America’s love affair with British rock and roll is long and storied. From the moment the Beatles washed up on these shores, American fans began flocking to bands like the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Kinks, later discovering the colorful antics of the Sex Pistols and T. Rex, not…
The first time that Marisa Demarco and her bandmates played the Titwrench music festival, they decided to execute a crazy idea that had been stewing in the back of Demarco’s mind. They planned to build their set around a giant bird sculpture, a kind of parade puppet. At the end,…
Since forming 1993 and putting out a self-titled debut album in 1995, Garbage has not been a band to take the easy road. Famously composed of three guys known primarily for their production work prior to this band, it was Steve Marker who spotted Shirley Manson singing with Scottish alt-rockers…
English singer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier can barely believe what’s going on in his life right now. In 2011, he was seventeen and making split-screen YouTube videos of himself playing a variety of different instruments while covering songs like Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” But the Internet’s…
Daryl Hall & John Oates headline Red Rocks tonight with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue opening while Goo Goo Dolls is at the venue tomorrow. This week’s lineup also includes Blink-182 is at Pepsi Center, Bloc Party at the Ogden Theatre, Butch Walker at…
It’s the weekend and we all have “Get Weird” scrawled at the top of our to-do lists. But beyond the usual hijinks and bad bar-mitvah dancing you’re applying to dance floors all over Denver, here are three concerts this weekend that are truly strange. 1. On Saturday, September 10, there’s…
The fifth installment of Fantasia takes place at Rhinoceropolis this weekend, starting Friday, September 9, and running through Sunday, September 11. At its heart, Fantasia is an art show but one where the form of art isn’t cast in the traditional art gallery or exhibition mode. When the event launched,…
STS9 kicks off a two-night stand tonight at Red Rocks, and Luke Bryan starts his two-night stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. On Saturday, it’s the High Elevation Rock Festival, featuring Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat, Chevelle, Pierce the Veil, Ministry, Killswitch Engage and more at Fiddler’s Green while Punching Mule Festival, featuring Ludacris, Galactic,…
When this series of tours ends in December 2017, the current iteration of the veteran avant-rock band Swans, which began with the 2010 reunion, will come to an end as well. “In the future I’ll be working with a revolving cast of characters on a project-by-project basis,” says band leader…
Xenia Rubinos speaks with mesmeric confidence, dances like La Lupe, has the swagger of Erykah Badu, and sings like an indie Mariah Carey. Her music has indisputable undercurrents of soul and R&B, flecked with punk-rock guitar riffs and hip-hop verbiage. She discusses her newest album, Black Terry Cat, with unrestrained…
Stevie Nicks brings her 24 Karat Gold Tour to the Pepsi Center on Tuesday, October 27, with the Pretenders opening. Tickets ($49.50-$150) go on sale on Monday, September 12 at 10 a.m. Amanda Palmer will be at the Boulder on Thursday, November 17 and tickets ($24.50/$27.50) go on sale on…
Few people have had a bigger influence on the “Denver Sound” than Slim Cessna. For the past 25 years, he and the band Slim Cessna’s Auto Club have mixed country, soul and rock and roll with an ominous gothic aesthetic. With a new album out and a headlining show this…
The High Elevation Rock Festival at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on Saturday, September 10, puts forth quite the smorgasbord of heavy music. Local alt-metal chanteuse Lola Black and hairy Southern metallers the Texas Hippie Coalition sit alongside industrial pioneers Ministry and metal giants Avenged Sevenfold. And somewhere awkwardly in between it…
To hear him tell it, Jason Isbell’s recent musical success after years of relative obscurity is not the result of shifting industry trends or timing, but of his finally learning to be patient and content, and discovering how to treat himself and those around him. “When I was younger, I…
Proggy pop-rockers Toto were forced to cancel their Denver show at the Paramount Theatre on Sunday night after singer Joseph Williams, son of Star Wars composer John Williams, was taken to a local hospital. Williams said on the official Toto Facebook page that, “Last night in Denver I experienced my…
Prophets of Rage, featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy, take over Red Rocks tomorrow night while Bonnie Raitt is at the venue on Thursday. This week’s lineup also includes Blind Pilot at the Ogden Theatre, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears at the Bluebird…
Musician Lizzy Allen is now based in Seattle, but she spent most of her life in Colorado. As lead singer and multi-instrumentalist for indie-rock band Vitamins, Allen made a mark in the Denver scene as a talented vocalist. In 2010, a random encounter at a Tame Impala show between her…
Throughout the weekend, Westword writers have been sending more in-depth dispatches from the 2016 edition of Riot Fest Denver at the National Western Complex. Sometimes, however, the most useful review is the snap judgment, so here are postcards of the highlights — or lowlights? — from thirteen Riot Fest sets,…
“Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” With each repetition of the line, Gregory Alan Isakov’s singing became softer and softer, until finally the words were but a whisper, the last syllables fading without a trace into the windy…
Riot Fest 2016 will be remembered for the fact that, after more than thirty years, the Misfits finally put differences aside and got on stage together. But this is a three-day festival, and a lot happens between each evening’s headliners. Still though, the Misfits! Juliette Lewis & The Licks It’s…
For the last decade, Riot Fest (a three-day festival that takes place each year in Denver and Chicago) has been the place where childhood punk-rock dreams come true. For instance, two years ago outside Mile High Stadium I got to see the Descendents tear through Milo Goes to College, which…
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times: Don’t sleep on the first day of Riot Fest. Skip school. Quit your job. Bail on that family vacation. Whatever you have to do, it’s always worth it. The 2016 edition of this annual punk/rock/metal melee was no exception…
