Kudos to Stevie Nicks, this week’s guest mentor on American Idol. Last night, she helped turn a two-person race into anyone’s game, as all song choices were spot-on — songs by contestants’ personal idols — and for the first time since this season began, every single contestant brought out their…
While Red Rocks and Comfort Dental Amphitheatre are both great spots for outdoor concerts during the summer, the Mishawaka Amphitheatre, which is about ten miles northwest of Ft. Collins in Poudre Canyon, also offers a great environment for seeing shows outside. While there’s still more shows to come, the Mish…
So, speaking of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, whose namesake frontman, as we told you about yesterday, is selling his Washington Park bungalow, do you know who’s all sorts of sweet on the band? Bill Murray. Yes, that Bill Murray. Well, that’s what we’ve deduced anyway. Either that, or…
SHARON VAN ETTEN @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 3.28.12 Read also: Sharon Van Etten Q&A Sharon Van Etten is not a diva. Walking on stage at the Bluebird last night, as unassumingly as if she were in the grocery store produce aisle, Van Etten appeared confident and casual. There was no…
Flipper (due tonight and tomorrow night at the Lion’s Lair) got its start in 1979 in the creatively fertile arts and music scene in San Francisco. Formed after the break-up of Negative Trend and including two former members of that band, Will Shatter and Stephen DePace, Flipper didn’t set out…
The verses to Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” play through speakers undeniably, quintessentially and unexpectedly like Tyga’s “Rack City.” What the hell? When did the sugary pop we were to expect from this boy-band-of-one fizz out? It must have been when his voice started changing just before he released his Christmas album…
As if releasing “Part Of Me,” the I’m-better-off-without-Russell-Brand single couldn’t be autobiographical enough already, its accompanying video, which Katy Perry dropped late last week, really drives the message home. In the clip, Perry, who has become quite the character actress as of late — she just played a mustached prison…
On March 13, Say Anything, the indie rock band that came of age in the 2000s, released its fifth album, Anarchy, My Dear. The band soon launched its tour, which will hit the Mile High City this Friday, March 30, at the Summit Music Hall. In advance of the show,…
In this week’s print edition, you’ll notice the conspicuous absence of 4 Questions, the always entertaining and brilliantly illustrated comic strip from Backbeat’s resident genius (no, seriously, we hear he’s a card-carrying member of Mensa — or maybe he knows somebody who is, we can never remember) Noah Van Sciver…
Ian Cooke is one busy boy. Since dropping Fortitude, his second album, this past November, the despondent dreamboat has been busily weaving himself in and out of video projects, mini-tours and a gig recording songs for a local play about online dating — all while keeping his fashionable feet on…
While the Zillow.com listing for the house at 1323 South Lafayette is suitably informative (from the basic descriptors — two bedrooms, three bathrooms, 2,430 square feet, built in 1920, fireplace — to the intangibles, “amazing location for this contemporary remodel,” it says, “only three houses from Wash Park…”), it leaves…
You might remember that, just over a year ago, we posted a bit about the Western States Arts Federation’s (WESTAF) TourWest program. We misunderstood the impetus of the program and mistakenly noted that the funds were earmarked specifically for helping local musicians finance their tour endeavors. While we later learned…
Here’s what’s hot this week in music on the Front Range: On the concert front, new shows featuring Aerosmith and Cheap Trick, Pretty Lights, Tenacious D, Umphrey’s Mcgee and more were announced; Overcasters, Lumineers, Churchill and the Jekylls got spins on local radio; and recent albums from the Shins, the…
Umphrey’s McGee at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Friday, September 14. Hot on the heels of its show at the Fillmore a few weeks ago, we’ve received word that the band will be returning to Colorado this fall for a pair of dates, the first a two-set show at Red Rocks…
The Ting Tings (due at the Ogden Theatre this Saturday, March 31) were one of the first bands to emerge from the Apple iPod commercials in 2008. Thanks to the overnight exposure of “Shut Up and Let Me Go,” the band went from being a blogged-about British import to becoming…
While Denver’s electronic music scene is thriving, there are some producers who’ve found that it’s tough to make a name if you don’t have club bangers. Inspired by more experimental downtempo electronic acts like those found on Flying Lotus’s influential Brainfeeder label, local beatmaker Snubluck prefers the more musical approach…
Brace yourself: This is probably the coolest thing in the world we’ve seen, hands down, since the invention of the Smokey Amp. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is the Marshall Fridge, and it’s precisely what it sounds like, a refrigerator fashioned to resemble a Marshall stack, complete with…
Since having her son, Kase Townes Murray, last summer, Jewel might have taken time off the road, but she’s still busy at home with a number of things, including working on a new Christmas album. Her free solo acoustic show this Saturday night at the Colorado Convention Center as part…
Sharon Van Etten (due this Wednesday, March 28, at the Bluebird Theater) saw more sides of the music industry than most of her peers before embarking on her musical career. She moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as a teenager to go to school and became involved with Red Rose, a coffee-shop/music…
Michael Gira’s show on Saturday night at the Oriental Theater with Wovenhand included a few chatterboxes with whom the 58-year-old Swans mastermind just couldn’t abide. Page down to hear Gira tell the more vocal members of the crowd to “Go read Pitchfork,” after demanding that they kindly “Shut the motherfucking…
Backbeat is taking a week off while we celebrate our Best of Denver 2012 issue. To see if your favorite concert, DIY fest or music blog was a winner, check out our Best of Denver 2012 Arts and Entertainment picks…
Tenacious D at Red Rocks on Thursday, July 26. This is not opinion. This is fact. The dudes are back and touring in support of Rize of the Fenix, their new album and purportedly the greatest album of all time. This, apparently, is not opinion, either, but rather fact. The…
