I had a friend say this weekend that you should never go into a Cheese show expecting any one thing.  This is great advice, since their sound can range from bluegrass to dubstep.  I would just like to state that there is one thing you can always expect, and that is a good time.  Saturday night’s show at the Berkeley Universities amphitheater, The Greek, was a night of incredible funky jams with a lot of old favorites mixed in to the bag. 

Cheese came out strong with the old favorite, Little Hands.  The crowd going crazy, as Cheese went into their first jam of the night.  They followed this up with the little bluegrass instrumental of Dudley’s Kitchen, keeping the crowd flowing.  All around, all I could see what was smiling faces.  Next was Eye Know Why, a funky Kyle Hollingsworth song that just makes you want get down.  The ensuing three songs of Song in my Head/These Waves/Can’t Wait Another Day kept the crowded moving, smiling, and having a great time.  Another old favorite, Black Clouds, brought hoots from the crowd that just couldn’t keep still.  The set closer of the Talking Heads song Life During War saw a very special guest, Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads came out to play keyboards with Kyle and closeout the first set with a bang.

Second set started with the great song It Is What It Is, getting the crowd pumped, with the light show really getting started now that the sun is completely down.  Jerry Harrison came out for a funky version of Rosie, killing it on the keyboard again while trading back and forth with Kyle on the keys.  Miss Brown’s Teahouse had everyone dancing hard, and then they went into a couple of funky jams before one of my favorites On the Road.  This song is fitting, as many of the fans have been on the road with Cheese since at least the Red Rock’s shows, and some since Electric Forest.  Once the jamming stopped, cheese jumped into Sirens, and had the crowed flowing to the beat, and Jason Hann’s reggae singing.  Jerry Harrison came out one more time to play She’s Cracked, a song he wrote in the early ‘70’s.

Cheese finished the show off strong, busting into Shine, and sending the crowd into frenzy.   Just as they finished Shine, which I thought was the end of the set, they kicked it into high gear.  Michael Kang grabbed his fiddle, and Cheese went into Rivertrance, a song that just makes you dance harder.  It is a song that build’s and recedes, and keeps you moving.  Everyone is Smiling and Happy, just the way most Cheese shows end, with peoples faces bright with joy.  The encore was Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, the audience singing along and getting excited for Sunday’s daytime show.  Next Stop; Horning’s Hideout for the end of the tour.  Can’t wait!