Nine Bands to See at the Inagural Bluebird District Music Festival

Festival Season is in full swing, and with the summer of 2015 comes a new, scrappy, homegrown festival called the Bluebird District Music Festival. If you bought a three-day wristband, you'll be spending this hopefully rain-free weekend traversing the five venues and half mile of Colfax that makes up the lively, music-filled Bluebird District. Festivals can be hard to navigate, especially when there are multiple fantastic bands playing at the same time. Fortunately, we've got a prime selection of bands for you to see. Here are three bands to check out each day of the inagural BDMF. 

FRIDAY

SF1
7 p.m. Lost Lake
SF1 sounds like a Danger Mouse experiment: an MC with exquisite technique spouting sensitive rhymes over pounding drums and guitars. This band has the urgency of a hardcore band with the swagger of the best hip-hop group you know. It's a hybrid that transcends its parts, and the perfect way to start the festival on Friday.

Pan Astral
11 p.m. Lost Lake
Things can get a little trippy with Pan Astral. The synth-rock shoegaze act mixes ethereal melodies with '80s pop energy and a drumbeat that will have you instantly dancing. After a few drinks, this is the perfect band to dance away your Friday night to. 

Reno Divorce
12 a.m. Southside
By the time Reno Divorce takes the stage, you might be intoxicated, and it’ll time to fucking rock. The punk band is deadly serious (the lead singer even has a face tattoo). But as forceful as its music may be, the band is also a fun time, and its classic sound will have you moshing with some of the best punks in town. 

SATURDAY

Joy Subtraction
5:30 p.m. Southside
Joy Subtraction is loud and fast — really loud and really fast. It's like Joy Division if, instead of feeling sorry for himself, Ian Curtis got properly angry and replaced sad lyrics with a series of insane power chords. Joy Subtraction is a force to be reckoned with, and we reckon you should check it out.

Dirty Few
10:50 p.m. Lost Lake
If you’re looking for a party, look no further than the Dirty Few. Grab a few friends, shotgun some PBRs, and fight your way to the front of the crowd to mosh and dance with Denver's premier party-rock band. At the Westword Showcase, the bad threw giant pool floats into the audience, so who knows what the Dirty Few have planned for this rookie festival.

Nuns of Brixton
12:40 a.m. Goosetown
The Nuns of Brixton are a Clash cover band in which the members dress up like nuns. Do we need to say more? Yeah, we didn’t think so.


SUNDAY

Glowing House
7 p.m. Lost Lake
Your will to rally is probably weakening at this point, after two very late nights down on Colfax, so start the final night of the festival off with some acoustic guitars. Glowing House takes the best part of folk, country and simple singer-songwriter aesthetics to create something that is beautiful and moving. This is music that wants to dig into your bones and after a few songs, you’ll be happy to let it.

Men in Burka
8 p.m. Goosetown
At this point you’ve had two nights of loud guitars, so it’s time for something else entirely, which is exactly what Men In Burka offers. Experimental electronic artist Kamran Khan bills himself as the “Ramadan-dadaist of Denver” which makes about as much sense as his music. His work is innovative and invasive, and if you tend to stick to the normal punk-rock shows, you owe it to your hopefully open, music-loving brain to catch his live show. 

Dragondeer
10:20 p.m. Bluebird
Dragondeer is great for day drinking and fishing next to the swamp while gators sunbathe near you and your ex-boyfriend is blowing up your phone with angry texts you’re ignoring in between pulls of whiskey. It’s music for wandering down South Broadway in the summer, sticky with sweat, searching for the nearest party. Really, though, it’s bluesy and forceful, and you’ll wonder why you don’t have Dragondeer in heavy rotation after hearing Eric Halborg’s vocal chops.