Sin City!  This past Valentines Day weekend, the land of fun, debauchery and bad Elvis impersonators played host to a horde of dedicated fans old and new who came from all over to be part of the last stop of The String Cheese Incident’s Winter Carnival tour.  Dubbed the Sin City Incidents, fans and newcomers alike were treated to three sold out nights at Las Vegas’ number one live music venue, Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas. 

As with most opening nights, the energy was palpable.  The crowd came ready to rage. Dressed in matching black and silver bowling shirts, the band came out ready and did not dissapoint!  From the opening bars of “Close Your Eyes” the first set gave the standing room only crowd a weekend to look forward to. With an early nod to the Incident’s host city, they played a cover of “Ooh Las Vegas” then had the crowd hit that “Sweet Spot” before giving the them the “Best Feeling”.  The set wrapped up with a reminder that “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” before Kang let the crowd know they were “Beautiful”.

The band came out on the second set letting the crowd know they “Can’t Stop Now” and then treated them to a solid run of “Miss Brown’s Teahouse”> “Chameleon”> “Miss Brown’s Tehouse”> “Birdland”.  The set continued with a compliment to The Beatles LOVE show at the Mirage with a sweet cover of “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and ended with crescendo of energy building from “Bumpin Reel” to “Drums” and finally topping it off with “Just One Story”.   The band came back for an encore of “Shakin’ The Tree” before the crowd spilled out onto the street outside the venue and off into the night.

On Saturday, in conjunction with Relix magazine, the band hosted its first ever bowling tournament and a Brunch on the Wrong Planet with a String Cheese themed menu and a live set from Brothers Comatose .  There was a wedding at the Flamingo and a meeting for pin traders during the day.  Come night time, love was definitely in the air with many couples dressed in matching attire with love themed flare.

They eased into the night with “Shine” and then took us on a journey through the set with a run of “Lost”> “Boo Boo’s Pick-A-Nik”> “Mouna Bowa”> (and finally rocked Bob Marley’s) “Could You Be Loved”.  The set ended with “Sirens” and an epic “Colorado Blue Bird Sky” which had the crowd singing along until the end. 

The second set started with Michael travis and Jason Hann, the dynamic duo of the drums coming out and inviting DJ Logic on the stage to jam with them in a fusion of percussion and old school two-turntables-and-a-microphone style DJing.  The rest of the guys came out and built up the jam finally leading into “Let’s Go Outside”.  The rest of the set included jams like “It Is What It Is”, “Born on the Wrong Planet” and ended the night with “Rollover”.  They nailed a “Las Vegas” encore with a cover of “It’s Not Unusual” in the middle.  After the show, DJ Logic spun a funkified dance party while the crowd waited for a late night after show with Lotus. The night finally ended around 4 in the morning.

Sunday, for anyone that was up, Brooklyn Bown hosted day two of their Brunch on the Wrong Planet with another live set from Brothers Comatose.  With items like the Hannwich and the Nershi, there was something for everyone to put fuel in the tank; it would be needed for night 3.

Never miss a Sunday night show! Especially at the end of the run of a tour!!  The band would soon leave it out in the venue. 

Billy came out ready to rage and they started it off with “Seach” and running into “Black Clouds” the bar was set high for the night.  Other set one jams included “BollyMunster” and the set ended with an epic final jam of “Round the Wheel”> “On The Road”> “Viva Las Vegas”> “On The Road”. 

Set two kicked off with “Desert Dawn” and kept the energy flowing with “Valley of the Jig”.  Later covering “Sympathy For the Devil” before finishing it off the set with a roof raising “Jellyfish”. They finished the set with a jam of “Rosie” and stuck final salute to vegas with a cover of “Get Lucky” in between.  Amazing doesn’t even come close to describing that ending.  The crowd was a roar until they came back out for an encore and the band felt the love. 

For their final encore of the tour, the band brought out Mike Rempel from Lotus on guitar to jam with them on “Galatic” before finishing off the encore and tour with “Restless Wind”.  For those with gas still in the tank, Lotus had another late night show but for the rest of the crowd they funneled back out onto the streets of vegas; hopefully some got lucky themselves.

Full Setlists

February 13
Set One: Close Your Eyes, Little Hands > Ooh Las Vegas, Sweet Spot, Song In My Head, Best Feeling > This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) > Beautiful
Set Two: Can't Stop Now, Miss Brown's Teahouse > Chameleon > Miss Brown's Teahouse > Birdland, You've Got the World, Outside and Inside, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Bumpin' Reel > Drums > Just One Story
Encore: Shakin' the Tree

February 14

Set One: Shine, Lost > Boo Boo's Pik-A-Nik > Mouna Bowa > Could You Be Loved, Sirens, Colorado Bluebird Sky
Set Two: DJ Logic Jam* > Let's Go Outside*, It Is What It Is > Rivertrance, Hotel Window, Born On the Wrong Planet > Way Back Home > Rollover
Encore: Las Vegas > It's Not Unusual > Las Vegas
* - w/ DJ Logic

February 15

Set One: Search > Black Clouds, Sometimes a River, Betray the Dark, BollyMunster, Round the Wheel > On the Road > Viva Las Vegas > On the Road
Set Two: Desert Dawn, Valley of the Jig, Can't Wait Another Day, Sympathy For the Devil, So Far From Home, Dirk, Jellyfish, Rosie > Get Lucky > Rosie
Encore: Galactic* > Restless Wind
* - w/ Mike Rempel from Lotus on guitar