Taxman, Too Young, Will It Go Round In Circles, Seventh Step, Stay Through, Yo Se, Piece of Mine, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Boo Boo's Pik-A-Nik, The Way That It Goes, Naive Melody, Peregrino

Special Guests:
Michael Kang: Electric Mandolin, Fiddle

The anticipation was building all day at work, the weather was going to hold, we were staying at a friends just uphill from the festivities, this was going to be a good night of music and I didn't even have to leave the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley that I call home!

Heading down to the festival grounds around 6pm ready for the Kyle Hollingsworth Band set at 6:30pm I couldn't help but notice all the people enjoying some frosty barley sodas. There were brewers from all over the country handing out samples to the thirsty crowd. I was thinking this seems like a perfect venue for our friend Kyle Hollingsworth as we all know he is a fan of some tasty hoppy beverages.

Seeing the band come on stage I let out a cheer but noticed me and a few other local FOCers were the only ones standing front and center ready to get down to some good music. Everyone else was still over indulging in the adult beverages while the free pours lasted. The band started playing Taxman and a handful of us immediately started moving our hips.

The band started to get into their groove and played Too Young and then Will It Go Round In Circles which started to get the crowd closer to the stage rather than to the plethora of beer tents. Garret Sayers laid down some funky bass to open Seventh Step which had some nice solos from Kang and Kyle. You could really start feeling the natural chemistry start to brew on stage with old bandmates reuniting on stage together. Smiles were bouncing back and forth between one another.

Seventh Step led into Stay Through with its funky reggae vibe. We were all feeling good in the crowd and it was hard to wipe the smiles off our faces as we were grooving to great music, cold beer and mountain scenery. Yo Se was up next and you can guess that there were some more great solos by all. Piece of Mine followed and Kang played it on his mando rather than a guitar as I have become accustomed to seeing when he plays this tune with String Cheese. A handful of us couldn't help but from helping out with the chorus and doing our own choreography.

Boogie on Reggae Woman was next which Kang took the lead on vocals for. Looking around everyone that was there was groovin'. The solos in Boogie On lead into a highlight of the show Boo Boo's Picnic! Super fun song, everyone was still dancing and great swapping solos from Kang and Dan. OK, now I'm really thirsty and there's the Stone brewing tent, ahhh much better.

A brief rest after Boo Boo's was needed and Kyle introduced the next tune from his new album, Way That It Goes. And then next Naive Melody at which point several local friends were blown away by how well it was played. Yep, that's Kyle for ya. Naive went into some great jamming at which point Kang brought out the fiddle. The jam was super groovy and high energy as Kang took hold of the crowd with his sweet fiddle sounds. The jam went into Peregrino and the set came to a close. OK, the crowd wants more and more!

A brief side stage discussion led into a multi-tune encore starting with Bam! which was played very well and then All Inside from the new album which was also very fun. From everywhere I could see the crowd was grooving. The set closer was Phat Cat and we were all itchin' for more as it wasn't even dark out yet.

Thank you Kyle, Kang, Dave, Garrett, and Dan for coming up to the Roaring Fork Valley! This show was a great prelude to what's to come this summer from Kyle and Kang in their other band known as the String Cheese Incident!

The summer has just begun!

Review and Photos by Cal Viall