Globeville Staple Crash 45 Is Closing This Week

More changes are coming to Globeville’s nightlife scene. Just a few weeks after the Sidewinder Tavern went on the market, Crash 45 announced last night that this would be its last few days in operation. The bar, which was the Portulaca Cafe and then the White Owl before metal artist…

Four Things You Should Know About Opening for Famous Bands

Photo by Clever Cupcakes via FlickrAs close as a typical opening band might get to meeting KISS.By Chris Lane Your band has been playing shows for a while and seems to be getting popular. Perhaps you’re still just rising stars on the hometown circuit or have hit the road a…

Denver Metal Musicians on Stage Security and Violence at Shows

Stage security has been a contentious issue in the decade since the death of Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe was famously cleared of manslaughter in Czech Republic after a fan died from complications of a stage diving injury in 2010. More recently, NOFX vocalist…

The Twelve Best Concerts in Denver This Week

It’s another big week for live music in Denver. Be sure to catch Esme Patterson at the Bluebird on Wednesday, and head back the next night for Minneapolis rapper P.O.S. The rest of our picks follow. See also: 50 Ways to Support Your DIY Music Community…

Don’t Look at These Photos From Skinny Puppy’s Denver Show While Eating

Kicking off early with relatively short sets from Youth Code, Haujobb and Front Line Assembly, this weekend’s Skinny Puppy show at the Ogden Theater seemed refreshingly succinct. And everyone, crowd and performers alike, seemed in good spirits. It was mostly electronic music, but what sets these particular artists apart from…

Shakey Graves’s Sold Out Weekend Was a Celebration of Denver Music

Halfway through Shakey Graves’s final Denver show of the weekend, he decided to bring out “a local badass” by the name of Gregory Alan Isakov. Together, with local fiddler Jeb Bows, they performed a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Colorado Girl” that left few dry eyes in the sold-out Bluebird…

Rufus Turns On The Charm

[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s 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 of Rufus Baxter…

The Eighteen Best Shows in Denver This Weekend

Another huge weekend in Denver, including the second and third sold-out Shakey Graves shows at the Bluebird. Elsewhere, pop god Fleetwood Mac plays the Pepsi Center and doom hero Pallbearer is in town on Sunday. The rest of our picks follow…

How Colorado Gives Day Impacted Music Nonprofits, By the Numbers

On Colorado Gives Day, consumers are encouraged to log off Amazon.com and support their favorite local non-profit through an online donation. Landing right before the holidays, the fundraising day is organized to end off the financial year on a high note. Here in Denver, there are almost a dozen major…

Why Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Album Isn’t Rumours

The first two albums Fleetwood Mac (playing tonight, December 12, at the Pepsi Center) released after Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Christine McVie, bassist John McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood provided the pop soundtrack of the late 1970s. The tender nature of singles like “Landslide,” the mysticism of “Rhiannon,”…

New Jazz Label (R)evolve Hopes to Champion Inventive Young Artists

While studying jazz at the University of Northern Colorado, saxophonist Jared Atol and drummer Nick Spreigl, who also plays with Air Dubai, saw a lot students spending a good deal of time practicing and composing. Some would put still more time into recording albums, but then not doing anything with…

The Greatest Industrial Tour in Recent Memory Comes to Denver Tomorrow

Front Line Assembly is part of what is arguably the greatest electronic industrial music tour in years. Alongside Skinny Puppy, Haujobb and Youth Code, FLA will take the stage this Friday, December 12, at the Ogden Theatre. All together, the lineup represents major stars of experimental electronic music from their…

The Fourteen Best Colorado Music Festivals of 2014

As if the packed schedules at all the local venues weren’t enough, Colorado had more festivals this year than we could keep track of. While not every one was worthy of a year-end mention, many were. From the small to the massive, from the noise to the punk, from the…

Remembering the Late, Great Donald Byrd

Yesterday brought upon us the birthday of the late, great, sir Donald Byrd. Mr. Byrd passed away on February 4th, 2013 at the age of 80. He is celebrated as one of the most influential jazz trumpeters to emerge from the bebop era, and his career spanned more than forty…

The Birthday Party That Changed Guitarist Peter Stelling’s Life

When Annabel Lukins Stelling turned forty last year, she and her husband hosted one hell of a birthday bash. Two hundred fifty friends, many involved in the Colorado or national music communities, were strewn across the lawn of her Boulder home. “I am not the only one who thinks my…

How the Samples Went From Nursing Homes to the Fillmore

The Samples are among the most successful bands ever to come out of Colorado. But primary songwriter and singer Sean Kelly got his start far away from the mountains, playing for unlikely audiences.As a young man, Kelly and his fledgling band, the Last Straw, couldn’t get the time of day…