Last weekend, Skylab, which featured headliner Tiesto, brought some 10,000 people to the Denver Coliseum. Among those were approximately 150 members of the online rave community Colorado EDM Family. A few of the “EDM Fam,” as they call themselves, saw a young girl fall to the ground outside the venue…
When Lonely Boy (also known as Joshua Heath) launched the Blend in Los Angeles about ten years ago, he envisioned the night as a combination — a blend — of electronic and live music. “At the time, I had a live band, and we wanted to do a night where…
Brennan Bryarly, founder of the Hundred, put on his first festival this weekend, Cloak and Dagger, which was held in the Golden Triangle at City Hall and Vinyl and featured almost thirty electronic producers and DJs. The festival was in the works for two years. But when Bryarly first tried…
Live music always offers some kind of release, but Riot Fest appeared to be a particularly welcome respite for many fans. Tom Murphy It’s been almost two decades since I first saw Mineral, and the time hasn’t hurt its sound. It hasn’t helped it, either. Mineral’s brand of whiny emo…
Some unlikely VIPs rolled into the back gate of Riot Fest on Friday, driven in a chartered bus from their high school in Byers, Colorado. In addition to the easy entrance and free ride, the young music fans, all teenagers, got free passes to the entire weekend-long festival courtesy of…
It’s one thing to brave I-25 traffic to get to Riot Fest, or even to make the hour-long drive from the Byers (the original site of the festival), but a lot of people made a real trip out of this year’s festival. Walking around the parking lots at Sports Authority…
“I was excited to someone in the hip-hop genre who is progressive,” explained Brittany Fitzgerald in the outdoor space behind Rhinoceropolis over the weekend. “It’s good to see somebody with a strong voice.” She was talking about Mykki Blanco, the stage name of rapper and performance artist Michael Quattlebaum Jr…
At noon on Saturday, Riot Fest officially begins for the day, and fans come streaming through the gates. Inside, carny Robert sits at his booth with his back to the entering crowd, enjoying a breakfast of pierogi and cigarettes. His feet up on a stool next to him, his plate…
Maybe it’s the punk rock origins of Riot Fest that brought out the funny and the ridiculous in various performers and attendees at Riot Fest. It was mostly the usual self-deprecating and/or sarcastic commentary one expects out of musicians but there were a handful of gems both inspired and just…
“Punk rockers are nice,” says Owen Clark, who, at five years old, is one of the younger attendees at Riot Fest in Denver. His mother, Tyanne Clark, says she wrestled with the decision to bring Owen and his brother, two-year-old Noah, from Colorado Springs to see the festival. “It was…
From its rough-hewn exterior, it’s hard to tell if the Aztlan Theater is still up and running. It is, technically, but the once-notable building that has been a part of the fabric of Santa Fe for decades is in dire need of some help. There’s a lot of love and…
While Colin Bricker, owner of Mighty Fine Productions, is one of the area’s best sound engineers, he’s also played in the cover band Peter, Paul & Gary since he and some buddies formed the band they were in high school in Greeley. Over the years, some of the band members…
Riot Fest isn’t just for the punks anymore. This festival, coming to Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High this weekend, is bringing an eclectic, loud lineup, and there will surely be a diverse crowd roaming the Byers-themed parking lot. To help you prepare, and maybe even dress, we’ve rounded…
Last month, Dorchester Social Eatery opened in part of the space that was formerly Lavish. On Friday, October 3, Privé Social Club, a late-night extension of the Dorchester, will celebrate its grand opening on the other side of the space (with the entrance on 15th Street) with a performance by…
Earlier this week, the popular Boulder based electronic and hip-hop music blog, ThisSongIsSick.com announced that Soundcloud, the audio distribution platform has temporarily suspended their account, which blog creator Nick Guarino said gets approximately 1.5 million listeners every 24 hours…
Earlier this month. Swallow Hill Music announced that CEO and Executive Director Tom Scharf was resigning after seven years of running the Denver-based nonprofit organization that runs music education programs and organizes many concerts in the area. Scharf last day is September 30, and the organization is hoping to have…
The poster and fliers for Rubedo’s show over the weekend at the hi-dive featured the trio as comic-strip space explorers, holding laser guns. The fliers came with bags of crystals, and the Facebook page for the event encouraged people to bring the crystals to the show. They were both part…
As usual, the pamphlet for Goldrush was a work of art in itself, printed on quality paper with a thick, textured cover bearing a mountain landscape and a stylized G. The band profiles, written by people who clearly get the music and have a personal connection to it, were laid…
The best new band in town at the best new bar in town. That’s a bold statement, but it’s that statement that lingered as Miss America by Wheary, a new project featuring Joseph Pope III, Julie Davis, Nathaniel Rateliff, James Han and Patrick Meese finished its set at Syntax Physic…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Rufus Baxter: Part Ten Rufus Baxter:…
Another solid weekend of shows in Denver, with some rockabilly at the Skylark, some jazz at Dazzle and some beats at Red Rocks. We particularly recommend twelve shows this weekend: Here they are…
Beginning September 27, Colorado music lovers can get a listen and look at some of the state’s best musicians as they come through Colorado Public Radio’s OpenAir Studios via a new television show, OpenAir Live & Local. A collaboration with the team behind local television station CPT12’s Sounds on 29th,…
