ROTHBURY pt.5 - String Cheese Incident

Friends of Cheesus, newcomers, welcome all to the show that was the highlight of the Rothbury Festival. Skeptical? With the Dead on the bill, how could the String Cheese Incident have provided the pinnacle show? Let me tell you that I came for many bands, but the Dead were top of my list. I had never heard the String Cheese Incident before Rothbury and was glad to have the opportunity to check them out. In the following post, I will show you how the SCI is the embodiment of the spirit of Rothbury. You will see...

After our big day out on Friday, taking in several of my favourite touring acts, my knees were pretty shot from all the high-power dancing and walking. I was ready to retire for a bit, get some dinner, and come back to check out set 2 of SCI. On our way out, we ran against a river of fans so psyched, so colourfully garbed, and so verbal that we started having second thoughts: "You people are going the WRONG WAY! String Cheese is THIS WAY>>" The excitement in the air was extreme. The band's first performance in 2 years, I could see why the Cheeseheads were so enthused. We started to reconsider... My faithful knees dictated that we could go no further anyway, so we turned around, got some delicious dinner at the Ranch and moseyed in to catch the end of the first set. Here's what we saw...
A HUGE party! Everyone was dressed up and grooving with many inflatable creatures. The band broke into a song by one of our favourite bands: Talking Heads - Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place). Well, we thought to ourselves, this MUST be the place!
And here they are, the String Cheese Incident. That's Keith Moseley on the left. A bass player who sings - just my type! He leads many of their bluegrass songs. Michael Kang is in the middle on electric mando, while Bill Nershi is lead beard and acoustic. Kyle Hollingsworth is an INCREDIBLE keyboardist. Micheal Travis (drums) and Jason Hann (percussion) are in the back and don't make it into a lot of shots, but provide a solid and varied rhythm to the Cheese's sound.

Check these guys out - could you find a more unlikely combination of players? Michael Kang is from South Korea via Colorado and many other cool places. He's 10 yrs Nershi's junior. Nershi is a bluegrass flatpicker, but when these guys play together, the sound can range from African rhythms to techno to balls-out harmony guitar. The band is tight, a real feat since they navigate so many musical territories.

Let's take a closer look...

Kang's electric 5-string mandolin isn't the only sexy thing

onstage... Look at this man - he's beautiful! And he can PLAY!

Here's Nersh in all his glory. This guy has got chops. What a versatile musician. Everyone in the group is, really, and that's what makes the String Cheese sound - mixing it up.
And the crowd is loving it!

After the first set, the audience were primed and the energy very high. As we headed into nighttime, the real spectacle began...
Lights...
Projectiles... Action!!

Imagine THOUSANDS of glowsticks flying through the air, creating a constantly undulating sea of colour and light... that provided the backdrop for a host of many inflatable toys: beachballs, dolphins, octopi... surging on the seas of cheese (Les Claypool's dream come true).

And then came the balls...

As if the audience's inflatable orgy wasn't enough, the band had a few surprises up their giant sleeves. From the wings of the stage came six 10ft beach balls which the crowd delightedly bounced around.

Then, another 6 balls were released, this time about 15ft high. Wow. Then another 6 black and white striped beach balls rolled out, about 2 storeys high!

The crowd was freakin at this point. Everything got weird. The music shifted to a deep funky techno feel.

Hoopers appeared on platforms, lit up and spinning...
Then appeared onstage two corde lisse artists. Corde lisse is an aerial circus skill that involves acrobatics on vertically hanging fabric.

These women were twisting, turning, spinning and dropping through the air while the band played on...

What a spectacle!
And then, from the back of the venue and the VIP section, came rolling over the crowd a GINORMOUS red ball. It was like out of a B-movie: Attack of the Giant 4-storey Red Blob! Crushing thousands of fans in ecstacy! Luckily no one was hurt, but it sure looked heavy... glad I was watching from the sidelines.
I was hoping that the crowd would be able to keep it from crushing the artists onstage!

Holy cow, you've never seen anything like it in your concert-going days, kids! This was the spectacle to beat all.

Not content with ending at the climax, there were about 30 of these beautiful mini hot-air balloons released from the crowd to make a sea of glowing lights rising into the perfect night sky.

Simply magical.

For the encore, the band brought out Kellar Williams to help play and sing "Best Feeling in the World". They ended with "Restless Wind" and the audience was set free to carry the high into the rest of the weekend, into the Sherwood Forest, and off into the night...

What a band. What a show. I love you String Cheese. You left a pretty potent first impression. Hope it's not the last time, either!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you visit http://www.livecheese.com/ to buy a copy of the show for $9.95 (mp3). Great quality recording and excellent music. The show is so well put together - stylistic changes, great musicianship, everyone taking turns to sing lead vocals, just an all-around fantastic show.

Slideshow: http://www.stringcheeseincident.com/slideshow.rothbury.htm

Video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1216015799453

String Cheese Incident Setlist

Rothbury Music Festival 07/03/09

Set 1:
Rollover >

Can’t Stop Now

Miss Brown’s Teahouse

Mouna Bowa

Love Is Like A Train

Rain >

Daryl

Joyful Sound >

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) >

Rollover

Set 2:
Outside and Inside >

Desert Dawn

Black Clouds

Little Hands >

Bumpin’ Reel

Close Your Eyes

Way Back Home >

Drums

Texas >

Blackberry Blossom >

Texas

Encore:
Best Feeling* >

Higher Ground >

Restless Wind

* With Keller Williams

ROTHBURY pt.4 - Getting ready for the Cheese

At Rothbury, the name of the game is PARTICIPATION. Everyone contributes to the festival's verve and pizazz. Costumes are the norm. Not the kind of fest to just come and watch. There's lots to do... interactive art and education stations, green initiatives... a modern-day carnival. Here are some pics of amazing people-art that make Rothbury such a colourful place.
As you can see, hula hooping has become the new spinning... a super-subculture of, but not limited to the Friends of Cheesus.
The hoopers that we saw were usually decked out in style...

A beautiful view... the crowd gathering on the way to the Odeum stage for the big show of the night - String Cheese!
And here they come... freaks all.

Note the banana-man - he wore his costume all weekend and was very recognizable. And hot. Deep fried banana blackout.

Even saucy mamas can hula.

Hoops and jingles.
Fuzzy legs.

And giant bees.
Love the full head gear... Rothzilla

This octopus would make its appearance later sailing the seas of cheese.

These costumes have got to be hot... The count and oscar getting stoked for the incident.

Sound like fun? Just wait 'til the show...

ROTHBURY pt.3 - Friday, a BIG day out

Waking up in a field to the sound of many car stereos playing any number of Grateful Dead shows, String Cheese, and hip hop was enough to get my little festival heinie out of bed and ready for action. I was VERY excited after our first night and eager to take in the fullness of Rothbury by day. Given the lineup and my ambition, Friday would be a BIG day out. Dressed funny and ready to party we left the campground carnival behind and headed for the long string of concerts ahead.
Here are some shots of the Odeum stage, largest venue at Rothbury. Everyone was getting warmed up for the weekend and a scene was starting to build that first morning.
We started our day with the King of Juju, King Sunny Ade and his African Beats from Nigeria. I love this band and have had the pleasure of hearing them perform many years ago in Toronto.
The constraints of a shorter set made it a bit less exciting than that full show, also because King Sunny mostly sang and danced, only playing his blistering guitar style a couple of times in the set. But boy did we dance! Caught some serious sun at high noon, too...
Here are two members of the African Beats and one enthusiastic audience member after the show - very friendly folks attempting to suss out the festival vibe.
Rothbury on Friday was an African-music lover's dream. Next up... Femi Kuti and Positive Force, again from Nigeria. The son of the originator of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, is a powerful entertainer in his own right. He played his own songs and some of his father's backed by his 14-piece band. I just can't get enough of that big afrobeat sound.
Horns make any band spectacular. It's not hard to see why this band is so entertaining. A fully-charged rhythm machine, political lyrics, Femi's great stage presence, and awesome dancers make them one of my perennial favourites.

As if that weren't enough musical excitement, we headed back to the Odeum stage to check out one of the highlights of the festival: Damian Marley with rapper Nas. Golden afternoon light, the rasta flag flying high, and the emergence of the son of Bob Marley made for a magical moment at Rothbury.

Nas started us off in what was a tag-team show. He opened and closed the set solo, then rapped in duets with Damian and leaving the stage to let the Jr. Gong do his thing, which consisted of some of his songs as well as a medley of his dad's music.

Damian has a killer dancehall style and a great singing voice, uncannily like Bob's. A beautiful performance and a great concept for a show combining friends with complementary styles. Something old and something new. This is the closest I'll ever get to the great Bob Marley and I feel blessed to have shared in that high golden moment.

Well, after that first day of sun and dancing, I could barely walk and had to pace myself. But the most exciting parts had yet to come... Stay tuned for the Cheese...

ROTHBURY pt.2 - Thursday night in Sherwood Forest

As we waited to enter the US on the bridge from Sarnia, I spotted this message - confirming that the union of church & state is still alive and well in America. Fourth of July in the States - here we come. Yeehawww!!

After being detained over an hour for a "routine" 7-point inspection, we were on our way. (Sigh of relief). Michigan is very flat. And the roads are bad. My travelling buddy was no longer in a great mood and so I was very glad when we pulled up to a field with cars driving around randomly trying to find an entrance. We wove our way around the ranch, site-seeing as we went, and headed for the lowest-density campground. We ended up where I predicted - Bass camp - appropriate since that is my instrument and the name says it all. I was surprised at how many people were already there on Thursday night at sundown. They were already directing people to overflow camping. What would they do with all the people who bought their Sat-Sun ticket? We set up, had a delicious meal and headed into the fray...
It was already too late for the big hip-hop show put on by the Quannum label. I'd seen a tour they put on 4 yrs ago and was looking forward to hearing them again, but setting up camp was more of a priority. We walked into the fairgrounds with a sense of adventure, not knowing what to expect and, boy, did we have a blast that first night.

Now I'm not an electronica fan... I enjoy live bands a lot more. But there were some blurred lines at this fest - live electronica bands. Busy sound, predictable beats, but still fun to dance to, especially in the incredible environments that the festival created just for these purposes. Above is the Tripolee Dome, the trance-dance rave tent where multiple complex projections flashed against amazingly cool-shaped screens. Loved the environment more than the music. The people were out in full regalia, even on the first night. Lots of excitement in the air.

Since we'd come across the border, we were not carrying any illegal inebriants, and resorted to the port-o-bars for Sweet Leaf iced tea mixed with rum. Disco Biscuits were alot of fun after that. We got our taste of the Ranch stage, the playfulness of the crowd, and, still awake, ventured into the Sherwood Forest...
What a trip... giant gates were there to greet us and as we walked inside, we marveled at the huge setup involved. This is not a string of party lights on the patio, people. Not only was the main path lit up, pulsing and changing colour, but deep inside the woods there were still many art installations and light decorations. It just went on & on. The amount of work involved must have been huge. It was hard to tell who was having more fun... the artists or the partakers.
We found many people in the forest hanging out, literally, in hammocks. The place is strung with them and very conducive to little chill out zones. Groups of people were sitting around chatting and ingesting many things. We couldn't believe our luck when we found a baggie in a hammock. We were just about ready to dive in when a group of volunteers came by to ask if we'd found anything. We had. They shared. Success! Scored on our first night at Rothbury, although it didn't really change the trippiness of the forest at all.
Me like pretty lights.
Super cool geometric designs in the trees.
Hearts on fire.
Some brilliant photographer had a friend write in sparklers the name of our beautiful destination. Our new home for 4 days. We made it safely there, only a little affected by the journey =)

For a great walk throught the Sherwood Forest, visit Anne Savage's 360 interactive photos:
http://revolutionaryviews.com/rothbury/rf2.html

Part 3... FRIDAY