Getty Image / Tim Mosenfelder / FilmMagic
String Cheese Incident and Goose (the band) joined forces at the recent Hulaween in North Florida for a super jam on ‘Texas’ and ‘Animal’, two iconic songs from the popular jam bands. SCI brought out Goose after telling the crowd they found them backstage before the two crews broke into a glorious 30 minute jam sesh.
Hulaween is one of the few events on the calendar where jam band fans in the South can count on good music. Florida has been getting fewer and fewer shows in recent years from the top jam bands. Phish hasn’t played the Sunshine State since a 2016 Jacksonville show I was at, a show that didn’t even sell out. And while Trey and Mike come to FL there really is a drought of big jam band shows down here in Florida.
But Hulaween at Live Oak, the annual music festival held around Halloween that is put on at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, always delivers the goods. And this performance from Goose and String Cheese Incident proves that:
String Cheese Incident have been making great music for 30 years now. Which is absolutely wild to me. I remember running into Kyle Hollingsworth, their keyboard player, at a cafe in Boulder when I was on a roadtrip in college and it was one of the first ‘celebrities’ I recall seeing in person. And honestly, that doesn’t feel like it was all that long ago but apparently time FLIES when you’re not paying attention.
The Colorado jam band was once thought to be next in line for the crown, vying for the spot alongside Widespread Panic and Moe. when Phish announced their hiatus years ago. And they’re a band that literally changed my life. I was on the rail for SCI at the first Bonnaroo back in 2002 and it was a ‘Eureka!’ moment for me where up until that moment in my life I didn’t know music could be that good.
Goose (from Connecticut) occupies a similarly interesting space among jam band fans. They’re part of the ‘next generation’ of jam bands that people have been going nuts for over the past few years but they’ve only been together since 2014 so it remains to be seen what the future looks like for Goose.