The 22nd Westword Music Showcase, taking place Saturday, June 25, 2016, is designed to feature more than one hundred fantastic and innovative Denver bands — but it also showcases some kick-ass national headliners. This year the festival will expand to include two main stages in addition to more than a dozen…
On Bill Frisell’s last album, 2014’s Guitar in the Space Age, the guitarist delved into songs from the ’50s and ’60s that initially got him interested in playing guitar as a kid growing up in Denver. On brand-new disc When You Wish Upon a Star, Frisell, who’s been living in Seattle…
Megadeth, fronted by Dave Mustaine whom our writer claims “isn’t a dick,” returns to the Fillmore Auditorium on Tuesday, while Fetty Wap is at the same venue on Wednesday. Meanwhile Bill Frisell brings his When You Wish Upon a Star project to the Oriental Theater. See the full list of our…
Chic featuring Nile Rodgers took the stage last night on a freakishly warm February Friday at the Paramount Theater. Maybe it was the members of Chic themselves who brought the heat to Denver, as they marched audiences through a showing of some of the twentieth century’s hottest jams, starting with…
Luke Thinnes’ relationship with music has always been driven by a genuine love for art and expression. As a teenager, he showed a love for DIY ethic in music, regularly attending shows at local venues like Rhinoceropolis and Glob — which he now calls home. After playing in drone/noise group…
Tonight, CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers headlines the Paramount Theatre while Vance Joy is at the 1STBANK Center and G. Love & Special Sauce is at the Ogden Theatre. Tomorrow, Galactic will be at the Fillmore Auditorium and the Budos Band is at the Gothic Theatre. See the full list of our…
Last week, tickets went on sale for the Minus Zero Festival, which will take place April 2-3 in Winter Park, Colorado, a mountain music festival featuring the “world’s biggest electronic music acts” like Diplo and Kaskade. Upon hearing this announcement, we couldn’t help but think of Snowball, the EDM festival…
Anton Krueger, better known as Bollywood Life, will be cranking out a set of catchy electro-pop at this Saturday’s Artopia. Krueger just came off a U.S./Canada tour with Slow Magic and Giraffage, whom he was running video-art for. Upon returning home to Denver, Krueger’s had some time to reflect on his musical…
The Grammys are for teenagers — at least, I hoped they were. To me, teens are the demographic the music industry should still be gunning for: They are generally adventurous listeners, often the most passionate — and most forgiving — music fans and they have yet to let their taste…
Snoop Dogg and Future headline the third annual Merry Jane Wellness Retreat on 4/20 at Fiddler’s Green with Kevin Gates, Tory Lanez and Raven Felix opening the show. Tickets ($55-$85) go on sale on Friday, February 19 at 10 a.m. Ryan Adams headlines Red Rocks Wednesday, August 17 with Kurt…
Diane Coffee is the creation of Shaun Fleming, the drummer of Foxygen, and the band brews an appealing blend of American roots music, blending soul, rock and roll, gospel, R&B and the blues. Fleming combines this survey sound with a strong stage presence reminiscent of Motown and David Bowie, perfecting…
I hope, in years to come, to be proved wrong about Emily Haines and her band, but last night Metric’s disjointed live show at the Fillmore Auditorium left me disappointed. Looking at Metric’s discography, perhaps the live show’s lack of coherence is understandable. The band’s early music landed right between the…
This year’s Artopia will feature an array of local DJs and electronic artists that will add sonic splendor to the event’s multimedia experience. Sound Off’s Silent Disco will take place in the City Hall Cue Room for a lively, headphones-only performance. The City Hall Amphitheater will feature the headlining act:…
Rock and roll has never experienced a shortage of polarizing characters, those individuals whose music we might adore but, when you hear them talk, they just sound like assholes. Maybe they deliberately pull an Axl Rose and delay going on stage for two hours, leaving the fans waiting around like cattle. Or maybe…
Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work…
Across the gulf of 46 years since its first eponymous album was released on February 13, 1970, it might be difficult to imagine how Black Sabbath’s music could have seemed evil and dark. But last night, when it was actually happening — those familiar bells, sounds of rain and Tony…
Mike Peters co-founded the Denver-headquartered cancer charity Love Hope Strength in 2007, but the Welsh musician’s ties to the city date all the way back to 1983, when his new-wave rock band the Alarm came to the U.S. for the first time, with U2. The Alarm was scheduled to play…
This past year has seen an upsurge in the fight against sexism in the music industry, with several high-profile stories gaining national attention. In a Pitchfork piece early in the year, journalist Jessica Hopper asked, “Why are misogynist lyrics still entertainment in 2015?” Then, in August, Hopper used Twitter to…
During bassist Bob Raymond’s stint with Sugarloaf, he played on each of the Denver-based band four albums, including the 1970 self-titled debut that included the hit single “Green-Eyed Lady.” Raymond, who was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame with Sugarloaf in 2012, died on February 11 at the…
Pale Sun’s debut full-length, Darkmoonwhiteout, is the product of a handful of years of development, refinement, reinvention of a sound that primary songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Jeff Suthers has perfected across numerous projects since the ’90s. It is also his first vinyl release. Suthers’ band history: The abstract space rock…
In the words of Erykah Badu, the concept of a “double bind” is “two conflicting ideas…[which can result in] transcendence, an existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level.” Though this phrase is usually applied to irreconcilable differences, in Badu’s hands it becomes an opportunity for transcendence, words that…
By the time Dr. Dog finished touring in support of its 2008 breakthrough Fate, the quirky Philadelphia indie-rock quintet had become what the Band was to musicians in the late ’60s and early ’70s: the group everyone would give a limb to be in. It was the authenticity, the seemingly…
