Undergound Music Showcase Drops 2026 Lineup

The Underground Music Showcase will look a little — no, a lot — different this year.

The festival celebrated its 25th iteration in 2025, which was also its last year in the Baker neighborhood, where it had taken place since 2001. That left room for Blucifer’s First Rodeo, an all-local festival helmed by local musicians, to gallop onto the same stretch of Broadway from July 23-26.

But UMS is indeed returning, on that same weekend (minus July 23). This time, the festival will happen in RiNo — a major vibe-shift — and without Youth on Record, the nonprofit that bought a stake in the event in 2022. However, what hasn’t changed is a great lineup of local artists.

Two Parts, the agency that took over UMS from the Denver Post in 2018, is hosting UMS alongside the RiNo Business Improvement District, and the three-day festival just announced a lineup that includes 200 performances across main stages, independent venues and other spaces like galleries and studios throughout the neighborhood.

“This year’s lineup really reflects what UMS has always been about — putting local artists and nationally touring acts in conversation with each other,” says festival director Keanan Stoner. “We have artists coming through Denver appearing at festivals like Coachella, OutsideLands and Lollapalooza this year, but what makes UMS special is getting to experience them in a more intimate, discovery-driven setting alongside the artists shaping Denver’s music scene. We’re excited to bring that experience into RiNo in a way that still feels unmistakably UMS.”

Terry Madesksza, executive director of RiNo BID, adds, “Discovering new artists and experiencing them in unexpected venues is central to the UMS experience and RiNo creates the perfect environment for that spirit to keep growing. Throughout the weekend, music will spill out across venues, bars, galleries, creative studios and other spaces, giving people new ways to explore RiNo, discover new artists and support the more than 100 businesses that make the district so special. UMS is exactly the kind of district-wide experience RiNo was built for.”

Underground Music Showcase 2026 Lineup

Touring musicians include:

• 54 Ultra, the solo project of JohnAnthony Rodriguez, who blends bilingual Latin soul with ’60s sonics and synth-driven pop rock
• slenderbodies, an indie-pop duo that describes itself as “obsessed with guitars and falsetto”
• Goldie Boutilier, the Nova Scotian singer-songwriter who makes cinematic noir-pop
• Kaash Paige, the Dallas rapper who has a management deal with Roc Nation
• Tommy Newport, who blends indie pop and soul with falsetto
• Charlotte Sands, a pop-rock singer-songwriter who emulates early-2000s pop punk
• MAVI, a rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina, who is currently touring through Europe
• Twin Shadow, the new wave, synth-pop project from Dominican-American musician George Lewis Jr.
• KiNG MALA, the project from Areli Castro, a Los Angeles-based alt-pop artist who explores R&B and industrial sounds
• Deb Never, another L.A.-based musician who blends hip-hop, R&B, grunge and pop
• The Droptines, an Austin-based alternative-Americana band that blends rock and country music
• BAD NERVES, a power-pop rock band from Essex

There will also be 160 local bands and artists, some of whom will also be at Blucifer’s First Rodeo. Some highlights are:

• All My Senses, a post-hardcore band out of Fort Collins
• Bitstream Bleed, a Best of Denver award winner that blends pop, grunge and shoegaze
• Bluebook, another Best of Denver award winner for Best Band; the group creates a dreamy, deep sound you can’t hear anywhere else
• Boot Gun, a Denver rock band that gets you movin’ and groovin’
• Bruha, a bilingual Denver indie-rock group that merges surf-punk and Latin sonics
• Cleaner, a Denver crew that makes scintillating punk rock
• Colfax Speed Queen, a true Denver classic that’s played UMS since pretty much the beginning
• Covenhoven, a folk singer-songwriter who wrote one of our favorite albums last year
• DESTINO, a high-energy and absolutely addictive pop artist
• DNA Picasso, one of the best rappers in the region
• Dominique Christina, a spellbinding singer-songwriter and poet who oozes mystical energy
• DVNEHPPY, a Fort Collins-based performer we named one of the hip-hop artists to watch this year
• E.M.E., an enigmatic Afro-fusion performer who won a Best of Denver award for his debut album, Foreigner
• HOME, one of the most significant R&B artists in the area
• iies, an experimental jazz-rap group
• iZCALLi, a Latin rock group that’s a UMS staple
• Jade Oracle, some of the best neo-soul in Denver
• Katrina Leibee, a country singer-songwriter and Westword‘s social media editor
• Kayla Marque, a dreamy pop artist who will have you wrapped around her finger
• Lady Los, a soulful singer-songwriter who is also a national-award-winning basketball coach for Denver East
• Lane-O, another of one of the best Denver rappers
• Malcolm Whyz3, a phenomenal Denver rapper who gets the crowd moving
• May Be Fern, one of Denver’s preeminent funk-rock bands
• Monica The Great, the cover girl of our annual People to Watch issue and bilingual rapper who was signed to Universal Masters
• Nina de Freitas, a singer-songwriter who’s a UMS must-see
• Pleasure Prince, a synthy duo that leaves you mystified
• Rebecca Hartt, a phenomenal singer-songwriter who blends soul and pop
• Ritmo Cascabel, a bumbiadelica band from Denver that blends cumbia and rock
• Rootbeer Richie & the Reveille, a bluesy rock band that’s one of our favorites
• Rugburn, excellent garage rock from Denver
• Shadow Work, a rock band that put on one of our favorite sets at FoCoMX
• Soy Celesté, a Latin feminist punk-rock group
• Telly, a fantastic rapper and singer who blends R&B, pop and hip-hop
• TheyCallHimAP, a classic Colorado rapper
• Yugs, a phenomenal indie artist

Underground Music Showcase 2026 Tickets

Weekend passes, starting at $95, are available now at undergroundmusicshowcase.com.