The String Cheese Incident has announced its plans for a final farewell tour, as guitarist/vocalist Bill Nershi will leave the band by 2007’s end. SCI will play several multi-night runs at mid-size theatres including the New York’s Beacon Theatre, Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, and Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado. They’re also slated for a set at Bonnaroo and have set up their own three-night festival — the BIG Summer Classic Festival — at Camp Zoe, in Salem, MO, bringing with them the following bands: Los Lobos, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Greyboy Allstars, JJ Grey & MOFRO, and The Wailers (with additional bands to be announced).
Full dates after the jump…
String Cheese Incident 2007 Farewell Summer Tour:
06.15.07 @ Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN
07.12.07 @ the Beacon Theatre New York, NY
07.13.07 @ the Beacon Theatre New York, NY
07.14.07 @ the Beacon Theatre New York, NY
07.21.07 @ Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA
07.22.07 @ Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA
07.27.07 @ TBA in Oregon
07.28.07 @ TBA in Oregon
07.29.07 @ TBA in Oregon
08.03.07 @ the BIG Summer Classic Festival, Camp Zoe, Salem, MO
08.04.07 @ the BIG Summer Classic Festival, Camp Zoe, Salem, MO
08.05.07 @ the BIG Summer Classic Festival, Camp Zoe, Salem, MO
08.10.07 @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
08.11.07 @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
08.12.07 @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
Although I’ve never been a big SCI fan, I’ve always had a large amount of respect for this band and its organization. SCI as an organization sought to truly expand the independent touring business beyond what the Grateful Dead and Phish organizations had already begun in preceding years. They built an entire independent enterprise around their fans, attempting to find all possible ways to make fans even more dedicated to the band, even going so far as suing Ticketmaster over its strict limits on how many tickets a band could sell independently.
Although the band will cease touring and making music in its current form, hopefully we will see the business model and mentality live on in SCI Fidelity, albeit in an independent record label format. It remains to be seen what will happen on the musical front, but until fans find out, they can catch the band one last time this summer.
All shows (except for Bonnaroo) are on sale through SCI Ticketing.
