Jonathan RichmanWednesday, July 1, 2009Lion’s LairBetter than: Seeing an energetic and earnest singer/songwriter play at the Bluebird or the Fillmore. It seemed perfectly appropriate that Jonathan Richman opted to perform in the cramped confines of the Lion’s Lair. The bar’s small scope and understated feel served as a perfect complement…

See more photos from Fidel’s at westword.com/slideshow. Yerkish, 12 p.m. The crowd inside the cramped cantina is building slowly as Yerkish takes the stage, and the band wastes no time in laying out its frenetic, frantic rhythms. It’s a dynamic complimented by lead singer Tim Kaminski’s impassioned, insistent vocals and…

Punk Rocks: Offspring, Alkaline Trio, The Vandals, Street Dogs, Frontside FiveRed Rocks AmphitheaterThursday, May 28, 2009 Better than: Attending a purported punk festival at the Pepsi Center. It was an unlikely forum for a punk show. Red Rocks Amphitheater isn’t the first venue that pops into my mind when I…

Trouble Andrew, Natural Selection, Boyhollow Monday, May 25, 2009 Bluebird Theater Better than: Celebrating Memorial Day outside in the rain. Talk about having the odds stacked against you. In addition to playing on a holiday, the acts at the Bluebird on Monday night had to compete with the Nuggets playoff…

Flight of the Conchords, Iron & Wine, Arj Barker Saturday, May 16, 2009 Red Rocks Amphitheater Better than: Going to a show to see bands that take themselves far too seriously. I’m leery about using the word “comedy” when describing the music of Flight of the Conchords. Don’t get me…

Talk about an unlikely combination. The meditative sounds of Iron and Wine, driven by the earnest lyrics and Travis picking of frontman Sam Beam, usually make for a calm and staid live performance. Comedy, meanwhile, plays a central role in the music of Flight of the Conchords, whose shows boast…

Mogwai, Women Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Bluebird Theater Better than: Listening to layered and nuanced instrumental music as background. Instrumental music is not dead. For all the prominence of vocal-driven music in the modern pop scene, a careful and dynamic approach to the subtleties of instrumental music can still draw…

Gene Ween Saturday, May 10, The Walnut Room Sunday, May 11, The b.side lounge Better than: Hearing Gene Ween play a bunch of solo songs you don’t recognize. Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman) perhaps best summarized the dynamic of his trio of Colorado shows early on during his first performance…

The prospect is more than a bit jarring: Seeing one of the founders of Ween play a show without the other seems comparable to catching a Bud Abbot routine minus Lou Costello. But Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman) is taking a break in Ween’s demanding live and studio schedules to…

Christopher Rigel wishes he thought more like a novelist. “I’d say the written word is just as big an influence for me as the musical side of things,” says the Light Travels Faster frontman. “Ginsberg, Burroughs. I love the way Vonnegut structures things. Now, that — his way of composing…

The Kills haven’t let artistic progression compromise their minimalism. For nearly ten years, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince have offered a defiant, stripped-down brand of indie rock, music that’s reveled in the power of stark and simplistic ingredients. While 2008’s Midnight Boom showed a maturation of sound and sentiment from…

Single File, Epilogues, Set Forth, Frequent SeaFriday, April 3Gothic TheatreBetter than: Celebrating Denver’s native music scene at home alone.An almost palpable sense of native pride seemed to float through the Gothic Theatre during Single File’s CD release show Friday night. The feeling of homegrown accomplishment came through in the dense…

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the members of Alan Alda are joking. Engaging the threesome is like stepping straight into a steady barrage of inside jokes, tongue-in-cheek pop-culture references and friendly sarcasm. Levity is clearly part of this group’s inner workings. But the casual tone shifts abruptly to earnestness…

Andrew Bird, Lonely DearThursday, February 26, 2009Ogden TheaterBetter than: Having a good show ruined by an obnoxious audience.Andrew Bird’s stage entrance at the Ogden Thursday night boasted all the careful ceremony and staid splendor of a religious rite. His fast establishment of a dynamic stage presence and quick offering of…

Photo: Gary Isaacs DeVotchKa, Quixotic Friday, Feb. 13 Paramount Theater Better than: Seeing one of Denver’s most effusive and entrancing local acts in a stripped-down, sullen setting. Atmosphere can make a big difference.I’ve seen members of DeVotchKa play in various incarnations and in a wide variety of venues during the…

Last week on Mile High Fidelity, my new show on 101.5 FM, I marveled at how we’d seamlessly segued from the station’s regular programming to our all-local music mix. In the not-too-distant past, listeners might have made unconscious concessions for the homegrown work, assuming that the production and songwriting would…

Noel Gallagher has returned to his roots. For the Oasis helmsman, the homecoming has not involved laborious genealogical research or reuniting with childhood friends. Instead, it’s meant ceding control of production duties on the band’s latest album, Dig Out Your Soul, setting out on a worldwide tour and getting drunk…

Incubus bassist Ben Kenney isn’t letting the band’s year-long hiatus keep him out of the studio or off the road. The former Roots guitarist is keeping himself plenty busy pushing his latest solo album, Distance and Comfort, on which he wears all the hats as producer, mixer, writer and performer:…

Rise Against’s commercial prospects keep looking better and better. The Chicago-based band’s latest album, Appeal to Reason, debuted at the number-three spot on Billboard’s Top 200 chart in October, and the act is taking advantage of the exposure with a world tour that includes a pair of dates at the…