FURTHUR at RED ROCKS | NIGHT TWO | 9/20/13 As Furthur took the stage to a sold out crowd last night at Red Rocks, they were upstaged by a massive orange Harvest Moon coming up over the horizon. The band began some preliminary warm-up jamming, as tons of cell phones…
THE WEEKND at 1STBANK CENTER | 9/20/13 Though visually heightened by flashes of naked, writhing women and feeling rather Internet-manic with its placement of faux-commercials for condoms between songs, the Weeknd’s show at 1STBANK Center was simply okay. But for fans of the Toronto-based musician and his steady stream of…
FRI & SAT | BIG GIGANTIC at FILLMORE, RED ROCKS | 9/27-9/28 Last year’s Big Gigantic date at Red Rocks was the best EDM shows of the year in this state, and that speaks volumes, given how many stellar acts there were to choose from. The feeling of hometown pride,…
Riot Fest Denver was very well put together. The good things far outweighed the bad. In fact, any complaints we might have are incidental and barely worth mentioning, or they’re inherent to the location or simply beyond organizers control. The lineup was obviously the best thing about Riot Fest Denver,…
THE REPLACEMENTS at RIOT FEST | 9/21/13 Surely it wasn’t lost on anyone when Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson came on stage wearing pink skirts and orange cowboy hats. The two were clearly nodding to the absence of Stinson’s late brother Bob, who frequently performed in such attire. Clad as…
IGGY & THE STOOGES at RIOT FEST | 9/21/13 The Stooges came out on stage like a burst of fire and wind from another part of the world and got going with “Raw Power.” From there, it was near constant dramatic movement from Iggy Pop, who struck poses as he…
Timothy NorrisWe’re not saying this guy is a boner sidler, but his T-shirt illustrates the problem. Gentleman, this is a public service announcement. We know that things can get hot and sweaty on the dance floor. The atmosphere is festive, the music is peaking and the ladies are looking good…
FURTHUR at RED ROCKS | NIGHT ONE | 9/19/13 Furthur kicked off its four-night run at Red Rocks last night, fresh from announcing the news of their upcoming touring hiatus. “Would this be the last time we would see these living legends of the Grateful Dead at Red Rocks?” seemed…
TOKIMONSTA at LARIMER LOUNGE | 9/19/13 Let’s face it: Really progressive urban shows are rare here in Denver. Given that, consider for a moment the genre-destroying line up of Tokimonsta, Gavin Turek, MNDR and Jesse Boykins III that took the stage last night at Larimer Lounge. Tokimonsta is this year’s…
SAT & SUN | RIOT FEST at MAY FARMS, BYERS | 9/21-9/22 When your band can be said to be a direct and obvious influence on the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and countless punk bands since, it’s fair to say you’ve made an impact on punk rock. But the Stooges…
SAT | KASKADE at SKYLAB, DENVER COLISEUM | 9/21/13 Kaskade has crafted his own signature sound out of an unusual blend of disco-kissed deep house and big-room trance. Somehow the Utah-born DJ manages to balance these two disparate genres into a unified whole, leaning heavily on female vocals and sexy…
“The most poignant use of ‘Mad World’ I’ve seen.” That’s how Curt Smith reacted to seeing Boulder attorney Mark Changaris playing the Tears for Fears song on a piano last week in his flood-ravaged home. The song is already imbued with a distinctive sense of melancholy on its own, but…
RAKIM at CERVANTES OTHERSIDE | 9/18/13 Last night at the Otherside, Rakim stalked the stage like a lion on an African plain, controlling the mic with a swagger that hypnotized the room, which was filled with an audience that hung on his every word. The God MC showcased a presence…
In harrowing times like these with the recent flooding, I think it’s safe to say we all share an unbridled compassion for our community, the friends and family members of ours whose lives have just been upended by the unrelenting torrential rains of the past week. Myself, I have a…
Tonight at Red Rocks, Furthur kicks off its highly anticipated four-night run. The band just announced a touring hiatus after its Mexico run in January, so you definitely won’t want to miss these shows. Like the Dead, Furthur attracts followers that are unfailingly devout, all of whom you can meet…
Wax Tailor is the long-running hip-hop/downtempo project of Jean-Christophe Le Saoût. In the ’90s, Le Saoût was involved with the rap band La Formule, and in the latter part of that decade, frustrated with the creative restrictions of a major label, he established the Lab’Oratoire imprint. In 2001, Le Saoût…
Black Flag paved the way. It’s no exaggeration to say that the circuit of underground touring in America would not have happened as early as it did — or perhaps at all — without Black Flag opening the routes for so many bands, punk and otherwise, to follow. Along with…
Ben Goldberg is a virtuosic Bay Area clarinetist who grew up in Denver and went to East High School. For his outstanding new album, Unfold Ordinary Mind, Goldberg enlisted some of his favorite players, including guitar wizard Nels Cline, consummate tenor saxophonists Ellery Eskelin and Rob Sudduth, and brilliant drummer…
The Motherfucking Ruckus (or MF Ruckus, for those with more delicate sensibilities) couldn’t be more aptly named: Not only does the handle describe the musical mayhem these dudes create, both in the studio and on stage, but it’s also a perfect description of what hell the band’s sleazy hard rock…
When Ryan James recorded 2011’s Fall Systems Go under the Belle Jar moniker, he handled all of the vocals and all of the instruments. Since then, the project has grown into a six-piece; fittingly, for the recently released Union Station, the group took a collaborative approach to writing. As a…
On his latest release, Patrick Dethlefs seems to strip back the songwriting a bit from what we heard on 2012’s accomplished Fall & Rise. From the beginning, one of the virtues of Dethlefs’s songwriting has been a tastefully spare use of elements, and this remains at the core of the…
“Garuda,” the first song on Rossonian’s self-titled debut, sounds at first as though inter-dimensional aliens have taken over Steely Dan, but less than a minute in, the song shifts into syncopated, hazy pop akin to that of MGMT, only with more of a jazz foundation. “Love Clutch” has a power-pop…
