Jam Rock Performance meets Cirque du Soleil
Photos by: Brittany NO FOMO
If you haven’t heard of or experienced The String Cheese Incident live, then you obviously haven’t hopped on the jam band bus yet. Luckily for those who attended Electric Forest, seeing these talented artists would have impressed their lives and changed their music taste forever.
As the rightfully earned signature act of the Forest, the artists had a set Friday during the second weekend in which they invited Big Gigantic to join them on stage. They shared the last seven songs together, adding elements of sax and percussion. With already an impressive set underway, the band followed with a four hour experience to give a climax to Saturday night – and a climax to the entire Electric Forest festival.
Their Saturday set had a theme of “love wins” with the incorporation of a SWAT Team on stage that at first tripped the crowd out, but they transformed into happier characters. As if the light show wasn’t enough, live paintings also decked out the stage where the painters illustrated visuals of love, such as soldiers carrying a load of hearts. A hot air balloon covered in red heart balloons began circling the stage in a fantastical way with an aerial performer dancing on a swing underneath, dazzling all of us similar to a Cirque du Soleil spectacle.
Fireworks shot up into the air as Cheese did a trippy rendition of “Dear Prudence”, with lyrics “Look around, around, around” swirling through the air. The crowd immediately began doing just that, looking around at the circus-like magic happening all around us. To decide what was more beautiful between everyone’s smiling faces or the fireworks, was a tough call.
The band ended with a hard Zeppelin cover of “Kashmir” – the heavy guitar chord progression was the catalyst for the rain pouring out of the sky. Electric Forest fans ran under nearby trees to finish watching the set as we all know The String Cheese Incident doesn’t stop jamming for anything. What a musical journey!
Photos © Brittany NO FOMO. All Rights Reserved.