band into the live staple “Close Your Eyes.” The sextet jumped forward to their recent work with the 2024 debut “Talkin’ About Tonight,” then switched back to the classics with the Eastern-inspired Beats Antique collaboration “Bhangra Saanj” and “Sometimes a River,” the latter flowing directly into this year’s second cover of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Revival.” To cap off the first set, the group went big on the shapeshifting electro-acoustic odyssey of “Rivertrance.”

The ensemble returned to the stage with their powerful Lend Me a Hand centerpiece “I Will Follow You,” then set into a medley of “Best Feeling” and their time-tested cover of Billy & Liza’s “Shantytown” before arriving a the high-spirited romp of the Grateful dead’s “Brown Eyed Women,” offered for the first time in 2025 and eighth since 2017. The remainder of their second set was committed to an expansive, uninterrupted exploration of the ‘Round the Wheel rarity “Come as You Are,” the 30-year essential “Jellyfish” and finally “Colliding.” As one last blast for night one, SCI brought on an encore that merged their first treatment of Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” since 2023 with “The Remington Ride” and a show-stopping cover of The Stanley Brothers’ “How Mountain Girls Can Love.”

On Saturday, August 9, The String Cheese Incident greeted their returning Vail crowd with their 2017 Believe entry “Sweet Spot.” Longtime fan favorites “Little Hands,” “Turn This Around” and “Group Hoot” blazed a trail to a cover of Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light,” revived as a wide-eyed country breather for the first time since 2023. The band paid homage to the jam-Americana originators New Riders of the Purple Sage with 2025’s first performance of “Midnight Moonlight,” then dug into their roots with “On the Road” and closed the first frame with a kaleidoscopic “Trip the Light Fantastic.”

To commence their final set in the Vail engagement, The String Cheese Incident looked back to 1998 with “Shine,” then turned to an essential document of their current era with 2023’s “Lend Me a Hand.” The weekend’s second “Colorado Bluebird Sky” primed the band for the traditional “Cold Rain and Snow” and the high-energy “Valley of the Jig,” which saw the musicians and their fans alike bouncing up and down to the cut’s infectious rhythm. “Don’t Say” spotlighted composer and keyboardist extraordinaire Kyle Hollingsworth, with “Just One Story” following closely as the concluding statement of the set proper. As a final thank-you to the crowd, SCI returned for an encore of “Let’s Go Outside,” then left the audience to walk off into the warm high-country evening.

The String Cheese Incident will return to the stage on Aug. 13 for a co-bill with Los Lobos in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, then truck ahead into 6 further dates through the end of the month. Come September, the group will return to Sin City for three headline sets at Las Vegas’ Bender Jamboree. Find tickets and more information on SCI’s 2025 tour itinerary at stringcheeseincident.com.