String Cheese Incident Horning's Hideout Saturday / Day 3 Recap

"Horning's Hideout is the best festival in the universe! Even the aliens from the Galactic Federation are here."
-Carrie from Tahoe

It was so cool and mild yesterday that most all of us were able to take naps and sleep all day. I took some time to update the blog and eat some lunch, then took a much needed nap from 5-7pm. I only mention it because it is so nice to be at a camping festival where the weather is perfect and cool.

Cheese came on right on time and once again the energy at Horning's was off the charts. If there is a word that is a notch above awesome...last night was that word.

String Cheese Incident
Horning's Hideout Show #2 7/31/2010

Set I: Lester Poem, Black Clouds > Rhum n Zouc, One Step Closer, County Road Blues^, Freedom Jazz Dance^, Way That It Goes, Cedar Laurels, Ring of Fire > Black Clouds

Set II: Ritual Set Jam > Rivertrance > Jams > Rivertrance, Joyful Sound > EOTO Jam, It Is What It Is > Orion's Belt > Piece of Mine, Search > I Know You Rider

Encore: Sirens, Texas

^w/ Bill Frisell on guitar

Highlights in the first set for me where Rhum & Zouc, Freedom Jazz Dance, a high energy jam out of Cedar Laurels, and the crowd sing along for the Johnny Cash classic Ring of Fire.

The first set was fun but it is impossible to not focus on the second set of last night as the highlight of the show, quite possibly the highlight of the weekend. At set break the production crew politely moved the crowd out of the flat area in front of the stage to make room for the dancers and performers during the Ritual set.



It is difficult for me to describe what I witnessed, and pictures and video will never be able to do it justice either. Fire dancers, a huge peacock illuminated in light and fire, hoopers, an alien spaceship moving through the woods to hover over the stage, an acrobat floating above the crowd from balloons, all complimented by amazing lights and green lasers. Combine all of this with a energetic crowd in costumes and full of love, simply put last night was an incredible and positive experience.





Musically in the second set I was loving the It Is What It Is > Orion's Belt > Piece of Mine, Search > I Know You Rider. I thought the Pink Floyd-ish jam of IIWII > Orion's belt was fabulous, and the ending segment of Search > I Know You Rider had everyone singing along. I grew up in Texas, so the Texas encore never gets old to me. I thought it was well played and put it together with the eye candy and people, it was magic.

After the show I had one of the best late night adventures in the campsites - possibly ever - in my festival going career. We must have walked 20 miles from 1am to sunrise wandering through the maze of trails in the campsites up and down the hills of Horning's. Everywhere we went there were people laughing, dancing, singing, and generally loving each other. String Cheese Incident at Horning's Hideout is a celebration of being alive. I joked last week as I was coming to Horning's that I wanted to meet the fairies, elves, wizards and other assortment of supernatural creatures in the woods - and I did. We walked around with lightsabers and tried to get lost and discover something new. It was beautiful.



At sunrise a 500+ person crowd gathered to watch bubbles over the lake. The alien spaceship was still hovering over the trees in the distance as the sun came up. We sang happy birthday to Jerry Garcia and sat in awe of the beautiful people and surroundings.







To sum up, the Cheese Horning's Hideout experience is something bigger than the sum of its parts. Those of you who are at home listening to the soundboards or the iClips broadcast are sadly missing out on a lot of what is happening here. It is difficult to explain how magic works, but I can assure you it is real and I have experienced it here this weekend.

As a personal note - I have worked very hard to be present and enjoy what Im experiencing, to be excited to be exactly where I am supposed to be and not wishing someone else was by my side or the band was playing a different song. Perhaps that is why I am blown away by the experience and the music. Music is a portal to my soul, and if I keep my soul full of love and positive thoughts then I am able to create this reality. Everything has come together for all of us here to create something truly special.