Kelly Clarkson headlines the Pepsi Center this week, and Florence + the Machine, Sam Smith, Milk Chance, Walk the Moon will be at Red Rocks. The full list of our picks follows. MONDAY, AUGUST 3 Florence + the Machine $49.95-$69.50 8:00PM Red Rocks Amphitheatre Melissa Etheridge $72-$77 6:30PM Denver Botanic Gardens…
Though not originally from Denver, DJ, producer and party thrower Max Klaw has spent a good amount of time here, bringing great events to the city. Klaw skipped off to New York about five years ago, leaving a legacy of successful nights across the Mile High City like Sex Panther…
On Saturday, August 1, Khemmis unleashes the physical copies of its debut full-length, Absolution, on 20 Buck Spin at the hi-dive. The four-piece came together in Denver at the end of 2012 when bassist Dan Beiers spotted recent transplant Ben Hutcherson’s Craigslist ad and got in touch. The ad featured…
Since he started recording and touring with Frank Zappa in the early ’80s, Steve Vai has shown that he’s one of the world’s great guitarists. But he also really enjoys is teaching, giving master classes around the globe. And last year, Vai launched the Vai Academy in Vail, which drew…
This weekend’s best concerts include the Telluride Jazz Festival, the Vans Warped Tour, Motley Crue and Alice Cooper at the Pepsi Center and Hozier at Red Rocks. Check the full list of our picks below. ALL WEEKEND Telluride Jazz Festival $105-$575 3-day pass Telluride Town Park Denver Vintage Jazz Festival…
Had you walked into Bardo Coffee House last Sunday afternoon, you would have seen four dudes — one wearing a shirt with cats on it — crammed onto a couch, trying not to spill tea on themselves or the one female member of their group, who perched comfortably in the…
David J is scheduled to DJ at Lipgloss on Friday, July 31. Born David J. Haskins, David J is perhaps best-known to music fans as the bassist and sometime singer in influential post-punk bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets. Haskins is also an accomplished author whose plays have garnered critical…
Yes, vomitstep is a thing. The dubstep world has outdone itself with this gross new form of music that’s like dubstep, but “wobblier.” To politely vomitstep, make sure you are near a toilet or have a barf bag on hand. EDM music is known for its bizarre off-set of genres…
Country legend Merle Haggard will be at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs on Thursday, September 3. Tickets ($45-$65) go on sale on Friday, July 31 at 10 a.m. Charles Bradley, who opened for Belle & Sebastien at Red Rocks last month, returns to the area with a headlining show…
Hunting hot new local music takes commitment – many of us devote our otherwise worthless lives to it — but not everyone has that kind of time. Now, as it turns out, there’s an app for that. Or at least there will be. “We’re very, very new,” says Matt Cannata,…
Atlanta-based jam-band pioneers Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit spent a lot of time on the road in the early ’90s, and plenty of it was in Colorado. “I guess we played about thirty cities in Colorado,” says Bruce Hampton. “We covered it. We would stay up there…
Bob Drake is playing his first-ever all-solo show in nearly four decades of performing music internationally. Hardly a pop star, Drake is nevertheless a legend in Denver avant-garde music circles and an accomplished sound engineer whose production flourishes grace the work of mainstream artists. He grew up in Ohio and…
Luigi Ramirez’s dad rolls up in a van with flames painted on the hood, and two little kids — Luigi’s brother and sister — get out and start hauling drum stands to the tent. Luigi, skinny and dressed in black, lugs the kick. A pudgy dude in khaki shorts inspects…
Since debuting with the beautifully eccentric An Awesome Wave in 2012, Alt-J (which has described its songs as being about “maths and sex”) has become a stalwart at major music festivals around the world, sampling — and befriending — Miley Cyrus, picking up a Grammy nomination for last year’s This…
Perhaps the most unusual act of this past weekend’s Underground Music Showcase was Magic Sword. This mysterious trio hails from Boise, Idaho and the two musicians perform incognito while a third member handles the projections in a way that is far from obvious. “I try to set up in a way…
In certain circles, conventional wisdom holds that there is a “Denver sound” — the Gothic Americana embodied by the likes of 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, The Denver Gentlemen and whatever project of Jaysun Munly’s you’d care to name. Absurdly enough, some people even try to place all kinds…
Jana Hunter has helped make some of the most fascinating music of the past decade. Having joined in numerous collaborations — including a peripheral involvement playing with the legendary Houston noise/psych band Indian Jewelry as well as Sharon Van Etten and CocoRosie – she’s contributed considerably to the world of…
There are some big shows at the Pepsi Center (Imagine Dragons, and Chicago and Earth Wind & Fire). Also this week: Alt-J and TV on the Radio, and HARD Red Rocks at Red Rocks, Fall Out Boy and Wiz Khalifa at Fiddler’s Green and Charli XCX and Bleachers at the…
When the UMS line-up was first coming together, I had no intention of attending. There were so many reasons not to go. The last two years’ shows have been diabolically crowded, and there are always other, less packed places to see local bands. Besides, summer in Denver of late has…
This past weekend, I made a joke on Twitter that the hardest part about attending UMS isn’t trying to see as many bands as you can fit into your schedule, but actually getting from one venue to another without running into (and talking to) 2,500 people along the way. As…
Watching Street Fever feels like going to a dance party in the Mad Max universe. The DJ, in a tight leather jacket and a heavy-metal mask with eyes that glow and change colors with the beats, looks like an alien. In front of him, standing on a chair, is a…
When Matthew Shipp writes music, he says he thinks about the people he’s playing with, and the innovative jazz pianist tries to get material that works with their personalities. Then he just lets it unfold like a play. “I’m always thinking of Scene One, Scene Two, Scene Three and some…
