Now I love GD music, more than anything else..
but seeing String Cheese in Broomfield last night, I was blown away by their production values and attempt to engage the fans. Granted, it was a special weekend, being the first Winter Carnival in years, but... Holographic tickets for each night, free posters for each night, plus Conscious Alliance posters available, three for 25 cans or $30, a costume contest with themes for each night, stilt walkers greeting us upon entry, the most AMAZING light show I have ever seen, plus an opener...and last night was the most mellow of all three nights. The SCI crew really works to engage the fans and make it a true majestic incident, and for the same price as a Furthur ticket ($55 before service fees).
Seems like just NYE is special now, and while, yes, NYE with Furthur is great.. it pales in comparison to SCI's stuff. Couldn't Furthur incorporate any similar things, to make the shows truly special beyond the great music? After all, I imagine SCI / Peak Experience / Madison House's primary inspiration dates to the days of the good ol' Grateful Dead. At least bring back nice mail order tickets and opening bands.. (what happened to Little Feat, Sting, the San Fran Chinese Orchestra, Los Lobos, Indigo Girls, Neville Brothers -- any high quality openers to make the night a little longer)

I've no need for openers taking up my Furthur time (probably adding an increase in ticket cost) and don't care what my ticket looks like as long as it gets me in the door lol.
But, speaking of lights...
I can't believe they didn't even reup on the tie dye background which shown absolutely wonderful and would love to see some better lighting invested in.
imo anywai

big productions are fun , but I'd hate to see the increase in costs reflected by higher ticket prices

How much were the SCI tickets?

I never got the see the tiedye back drop in person. But from the vids I saw.....that thing was sweet.

Much better than the metal towers with lights on them that look like they came out of Star Trek.........

Yeah, I don't know. I took my brother to see the Atlanta 2010 show last year and he's not really in the dead but he's a professional sound engineer and he was blown away at the fact that the boys had three 18 wheelers (and a few other trucks?) and two tour busses. That's a lot of stuff to carry around, esp. with gas, the people to handle it etc. What does it cost for a SCI vs. furthur show now? Could it be that furthur spends the same as SCI but they've invested in sound gear? And is SCI selling more seats per show, so they profit more each night?

I've only seen SCI with Ratgod twice, but I dug them tremendously. Are they coming out to So cal?