Olivia Rodrigo, Journey and the Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Tonight, Disney star turned pop star/receiver of Courtney Love’s ire Olivia Rodrigo plays the first of two nights at the Mission Ballroom. Journey is coming to the Ball Arena with TOTO, as well.

Tuesday, April 12, brings Croation cello bros 2CELLOS to the 1STBANK Center. Brooklyn post-punk outfit Bootblacks will be at HQ, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre swings by the Ogden.

And on Wednesday, April 13, the Story So Far is playing pop punk at the Mission Ballroom. KennyHoopla is playing at two different venues on the same night. And Steve Gunn will play his trippy mellow indie at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday and at Globe Hall on Thursday, April 14.

Olivia Rodrigo
Monday, April 11, 8 p.m., and Tuesday, April 12, 8 p.m.
Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$49.95-$90
Olivia Rodrigo comes from a long line of Disney television stars who’ve graduated to being pop singers. And she does make pop music, no doubt. But it is really kind of better than that of her predecessors. It’s also cool that she drew the online ire of Courtney Love for posing for a promotional photo that was allegedly too close to Hole’s Live Through This album cover from 1994. Kids today: They love their ’90s nostalgia.

Journey
Monday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle
$49.95-$129.50
If Journey and TOTO fail to play “Don’t Stop Believin” and “Africa,” respectively, the Dark Lord Cthulhu (Hail, Cthulhu!) will return to our earthly realm and bring terror for 10,000 years. TOTO also has to play “Roseanna” or “Hold the Line.” Sorry, it’s not just being a good showman; it’s the law.

2CELLOS
Tuesday, April 12, 8 p.m.
1STBANK Center, 11450 Broomfield Lane, Broomfield
$49.95-$129.95
The cello is probably the easiest of the classical stringed instruments to look cool with on stage. Okay, maybe the double bass, but who wants to lug one of those all the way from the Balkans? Anyway, if you want to see a Croatian dude and a Slovenian dude mash up Beethoven’s Fifth with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” check out 2CELLOS. Seriously though, it probably wouldn’t work if they played violas. 2VIOLAS doesn’t have quite the same ring.

Bootblacks
Tuesday, April 12, 8 p.m.HQ, 60 South Broadway
$10-$80
Brooklyn’s Bootblacks came into being about twelve years ago but its brand of pop punk wouldn’t feel out of place in 1982 on stage with bands like the Cure or the Sound. With this show, you get Plague Garden, a post-punk band that started as a side project of members of Denver industrial duo eHpH and death-rock act Redwing Blackbird and has released two albums.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Tuesday, April 12, 8 p.m.
Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax Ave
$32-$65
Although they bear little to no similarity in musical styles, many ’90s bands took great pride in punny and borderline offensive band names – or fully offensive, in the case of Jon Cougar Concentration Camp There was also REO Speedealer, which became Speedealer after a similarly named band took issue, and legal action. And of course, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, which is coming to town and brining fellow neo-psychedelic rockers Mercury Rev along for the ride. Come to giggle at the name. Stay for the music.

KennyHoopla
Wednesday, April 13, 8 p.m.
Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue
$22
Everyone under the age of about forty grew up with a copious amount of hip-hop. Not everyone grows up to be a rapper, but the influence of the world’s most resourceful musical tradition has definitely seeped into the rock music. KennyHoopla makes music that’s firmly in the indie-rock realm, but the hip-hop influence is undeniable. If you need some more following the Bluebird show, he’s heading up the street to Lost Lake Lounge to play a DJ set at 11 p.m. It’ll cost you another ten-spot.
The Story So Far
Wednesday, April 13, 8 p.m.Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$32.50-$37.50
That pop-punk revival is in full-tilt boogie at the moment. Even the rappers are turning into pop punkers. It’s only a matter of time before they get the rest of us. Come see The Story So Far –  which started in 2007 and can claim a little bit of seniority –  so you can get a feel for the genre before it becomes an insurgent political movement. Its primary ethos will be “Learn to scream, but not in a threatening way, and play bass. Or die.”

Steve Gunn
Wednesday, April 13, 8 p.m.
Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder
$20-$22.50
Thursday, April 14, 8 p.m.
Globe Hall, 4483 Logan Street, Denver
$23
Steve Gunn has put out about two dozen full-lengths and EPs since 2007, both as a solo artist and in various collaborations. For a time, he was a member of Kurt Vile’s backup band the Violators. His latest record, Nakama, fuses mellow indie rock with psychedelic elements. It’s music you hear after being slapped over the head. An ocean of black ink opened up and we all dove in. It had not bottom, to paraphrase Raymond Chandler. He’s playing one show in Boulder and one in Denver the following day.

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