This week brings an interesting array to Denver: Billy Idol is still kicking, for example, and songwriting genius Todd Snider’s around as well. There are a few more (you can see some highlights below), but let’s not bury the lede. Sleater-Kinney is back and its tour comes to the Ogden…
Don’t look for a fancy sign or neon lights outside. Right off of West Colfax, west of Casa Bonita, Hyperspace arcade is a nondescript building with virtually no outside adornment. It does not have regular hours of operation for you to drop by and play some games. The proprietor repairs…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an ’80s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last week’s thrilling episode!…
New restrictions on the noise and end times for concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheater have been at the heart of a controversy involving EDM fans, residents of the nearby town of Morrison and the City of Denver, which operates the venue. As we reported last month, over 16,000 EDM fans…
This weekend brings plenty of good concerts to Colorado, including jam veteran moe., jazz mainstays Medeski, Martin & Wood and producer/DJ duo Nervo. The rest of our picks follow! See also: 50 Photos That Prove Red Rocks Is the Most Beautiful Venue on the Planet…
There are some new regulations in place for Red Rocks Amphitheatre this season, which you can read about here. Because there has been some controversy surrounding these changes, we asked Denver Arts and Venues Marketing and Communication Director Brian Kitts to talk about how these changes will (or won’t) affect…
While some of the more recent output from Lloyd Cole, known for his work in the ’80s with his group the Commotions, has been acoustically driven, he realized early on in the writing songs for his most recent effort, Standards, that he wanted to steer the album in more of…
The bar and restaurant at 3014 East Colfax Avenue had been previously going under three monikers: 3014, Odelay and the Beetle Bar. But when new owners Dave Cleland, John Elliott and Toby Waters took over the space last summer, they also wanted to consolidate the name and image of the…
Cursive’s 2003 Album, The Ugly Organ, has been described as a masterpiece, a benchmark and a career jumping off point for an already highly touted band. The album contains elements of song-writing and musical mastery and sold over 170,00 copies. But it can also be viewed as merely one of…
Editor’s Note: A few days ago, we published an article by a Minneapolis-based musician named Drew Ailes entitled Why Musicians Don’t Deserve to Get Paid. We hoped it would start some conversations, and it certainly has. You can read plenty of dissenting opinions in the comments section of that article…
The Family Dog opened in September 1967 and closed just a year later. In that short span, the venue was home to plenty of epic experiences. Janis Joplin started off the Family Dog’s time in Denver with the band Big Brother. The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Van…
By Jim Louvau The post-Cobain era of alternative rock was very kind to Gavin Rossdale and his band, Bush. The band’s multi-platinum debut record, Sixteen Stone, thrust them into mainstream and made Rossdale the crush of sixteen-year-old girls around the world. But let’s face it, Bush happened to be in…
Legendary Denver bluesman Otis Taylor, chilling in the hall outside the hectic Leslie Hindman auction room at the Denver Design Center late last month, scoffed when asked whether he was bidding on any of the nearly 500 pieces of memorabilia up for auction from the Caribou Ranch recording studio. “Everything…
Kalyn Heffernan is a musician (she fronts the band Wheelchair Sports Camp) and a teacher who works with Youth on Record. She’s also an avid music fan who regularly attends concerts around Denver. And she has osteogenesis imperfecta; as a result, she’s three feet, six inches tall and weighs just…
Kathyryn Ellinger wrote the Sleepers’ excellent new album, Drive, following the most harrowing decade of her life. On it, she appears to have reached the full potential of her considerable songwriting range. Ellinger, who goes by Kat, has played piano since she was a kid and has been a part…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an ’80s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last Week’s episode!!…
Linh England is currently in the running to win the Miss Viva Las Vegas Pin-Up Contest, part of a rockabilly celebration this April. Voting ended over the weekend, and now the Colorado native is waiting to hear the results. England has been involved in the local pinup-model world for the…
GNU: Experience Gallery, in its former location at 109 Linden Street in Fort Collins, provided an oasis of alternative culture to anyone who showed up. It was literally underground, next to Pin Ball Jones and relatively under the radar. But it hosted touring bands and regional acts willing to make…
flickr/Alexandre NormandDon’t make listening to music any harder than it already is.By Reed Fischer Love listening to music, but hate all the time and effort it takes to pick out something you like? Good news! There’s a burgeoning industry of vinyl subscription services, what they like to call “Netflix for…
Wilco, who celebrated twenty years together last year, will headline Red Rocks on Tuesday, July 14. Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Steve Gunn opens. General admission and reserved tickets ($45.50-$65) go on sale on Friday, February 6 at 10 a.m. Darius Rucker, who slated to release his fourth studio album in March, brings…
That was a pretty good sports game, everyone! There was football, sure, but also: dancing sharks! Eight-bit lions! Missy freaking Elliott! So that’s done. Now, to the business at hand: Denver concerts. There are plenty this week, including Wale tonight at the Gothic. The rest of our picks follow. See…
Elias Tempton, a grower for the Sicky Buds dispensary, also had a tiny grow operation for himself at home. He bought a radio and put it next to his plants, leaving it tuned to a classical music station twenty-four hours a day. “I noticed that there was a really distinct…
