3LAU Parties as Hard as Gronk, Works Even Harder

Justin Blau, who’s better known by his stage name 3LAU, slumps on a black sofa in front of empty lockers. The visiting-team locker room at Mile High Stadium isn’t familiar territory for the DJ; the only thing moderately athletic about him are his black Yeezy sneakers.

AFI Doesn’t Sit Still

Though AFI, or A Fire Inside, formed while singer Davey Havok and long-departed members Mark Stopholese and Vic Chalker were still in high school, and though the first two albums that the band recorded (1995’s Answer That and Stay Fashionable and the following year’s Very Proud of Ya) are certainly efforts to be proud of, the sound of AFI that we know today really started to take shape in ’97 with the Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes record.

Amadou & Mariam Met in Mali at a School for the Blind and Toured With U2

Amadou & Mariam, who headline at the Boulder Theater on July 29, may be the planet’s unlikeliest dance music icons: He’s 62, she’s 58, and they’ve spent decades as both musical and romantic partners following their 1975 meeting at the Institute for the Young Blind in their native Mali, Africa. But if you can listen to Bofou Safou, a remix-heavy EP released in advance of La Confusion, an album due on September 22, without moving, it’s probably because you’re distracted by the priest giving you last rites.

Modern English Is Getting Even Wilder

Modern English is best known for its hit single “I Melt With You,” from the 1982 album After the Snow. The song was in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV and served as an anthem for those struggling to find joy and hope in the dismal age of Thatcher and Reagan.

The Best Concerts in Denver This Week

It’s a great week for fans of ’80s rock, with the Retro Futura tour stopping at the Bellco Theatre tonight that includes Howard Jones, Paul Young, the English Beat, Men Without Hats, Katrina (Ex-Katrina and the Waves) and Modern English, while Violent Femmes and Echo and the Bunnymen co-headlining at the Fillmore Auditorium on Tuesday.

Could Levitt Pavilion’s Grand Opening Have Been Grander?

Confession: Me and my kid fled the downpour Thursday, on opening night of Denver’s newest outdoor venue Levitt Pavilion, long before the headliner, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club played. We were viscerally underprepared: no umbrellas, no raincoats, not even a cotton hoodie – just t-shirts and jeans.

How Bobby Rush Found the Blues

Bobby Rush says he’s cut 374 records, but he didn’t record any of them in his home state of Louisiana until his most recent album, Porcupine Meat, which he won a Grammy for this year for Best Traditional Blues Album.

The Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

After a long run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the Global Dance Festival sets up shop this weekend in the parking lot of Sports Authority Field at Mile High with EDM heavies Excision, Datsik, Hardwell, Kaskade and more. String Cheese Incident is at Red Rocks for a three-night stand, while Neil Diamond is at the Pepsi Center and Buddy Guy is at Denver Botanic Gardens. See our full picks below.

Five Ways John Digweed Keeps Raising the Bar for EDM

At the ripe age of 50, world-renowned prog and tech house master John Digweed is as fresh as ever. With a jam-packed touring schedule and a busy day-to-day, the veteran remains relevant in a scene he’s dominated for more than thirty years. In July, alone, the English DJ has booked…