Photo by Sam Zalkin (@photodoritos_) courtesy of Ghost Canyon
Audio By Carbonatix
Planning a good music festival is no easy feat, especially in a city like Denver, which already supports a wide range of tight-knit music scenes, several summer festivals and some of the country’s most recognizable tour stops. Still, the organizers of the niche Ghost Canyon Festival, now in its fourth year, have put together an outstanding lineup of music from around the country, set for this weekend across Broadway.
Ghost Canyon Festival will take place from Thursday, Aug. 27 to Sunday, Aug. 30, with shows at Hi-Dive, Skylark Lounge, HQ, Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar and the Bug Theatre (the lone venue not located on Broadway). Ahead of the festival, Westword caught up with two of the fest’s organizers, Sean Dove and Brian Dooley, who are ready for the expectations that come with a few years of momentum and more pre-sale tickets sold.
“It’s just logistics zone right now,” Dove says of the final few weeks ahead of the event. “I think this year, we’ve got a lot more pre-sales, so that’s something we’re grappling with currently. And … a plan for managing the crowds and managing ins and outs, and things like that.'”
Courtesy of Kowloon Walled City
But at the end of the day, Dooley can see that high ticket sales are “the opposite problem of what they usually have,” adding that it’s been a “slow burn” getting the event to this point.
“We’ve really appreciated everyone’s support and the growth we’ve been getting,” he says.
Dove says the organizing team has been through the “eye of the storm.” But “all the hard stuff is out of the way, and now we’re just kind of coasting and waiting for everything to happen.”
As Ghost Canyon has grown, so has the sense of organization behind it. The crew started the booking and scheduling process earlier this year, according to Dooley and Dove, helping them secure headliners and acts earlier than in previous years. This has made it easier to build out the rest of the festival, which spans across the four organizers’ musical taste spectrums.
Expansion has also allowed the festival to showcase a backlog of artists they had hoped to feature in past festivals. For example, they’ve asked Oakland-based noise rockers Kowloon Walled City for the past three years, but the timing had never panned out … until they tried again for year-four.
Although festival organizers don’t have a formal mission statement to follow, one of their major goals is to bring talent to Denver that might not normally pass through, according to Dove.
“The big one that I think drives us is, who can we bring here who might not normally come through Denver, who might not tour through here, or might not do a one-off,” he explains. “Those are the kinds of things where we really try to throw our weight around and be like, ‘Okay, Kowloon Walled City has not played Denver; let’s bring them here. Let’s do what we can, and then we’ll figure the rest out and build something around them.'”
See an example of Kowloon Walled City below:
Some of the headliners for the weekend include the aforementioned Kowloon Walled City, Steve Von Till of Neurosis notoriety, and Denver’s very own Midwife. Other top-ticket artists include Philadelphia-based poet, rapper, activist and free jazz act Moor Mother, as well as Missoula’s Silkworm and LA-based, Canadian experimental composer claire rousay.
“We usually have a few tentpole acts that we reach out to first, and, hopefully, when we get yeses from them, that helps us figure out, ‘Okay, here’s what we have to work with, here are some complementary artists that we could fill in around these things,'” Dove says. “And that came together more easily than it has in the past this year.”
Beyond the many acts from out of state, the lineup also includes a hefty dose of Denver favorites such as post-metal acts Circling Over and Abandons, jagged post-punk act Supreme Joy, hardcore punks Arson Charge and experimental duo Ryan Wong and Sun Swept, to name a few.
Those with an ear for the ambient and experimental may want to check out the Thursday showcase at HQ, or the newly added ambient showcase at Bug Theatre, presented alongside One Straw Productions.
Others looking for heavier showcases will want to check out the Friday and Saturday night shows at Hi-Dive, which feature Silkworm, Steve von Till, Supreme Joy and more, as well as Sunday’s show at Skylark, headlined by the softer, emotive and ethereal act Midwife. You’ll also find more intimate performances of heavy and experimental music at the Friday and Sunday shows at Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar; those include Six Organs of Adminittance, Prairieworlf, Circling Over, Arson Charge and Burn Barrel.
This year, the event has also expanded its network of sponsors, including Braeburn Records, The Ghost is Clear Records, Smashed Plastic, Skinsuit, Power Goth Recordings and Wax Trax, among several others. The festival has also added a Thursday night panel discussion, entitled “DIY in the age of slop,” which is sponsored by Smashed Plastic.
Additionally, Music City Hot Chicken’s Denver location is providing lunch to all the festival’s artists, and a special lunch deal for weekend pass holders.
The event comes just a month after Blucifer’s First Rodeo and the Underground Music Festival, both of which shared positive results despite uncertainty about being held on the same hot weekend in July. Unlike those festivals, however, Ghost Canyon has a linear show schedule that doesn’t include competing showcases, so attendees won’t have to stress about scheduling their weekends or missing artists who are playing at the same time.
Courtesy Alana Wool
“There are people who I’m sure I’ll be seeing from Friday afternoon through Sunday night, who stick around through the whole thing. So it’s a cool atmosphere in that way,” Dove says.
While weekend passes for the festival are already sold out, the two say the individual shows offer some great bills that concertgoers will enjoy. Dooley says this is also a part of the team’s curation mindset, emphasizing that music fans will have a lot to look forward to in just grabbing tickets for one or two shows.
“One of the things that I’ve always felt strongly about is, yes, we get a good amount of those Friday-to-Sunday people, but I think we always strive to have a good single show that, hey, maybe the whole lineup isn’t for you, but you really want to see Silkworm and you really want to see some of the openers we have for that show,” he adds. “Just come out this year. Try one show. Try two shows.”
The weekend passes are gone, Dooley says, but you can still grab single-night tickets, “and if you can come out to one of them, I think you’ll get a good portion of the experience.”
Ghost Canyon Festival is taking place from Thursday, Aug. 27 to Sunday, Aug. 30, across multiple venues on South Broadway. Weekend Festival Passes are sold out, but you can grab single-show passes for around $26 to $37, depending on the night.