Rothbury Day 2: Live Blog

8:45pm - Watching the live webcast on http://www.rothburyfestival.com/. Brett Drennen is on the stream right now...which I don't understand because he played at 2:00pm this afternoon at The Raneh Arena. Weird...maybe it's just fill as they set up for tonights headliner...String Cheese Incident. I'd be pumped for this show if I was there. Unfortunately I'm not. I wish I could at least have a beer and watch...unfortunately I can't.

8:49pm - I was right...String Cheese just took the stage. Good thing too because Brett Drennen is one of the ugliest individuals I've ever seen in my life.

09:02pm - It's been so long since I've seen these guys jam...their guitarist, Michael Kang, is sooooo good. He's totally rockin with the capo and everything. The only thing pissin me off is the webcast keeps resetting after every song...and then I have to re-load it. Bummer. Oh well...small price to pay. On another note...just saw Sarah Palin is resigning as governor...finally Alaska's oil reserves and natural beauty are safe.

09:08pm - This songs pretty funky...Bill Nershi is rockin the acoustic solo's. Speaking of funky...how about Brandon Paul? Hell of a guy for allowing me some free time tonight. Good man that BP.

09:16pm - Just found out from Bob (of Bonnaroo notoriety) that two of my old buddies from Erie, Justin and Eric, are VIPing this whole weekend at Rothbury. Truly the way to go...a lot more space for camping, electricity, and you get to premiere access to the stage and special parties at night where you can run in to band members. I hope to save up enough money in the next year to do VIP at Roo or Bury next year. This makes me really want to go to Gathering of the Vibes up in nearby Bridgeport, CT in a couple weeks. I have the days off, but no one to go with. Let me know if you're interested...hahahaha. Keller Williams, George Clinton, and moe. are playing on Friday!

09:24pm - Bill Nershi is a Minnesota Wild fan...and has season tickets at center ice. Apparently, he's never missed a game since their inception. He should probably give it up and follow a real hockey team...like the world champion Pittsburgh Penguins!

09:44pm - The Friends of Cheese are out in full force tonight. I wish they would get more crowd shots. I bet there are some people out of their minds at this show...hahahaha. Drunk, high, whatever...they have got to be having a good time. SCI plays effortlessly.

09:46pm - That was pretty awesome! Nersh just had the whole the crowd scream as loud as they could..."Let's see how much noise 30,000 some people can make!" Cool thing was he screamed himself...risking the vocal chords for the amusement of everyone is called great showmanship.

10:07pm - Still on their first set...Michael Kang is rockin some sweet solo's right now. Kyle Hollingsworth just pulled off some amazing work on the keys. He reminds me of a young Ray Manzarek.

10:16pm - Great song to end the first set...intermission time. Grab some beers or whatever. I imagine the line for the port-a-johns is getting pretty outrageous. Still...with 45,000 less people in attendance...they've got to be in a lot better shape than Bonnaroo's.

10:58pm - String Cheese back on stage for the second set. More funk riddled music...kinda diggin it. Cool thing about this band is that every member of the band contributes original works. So songs are written by every member of the band, which means a lot of their songs, while performed by the same musicians...can sound very different at times. I find this very unique and it adds a lot to their dynamic. I've definitely noticed the difference in their sounds tonight during the show.

11:01pm - Just noticed they have some Cirque de Soleil shit going on on stage. They're really making this an interesting show for the audience. There are about 40 or 50 me-sized inflatable balls bouncing through the crowd. It's funny...you can't even see the band on the long shots. The glow sticks are out in full force too. This set is gonna be something else.

11:08pm - The Cirque girls were smokin hot! Unfortunately they've left the stage.

11:14pm - Have you noticed that Kyle Hollingsworth mouths beats to his keyboards? It's very strange. But whatever helps you work, right? Maybe they should give him a mic and let him beat box too.

11:28pm - Fire dancers on the stage....awwwwwwwwwww shit!

11:50pm - They're starting to wind down. Playing a lot more fan favorites high on energy. What an amazing show so far. I can't believe the endurance.

12:06am - The rest of the band has left the stage except for Michael Travis on drums and Jason Hann on congas. One of the best conga solo's I've heard in a long time. Dude plays with some intensity. His hippie hair was flying...surprised he didn't break a head honestly. Duet played for 8 minutes. Band back on stage around 12:08am.

12:20am - I can hear the music...but I can't see it. I know the lights didn't go out so I'm guessing somebody tripped over a cord or something in their stupor.

12:28am - The first headliner of the weekend has wrapped it up. It was great to hear SCI...it's been years since I've heard them not on a live recording. Their stage show has improved ten fold since the last time I saw them back in Vegas. Good show...tomorrow should be even better. That's all for now...unless they're broadcasting the night shows...stay tuned...STS9 is scheduled at 1am.