The Top 10 Power Ballads of All Time

Photo by Helge Øverås via Wikimedia CommonsIf we’re being completely honest, power ballads are responsible for some of the most resonant music-listening experiences in the entire world. They’re a beautiful blend of sentiment and obviousness, a band willfully becoming emotionally available. Everybody makes fun of the power ballad, because sometimes…

The Ten Best Concerts of the Summer

Red Rocks hosted the last concerts of its regular concert series a little over a week ago, signaling the official end of the summer concert season in Colorado. This week on the Backbeat blog, we’re looking back at some of our favorite shows of 2014’s warmest months. Note that we…

The Sidewinder Tavern Is For Sale, Faces an Uncertain Future

The future of the music venue and bar known as The Sidewinder Tavern is currently up in the air. The building housing the establishment is on sale, two years after Sidewinder opened its doors. The hundred-year-old building has been home to numerous bars over the years. Both the business and…

How Local Radio Stations Help Denver Bands

Dragondeer is a quickly rising star among Denver bands, playing sets at SXSW and Red Rocks (for Film on the Rocks) earlier this year. But when members Eric Halborg, Cole Rudy, Carl Sorensen and Casey Sidwell stepped into OpenAir’s spacious studio last winter to record a live session, they had…

Yazoo BBQ on Broadway Will Now Host Rooftop Concerts

Last summer Yazoo BBQ Company owner Don Hines expanded his 700-square-foot spot at 2150 Broadway, which he opened fourteen years ago, to close to 5,000 square feet, adding to the kitchen and interior dining area, as well as building a patio and rooftop deck. About a month ago, Hines secured…

Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife on Why Shows Start Earlier in Japan

In the late 1980s, it was nearly unheard of for Japanese underground rock bands to play in the United States. But Shonen Knife, appearing at the Oriental Theater this Thursday, October 16, played a show in Los Angeles in 1989. By then, the band’s music had already spent several years…

Decadence 2014, Snow Tha Product, Johnette Napolitano Shows Announced

Decadence returns to the Colorado Convention Center for two-night New Year’s EDM extravaganza on Tuesday, December 30 and Wednesday, December 31 with Bassnectar, Big Gigantic, Armin Van Buuren, Kaskade and more acts to be announced. Two-day general admission passes, which start at $65, and VIP passes, which start at $135,…

Rufus Baxter ‘s Blast From The Past

[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…

Weezer Has Finally Made Its Third Great Album

You have to earn a Weezer fan’s trust before he shows you his playlists. First, he’ll make sure you aren’t just parroting somebody else’s post-Pinkerton decline narrative. He’ll want to be sure you don’t believe bassist Matt Sharp secretly wrote both of the band’s two classic albums. He’ll need to…

Blues & Greens, Boulder’s Home of the Blues, Closing This Month

About a year after Dan King and his business partners took over the Overlook Hotel in Boulder, bassist Mark Diamond started hosting weekly jazz jams in the back of the hotel’s restaurant, before there was a stage set up. Four months later, King started bringing in local and nationally known…

The Nine Best Concerts in Denver This Week

As with last weekend, there’s a decent assortment of acts, from Skrillex at Balch Fieldhouse at CU-Boulder with GTA, Nadastrom and Alesia, to Sondre Lerche, Big Freedia, Shonen Knife and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. The rest of our picks are below…

The Ten Best Shows This Weekend

There’s an insanely eclectic array of shows this weekend. Swallow Hill is celebrating its 35th Anniversary at the Paramount Theatre with Josh Ritter, Brett Dennen and Elle King. Nas performs his classic album, Illmatic at the Paramount. There’s also the New Pornographers, Felice Brothers, the Hot Sardines, War on Drugs…

Ambassador Wolf Ignites at CSU’s Powerhouse Energy Institute

Ambassador Wolf is used to playing to an audience of massive roaring engines, with the buzz of industrial lights above them. The band, which started as an after-work ensemble for three engineering Ph.D. students, performed in the lobby of their workplace, the Powerhouse Energy Institute in Fort Collins, last weekend…