Music

Colorado is host to many unique nonprofits supporting music and making a positive impact in our communities, so with Colorado Gives Day coming up, we’ve compiled a list featuring some of the standouts.

Elton John brings his eleven-city tour in support of his latest album, Wonderful Crazy Night, to the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs on Thursday, March 16. The show will also include classic album tracks from his five-decade-long career. Tickets go on sale on Friday, December 9, at 10 a.m…

At any concert you attend, have you thought that maybe, whilst surrounded by like-minded individuals, you had the opportunity to make a difference? Set up at entrances to festivals like Vertex or Electric Forest and other shows like String Cheese Incident and Sound Tribe Sector 9 across the nation is a booth from Conscious Alliance, a national hunger relief and youth empowered organization.

In a dimly lit studio, Denver artist Jon Shockness is searching among tables full of recording equipment, laptops and headphones. “Where did that palo santo go?” he asks. He finds it, and after burning the fragrant stick in the recording room and making a few adjustments to his headphones, Shockness…

Haley Bonar has not one but two ways of deflecting questions about the seemingly personal nature of “Hometown,” the first song on her excellent new album Impossible Dream. “All grown up, saving up for my exit,” she sings in a breathy echo. “Let it burn in the rearview mirror.” And later: “The further that I get, the deeper my regrets. Hometown goes wherever you go.”

On November 17, electronic duo BoomBox made a major announcement on Facebook, and suddenly its upcoming New Year’s Eve shows at the Gothic Theatre on December 29, 30 and 31 became that much more significant. “To all of our friends, family and supporters, BoomBox and Russ Randolph will be parting ways,” the announcement read. “The amicable separation is in no way a dissolution but rather the opening of a new chapter for BoomBox moving forward. Russ Randolph’s last show with BoomBox will be in Denver, Colorado at The Gothic Theatre on December 31st, 2016.”

The road leading to the Vanilla Milkshakes’ new album, Tall People Have No Feelings, was like something out of a DIY rock-band biopic, and it all started with an unlikely meeting between like-minded musicians. Before releasing the album How to Ruin Friendships and Influence Douchebags, singer David McGhee struck up a correspondence with well-known indie imprint K Records. Label head Calvin Johnson offered to work with the band, and McGhee convinced partner, bandmate and drummer Frank Registrato to work toward that possibility. Registrato, a live-music veteran, hadn’t recorded in an all-analog studio in several years, and the project piqued his interest.

It’s been 27 years since Swedish metal-heads In Flames formed out of the ashes of death-metal troupe Ceremonial Oath, the brainchild of ex-guitarist Jesper Strömblad. In the years that have passed since then, the group has put out twelve studio albums and one EP. Meanwhile, band members have come and gone, and in the case of Björn Gelottem, switched from drums to lead guitar.

The Grizzly Rose has hosted all the biggest stars in country music.

Since signing a record deal in December 2004, the Denver-based band the Fray has found a healthy amount of success – so much so that picking a venue like the Fox Theatre, which holds no more than 500 people, for a concert a day before its big show at the…

When Eck’s Saloon closed two years ago, Lakewood lost a legendary music venue with a history that spanned more than three decades and saw steady stream of local and national hard rock and ’80s hair-rock bands like Warrant, Skid Row and Quiet Riot. But since Dumitru Sajin took over the building last February, he’s been busy giving the spot a much-needed update, and now he is opening the space as the Silver Spur Saloon the first weekend in December.

This week kicks off with the Pretty Reckless at the Ogden Theatre and Two Door Cinema at the Fillmore Auditorium tonight while later in the week it’s Mindless Behavior at the Summit Music Hall, Tommy Emmanuel at the Paramount Theatre, Greensky Bluegrass at the Ogden Theatre and Haley Bonar at the Larimer Lounge. See our full list of picks below.

Contrary to all the social media squeals of joy from out-of-touch former punks proclaiming that thanks to this election, “punk will get good again, ” music has never stopped being a radical force. Art and activism have always been intertwined and Denver’s own Tim Holland aka Sole — a musician, tape label head and activist himself — continues to keep the conversation about present-day political issues going with his music. Earlier this week he released “Three Way Fight,” a collaboration with musician and vocalist Decomposure. Westword spoke with Sole about the song and what it means to protest in 2016.

Last month, the November 2016 Open Music Session welcomed Hang Rounders, a Denver band that insists it’s both country and Western, and is undeniably American roots music at its finest. There is some bluegrass and folk amid the heart-wrenching ballads and barnstorming dance anthems, but there’s a dash of reggae, too.

Three of state’s bigger bands have two night stands this weekend, including the Fray, Leftover Salmon and Paper Bird while Elephant Revival, also a local favorite, teams up with the Colorado Symphony on Saturday, November 26. This weekend’s lineup also includes hi-dive’s 4th and 13th two-night anniversary bash, Snow Tha Product as well as a pair of co-headlining shows from Kung Fu and Particle. See the full list below.

Canadian DJ and producer Datsik, who’s set to release his Sensei EP in December, brings his North American tour to the 1STBANK Center on Saturday, February 4, 2017, with Crizzly and Virtual Riot opening; tickets ($20-$75) are on sale now.

Quixote’s True Blue might have changed locations a few times over the last two decades, but the music venue and bar has always been a haven for fans of the Grateful Dead. Although owner Jay Bianchi closed the last Quixote’s incarnation at 314 East 13th Avenue (where it had been for the last four years) at the end of October, he didn’t waste any time opening another spot in a similar vein. Bianchi has taken over the former Denver Wrangler space at 1700 Logan Street and will open Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple there in December.

Colorado Creative Industries (CCI) and Bohemian Foundation announced a partnership intended to advance the status of Colorado music.

Music wasn’t supposed to be Kayla Marque’s life. “My dad wanted me to be an athlete, so that’s what I grew up doing,” says the Denver-born-and-raised singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. “I started playing basketball at five. In high school, I quit basketball because I found volleyball. I thought it was the best thing ever.” Marque had always considered herself an athlete, feeling what she describes as a “hunger, drive and competitiveness” for sports that she didn’t have for other things. But underneath the team uniform, a musician was hiding.