Tim McGuire
Audio By Carbonatix
Dumpstaphunk returns to Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom on Saturday, February 14, cruising on the momentum of a calendar that refuses to slow down. For keyboardist Ivan Neville, the show is less about tour routing and more about continuing a relationship with a city that’s quietly become part of the band’s extended family. The willingness of Denver crowds to open up their minds to new sounds makes this a hot destination for bands like Dumpstaphunk to play on a yearly basis.
“We have been to Cervantes’ many times over the years with different configurations in different capacities with all-star jam bands,” Neville says. “We really dig playing there.”
Cervantes’ has long served as Denver’s spiritual outpost for improvisational music, a room where funk, jazz, bluegrass and psychedelic rock bleed together and are amplified under the low ceilings and bright lights. Dumpstaphunk fits that lineage easily, especially given the band’s ability to slide between groove-heavy funk and open-ended jam sections without losing the crowd. One noteworthy aspect of Dumpstaphunk’s discography is its ability to craft a sound derived from funk and jazz that fuses beautifully with elements of the jam-band genre, with extended rhythms that become very experimental within many of Dumpstaphunk’s songs.
This show comes at a particularly propitious time, with the band coming right off of Jam Cruise and a show at Tipitina’s in New Orleans on February 13.“This coming weekend is the weekend before Mardi Gras,” Neville notes, “so we’re going to be busting through with our Mardi Gras vibe in Denver.”
That timing matters. In New Orleans, the weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday aren’t just festive, they’re sacred. Brass bands roam Bourbon Street and beads hang from every balcony. Music feels less like entertainment and more like a public utility. When Dumpstaphunk hits the road during this stretch, the band carries that energy with it, even if the crowd is bundled up in hoodies instead of costume masks.
Denver has proven receptive to that spirit over the years. The city’s jam-leaning audience, raised on Phish, String Cheese Incident and Billy Strings, instinctively understands what Dumpstaphunk is doing: turning rhythm into a communal event. The crowd at Cervantes’ will not only be welcoming, but should embrace the different energy with an enthusiasm hard to find at other venues around the country.
“We know for a fact, because previous shows and our relationship with Denver over the years have created a bond with some music-loving folks that love to come hang and party,” Neville says.
That bond has been built slowly, through repeat visits and shared lineups. Dumpstaphunk has appeared at Cervantes in various forms — sometimes headlining, sometimes collaborating, sometimes slipping into festival bills where funk is the connective tissue between genres. The result is a crowd that doesn’t just show up; it listens.
The February 14 show will feature a particularly Denver-friendly opener: the Joey Porter Trio. Known for his keyboard wizardry and experimental instincts, Porter adds a hometown edge to the bill. “Joey Porter Trio is opening for us, we dig Joey a lot and he is going to bring something very interesting to the stage that night,” Neville says. “Being a Denver cat, the locals know what he’s about and he is going to bring a lot of flavor to the bill.”
That’s the kind of lineup Cervantes’ thrives on: a local favorite warming up the room before a national act with deep improvisational credentials takes over. Dumpstaphunk has built its reputation through relentless touring and creating shows that stretch and reshape the act nightly. Will anything unexpected happen onstage, like a Joey Porter sit-in or some surprise extended jams?
Neville pauses, then answers: “It’s a possibility.”
In the jam-band lexicon, that’s a promise without being one.
What certain is that this band will arrive in Denver on the echo of a cruise ship full of musicians, a New Orleans hometown show, and the psychic weight of Mardi Gras season. So at Cervantes’ on Valentine’s Day, instead of roses and prix fixe menus, you can get something closer to a street parade: funk rhythms, extended grooves and a crowd that knows exactly why it showed up. Denver may not be New Orleans, but for one night, the connection will feel close enough.
Dumpstaphunk with Hoey Porter Trio, Saturday, February 14, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom; tickets are available via the Cervantes’ website.
