Did the Underground Music Showcase return to form in RiNo?

The 2026 Underground Music Showcase (UMS) was more punk rock than in years past.

The 26-year-old music festival returned between July 24-26 at its new location in the RiNo Art District, a move that struck a sour chord in some longtime Denver music fans, ultimately culminating in an artist-run festival picking up UMS’s old stomping grounds down on South Broadway, and on the same weekend. And yes, Blucifer’s First Rodeo was a smashing success for the neighborhood, which had been left without hopes of a festival for a few dour months before its announcement.

Not only have fans and bands been upset that UMS was on the move, but some have been complaining for years that the festival had overstretched from its roots in showcasing (ha) actual bands from the actual city of Denver. For example, headliners in 2024 included the Australian tour de force Amyl and the Sniffers and the Brooklyn-based Beach Fossils.

Not so Denver. Not so underground.

But a move, a revitalization from local business, and a slight downscale on the national headliners ended up being beneficial for UMS. The festival has returned to its more underground, small roots.

All in all, the three-day fest felt like a move in the right direction.

Remember the days

Quick history lesson: UMS started with an incredible idea.

The festival began as a one-night affair back in 2001 when then-Denver Post reporters John Moore and Ricardo Baca set out to show off metro-area bands voted upon by 25 local music experts. 

The first poll and showcase included local powerhouses like 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club and future Grammy winners DeVotchKa.

The idea didn’t stay humble for long. Marketing agency Two Parts bought the UMS from the Denver Post in 2018, and then music nonprofit Youth on Record took on a minority stake in 2022. By its 20th year, the festival was bringing in around 200 national bands across three days and multiple venues and outdoor stages.

In 2025, the UMS LLC created by the two owners announced the year would be the last year of that iteration of the festival. Youth on Record and Two Parts shopped the idea around and eventually sold 50% stake to the RiNo BID Board. Youth on Record then separated from the festival. The BID will now serve as the presenting sponsor for at least three years with a $250,000 annual investment.

The new duo promised to keep UMS the way it was, with Keanan Stoner, CEO of Two Parts and director of the new UMS, telling Westword, “We knew we wanted it to be fairly recognizable to what it has been in the past.”

This year, the festival saw 180 bands across nine indoor venues and two outdoor stages on Larimer Street between 24th and 32nd streets. The big headliners were 54 Ultra, slenderbodies and Goldie Boutilier — three artists that are a bit less popular than some of the big names the festival brought in in the past, though popular in their own right.

Bustling, buzzing

RiNo is always busy on the weekends, but it was buzzing with life throughout UMS, even though temperatures were spiking in the 100s. Bike bars were bustling down the street, yelling and singing at swaths of pedestrian sporting festival wristbands. Restaurants were full, passersby were stopping in bars to see what the fuss was about.

The plethora of bars, breweries and restaurants in the area are already cool, so throwing a bevy of bands in backroom only made the neighborhood seem cooler.

For example, feminist punk quartet Battle Pussy kicked off the first night of the festival in the back area of Matchbox. Despite a storm postponing some of the first bands, the ski-mask-wearing group brought a strike of energy like the lightning going behind them, bringing about the anti establishment emotions the festival was built on. As they screamed, “no KKK, no fascist USA,” a group of wet people applauded in a cool summer storm. 

Then, Utah outfit Nadezhda brought its mix of thrash and sludge metal to the backrooms of Ratio Beerworks. The band slammed its ways through 40 minutes of high-energy tunes in a room filled with brewing equipment. It sounded good. It looked good.

The big stages are cool, but that’s not the point. It is about the small businesses. The small shows tucked in the coves you didn’t even know existed. Yeah, I’ve been to Ratio, but I had no clue there was a stage in the back.

It felt like being a part of something “Denver” again. Sure, the businesses may not have the punk grunge of some of the longstanding bars and venues on South Broadway. Sure, the newer, hipster-ish businesses in RiNo have a sheen to them, but it still felt like being included on some secret — despite hundreds of attendees.

The UMS was built on the idea of showcasing the bands unseen — the opposite of selling out. And when UMS was bought by Rino BID, some people thought it sold out. “I think a lot of people assume that we kind of did the sellout thing or the corporate route, but it really is almost anti that,” Stoner says.

“To people saying it sold out: UMS has never been more community-owned than it is right now. All of the businesses in RiNo own UMS,” Spencer Fronk, co-founder of Number 38 and member of the BID board, told Westword back in July.

That collection of businesses being on-board was tangible. For example, when some of the outdoor shows had to be cancelled due to lightning, other venues squeezed them in later in the evening.

To put it simply: It felt like being part of something Denver-centric, not just a festival plopped within the city for the sake of space. Even though a bunch of the UMS’ “legacy” bands, such as Wheelchair Sports Camp and Dressy Bessy, chose the Blucifer festival over UMS, there were still a countless amount of Denver newcomers and staples at the RiNo event.

Locally loved Soy Celesté ended Saturday night with a blaring trumpet, tambourine and Celesté Martinez‘s Latin vocals edging the line between yearning and demanding change from the patriarchy. Westword’s own Katrina Leibee brought ’90s guitar-pop revival (like a mix between early Taylor Swift and Sixpence None the Richer) to Improper City. Things seemed less corporate and more in the hands of artists and venues, a step in the right direction for the often-debated festival.

Other great bands

At the end of the day, it’s all about the music, right? Well, UMS had a bunch of great tunes and high energy pummeling the area.

First night headliner 54 Ultra was tucked back on one of the outdoor stages. To get to the stage, you had to go through a row of merch booths and sponsor tents. The layout felt a bit more organized than the seemingly plopped parking lot aspect of UMS past — but that could be considered a negative to some searching for the grungy aesthetic of what once was. 

Either way, 54 Ultra caused a pack crowd to dance in the summer night air. I’m not even sure what genre the band truly is, but it felt like putting on a silk robe after an almost-too-hot bubble bath and fragranced lotion you stole from your girlfriend. Luxury pop, truly.

There was also a wide array of incredible female-led punk and metal bands bringing politically driven heat to the fest, helping encapsulate that initial feeling of being both punk rock and against the grain. Along with the aforementioned Battle Pussy and Nadezhda, Mae Hunniford brought crunchy, guitar-driven bedroom punk to Matchstick. The heavy distortion contradicted Hunniford’s voice, which felt like a cool breeze on the steaming, hot day. 

Snooper hit an outdoor stage in the middle of a hot day, sounding like a wall of sunburnt sound with pulsating techno beats and distorted guitars shredding. The band, dressed in matching uniforms and performing synchronized dance moves, set the background for the singer’s purposefully shrill vocals. Despite the heavy heat, she went ballistic, dancing and jumping throughout the entire set.

In a completely different note, local artist Covenhoven brought sweet, soft sounds to a crowded Two Moons Music Hall — almost as if a goodbye to the already-dead venue that has brought joy and good tunes to the city for years. The venue officially shut down before the festival, but due to no current occupant and UMS already scheduling shows within, it continued throughout the fest. It was a bitter-sweet moment for the beloved and gone venue.

Moments like that felt important, like seeing the city you love back on its feet, back celebrating something. Yes, UMS is still far away from what it started as, and it will likely never return to that form, but the new iteration on RiNo felt like two steps back and then three steps forward in an entirely different direction. If the venues and BID can keep the spirit alive, UMS will continue to be a mainstay of the city’s concert calendar.

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