Search - String Cheese Incident :: May 25 2002 George Wa: On the Road

Sasquatch! Festival Showing Pretty Darn Good

Zem | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 08/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These three disks are from SCI's headline show as part of the "Sasquatch!" music festival at the Gorge (WA) on May 25 2002. As I was actually at this show, I bought these disks for nostalgic purposes (which seems to be common with this series of disks). First things first: I would rather have given these disks 4.5 stars, but because I can't do that I'll err on the side of generosity. I was a neophyte to the jam band scene at this time, but SCI really caught my attention with this show. SCI's ability to turn virtually everything they touch into gold shows up yet again on these disks. The playing, as usual, is tight and dancable, although the song list is pretty much a standard SCI offering. Not owning any of the other disks in this series, I don't know what their general standard of sound quality is, but I must say that this is one of the best live recordings (from a sound quality point of view) I have ever heard. Every instrument is in balance, and the (relatively large) crowd is only audible during lulls in the music. A minor complaint is that the vocals fade in and out a bit, but that doesn't detract much from the music.A particluarly interesting feature of this show is when Ben Harper joins the band on stage to perform "Superstition". This version of the song makes up in coolness what it lacks in tightness.Is this a worthy addition to an SCI collection? Absolutely. Is it worth the money when so many free SCI recordings exist? I would say yes. Are you going to cry yourself to sleep without this disk on your CD rack? Probably not."