The String Cheese Incident took the stage at the new Austin Backyard on July 5th for their second “Incident” of a three-night run. Thousands of fans - local, and from around the country - adorned in costumes and twirling hula hoops, greeted the band with raucous cheers as they walked on stage in the heat of the Texas summertime sun. Kicking off the second night with the Keith Moseley tune “Sometimes A River”, it was clear that the band was fully settled into their first three-night run in Austin in over six years. “Can’t Wait Another Day” followed next, a recently penned afro-leaning tune that features keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth on vocals. The energy stayed high through the entire first set, which had a healthy blend of new songs and fan favorites. Paying homage to the Texas Hill Country setting, the band debuted a cover of Billy Joe Shaver's "Honky Tonk Heroes" to change the pace in an otherwise high-energy first set. Against the backdrop of the beautiful Texas sunset, the band closed out the first set with their cover of Paul Simon’s "Under African Skies”, leading to a high energy segue into two more new songs, “So Far From Home” and “Colliding”.

After the sun went down, fans caught their first glimpse of the spectacular light show at the start of the second set, as the band dusted off an old, rarely played classic, “Come As You Are”. The uplifting, iconic "Joyful Sound", featuring bassist Keith Moseley on vocals, was played next. Drummer Michael Travis and percussionist Jason Hann displayed their versatility and incredible rhythmic dynamics with a drum/percussion duo that led into "Bumpin' Reel", a Celtic fiddle/trance song featuring Michael Kang on violin. Guitarist Billy Nershi was featured prominently on the instrumental gem “Sand Dollar”, which segued into the set-ending "Colorado Bluebird Sky" with a jam that worked the crowd into a frenzy, with Nershi grinning from ear-to-ear all the while. Keyboardist Hollingsworth led the encore with the funky instrumental “Galactic” and the Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)". For those who were in attendance in Austin, this surely WAS the PLACE.