Best New Venue 2015 | Syntax Physic Opera | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best New Venue

Syntax Physic Opera

After a five-year stint as talent buyer at the Meadowlark, Jonathan Bitz knew he wanted to start a place of his own. A three-year hunt led him to the building at 554 South Broadway — formerly the Bar (and the Atrium before that) — where he did some major renovations and opened Syntax Physic Opera, a music venue/eatery/art bar, in the spring of 2014. While the bar half serves an outstanding selection of cocktails and beers, the venue side is where the true magic happens, as Bitz presents a steady stream of the town's finest acts as well as weekly singer-songwriter and comedy open-mike nights and jazz jams.

Best Non-Venue Venue

Mutiny Information Cafe

Courtesy Mutiny Information Cafe

Stuffed to the gills with new and used books, graphic novels, local-band CDs and vinyl, Mutiny Information Cafe is a place where you can sit at a table, sip coffee and flip through a book while a loud punk band plays on the floor just a few feet away. It's a rarely seen juxtaposition, but it's one that works alarmingly well. Rather than just keep Mutiny as a bookstore, the owners continue to cultivate the music community, opening up their doors to bands of all kinds and letting them play as loud as they want.

Best Venue for the Unexpected

Deer Pile

Anything goes at Deer Pile, whether it's weekly DIY comedy staple Too Much Fun, Occupy Denver meet-ups, experimental-film showings or ambient-noise concerts. Like a multi-purpose room for Denver's creative community, Deer Pile continues to be a space that welcomes performances and gatherings for all people, by all people; it's also donation-based, meaning audiences can get a taste of what's going on in Denver's counterculture for a nice price, and no one is turned away. Deer Pile proves that if you give them a room and an audience, performances will come.

Best Art Gallery/Music Venue

Denver Art Society

Evan Semón

Even from the outside, with its large windows and spacious interior, the Denver Art Society feels like a welcoming place. As a nonprofit, DAS is driven by its publicly stated mission to engage the local and global community in the arts. To that end, it provides studios, art workshops and a place to display art, as well as live music, with performers ranging from electronic-dance artists to punk and avant-garde bands. DAS is quickly becoming a hub for creative pursuits of all types — and creative types of all ages.

Best Underground Arcade and Music Venue

Hyperspace

Tucked away just off Colfax, Hyperspace is easy to miss. Whereas most arcades have a gaudy exterior and flashing lights to catch the attention of passersby, Xyla DuVal opened Hyperspace last June with a different vision: that of a low-key hangout where people can play vintage video games and occasionally see live music. DuVal also repairs and maintains video games, and this arcade, open here and there for special events, shows all the hallmarks of serious care and restoration. This place perfectly captures the vibe of early-'80s arcades, including the limited number of snacks and drinks available at the register. There are other fine arcades in the Denver area, but Hyperspace feels like a place that goths and rivetheads of a bygone era might have frequented before discovering Sisters of Mercy and Skinny Puppy.

Best (Literally) Underground Venue

Ubisububi Room at the Thin Man Tavern

Tony White

It's been almost five years since twin brothers Greg and Garrett Hilpipre of Mountain to Sound started presenting shows at the unique, 35-seat Ubisububi Room in the basement of the Thin Man Tavern. If you think MTV Unplugged — where performers stand metaphorically naked and vulnerable to imperfections — is intimate, you haven't seen a show at this underground nook in City Park West. Most performances feature notable Colorado songwriters, and every gig has a face-to-face feeling you'll never forget.

Best Venue to Fall in the Past Year

Dead Leaf Arts

Young Colorado natives Tom Abraham and Colin Wilcox operated Dead Leaf Arts in north Boulder for just under a year. They gained a lot of respect in that short time, putting on a slew of great shows featuring lineups ranging from David Dondero and Paleo to Inner Oceans and Male Blonding. Because of Dead Leaf, young people (and people who wanted to capture a DIY spirit) in Boulder were, for a short while, able to hear live music that offered something other than jam bands, bluegrass, EDM or coffee-shop banality. But Dead Leaf also hosted intriguing, informative silent-film nights, poetry and art installations. Those lucky enough to have seen a show at Dead Leaf, and thus become a part of it, won't soon forget trudging through snow to an unmarked warehouse next to a strip club to see, among other truly surprising things, punk rock in Boulder.

Best Venue Green Room

Bluebird Theater

Opened in 1913 as the Thompson Theater, the Bluebird is grimy, old-fashioned and awesome. One of its highlights is the cramped green room downstairs, which is pretty much directly below the stage. There's barely enough room for a band to hang out, and it doesn't always smell wonderful, but the distanced, almost secret vibe in the air is one that says, "Friends, family and hangers-on not allowed; we're getting ready to play a show."

Best Sound System

Summit Music Hall

Michael Emery Hecker

Summit Music Hall owner Mike Barsch says he spent three years shopping for sound systems, "trying to set us apart from the rest," before going with an Italian GTO C-12, the Ferrari of rock-venue sound systems, last fall. The Summit often hosts well-known '80s and '90s punk, metal and new-wave bands that need massive, loud and clear sound that fits their style but doesn't send fans at the relatively intimate 1,000-seat hall running for the doors. Becoming the first venue in America to install a GTO C-12, which is popular in Europe, was a no-brainer for Barsch. "The feedback has been great," he says. "People are like, 'I've seen this band 100 times and never heard them sound this good.' They're all blown away. Word is spreading."

Best Sound-System Upgrade

Lost Lake Lounge

If you had stepped into Lost Lake Lounge before last year, you might have thought you had accidentally wandered into the 1970s. The interior looked and felt like a repurposed American Legion hall (the bar area still does). But last year, the ramshackle sound system of old was replaced with a setup that can handle rock shows and electronic artists alike. Whereas before it felt quaint amd homey, the Lost Lake performance room now feels professional and capable.

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