Photos by Larry Hulst

It’s impossible to pinpoint the highpoint of String Cheese Incident’s three-and-a-half-hour return to Red Rocks in Morrison, Colo., July 26 because minus a few vocal flubs, the show embodied a band at their creative zenith.

Opening the 80-minute first set with “Shine,” a fan favorite and lasting staple of the band’s repertoire, SCI wiped several years of dust off the formerly mothballed “Up the Canyon”, “Sing a New Song”, and “Don’t Say”, with bassist Keith Mosley announcing to the crowd beforehand “We wanted to play a few songs we haven’t played in a while tonight.” SCI closed the set with a spritely “Restless Wind.”

After a short break, the band launched into their 2-hour second set with “Let’s Go Outside” and “”Tinder Box,” which bled into a surprisingly rousing “Big Shoes”. SCI capped the set with “100 Year Flood”>”Far From Home”>”Just One Story.”

In their own right, each of the concert’s 16 songs were works of sonic art, but the exciting jams during and between the songs worked wonders in showcasing each of the band member’s “special talents”: Bill Nershi’s fluid flatpicking, Michael Kang’s lively mandolin runs and haunting violin playing, Mosley’s always in-the-pocket bass lines, Kyle Hollingsworth’s deep space keyboard explorations, and Michael Travis and Jason Hamm’s fluid percussion – all buffed to a shine by the band’s shared vocals

On this perfect summer night in Morrison, SCI and a packed house at Red Rocks heeded the call in “Shine”: to “let your love light shine.”