SXSW is behind us, along with one weekend of Coachella. But the bulk of festival season lies ahead, including several blowout events this week in Denver in honor of 4/20. We were hoping to have a living, breathing fashion expert talk to us about the really fashionable things you’re supposed…
The eighth and final edition of Communikey Festival gets underway starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 16th beginning with Colorado-based ambient artist Radere performing a DJ set at eTown Hall in Boulder. The music and visual art offerings for this year’s festival seems to be something of an amalgam…
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 SAINT COLE from Fantagraphics books…
University of Colorado student Jannick Anderson was hit by a train outside the grounds of the Coachella music festival over the weekend. He died early Saturday morning, according to the Riverside County Coroner’s Office. Anderson, who was 23 years old, was enrolled in a “non-degree unclassified” program at CU. The…
Wax Trax, an iconic record store here in Denver, will have more vinyl than you can browse through this Saturday, but nothing in stock will be an exclusive Record Store Day release. Because the store sold an exclusive release online for Black Friday, they were contacted by the head of Record…
We didn’t have too many lowlights at Coachella this year, but a few minor annoyances and major bummers did stand out. Let us vent about a few them right now. Those EDM Headliner Billboards It would be nice to at least wait until setting foot on the festival grounds to…
Sierra Blackford really wanted to go to Coachella. But it wasn’t easy. The 23-year-old Hawaiian singer-songwriter juggled three jobs as a waitress, playing gigs at local bars and working in a slipper store to save enough for her concert tickets, heavily discounted airfare (she knows somebody in the industry), camping…
Luke Thinnes has had quite the developmental musical arc since he got out of high school just a few years ago. One of his old bands, the avant-garde As I Call “Triumph!” Into the Sun, was a promising act. The drone/atmosphere-driven sleepdial was always compelling. But with French Kettle Station,…
Contrary to what you might have heard, Coachella is more than just a fashion parade for B-list celebrities and trust fund kids. It also still features music! Here are reviews and recaps of some of the first weekend’s most memorable sets, from Jack White, Run the Jewels, FKA Twigs, Steely…
It was shortly after Charles Bradley’s stellar Friday afternoon set. Four coffees sat heavy in my bladder and had already spent our meager per diem on 2.5 beers. It was time to break the seal. When used for their intended purpose, port-a-potties are hardly a pleasant experience for either sex…
There’s a healthy amount of ironic distance involved in the output of Father John Misty. But for all the puns and technicolor illustrations and general Wes Anderson-ness of J. Tillman’s music, there’s no denying that he puts himself, heart and soul, completely into it. There’s plenty of proof, but you…
[Columnist Jeff Weiss edits Passion of the Weiss and hosts the Shots Fired podcast. Find him online at passionweiss.com, follow him on Twitter and also check out his archives.] Coachella has thrived long enough to generate its own clichés: the bros named Sioux watching Warpaint wearing war paint; the candy…
With the massive three-day festival less than a week away, we’ve decided to create this quiz to help you get in touch with your inner Coachella stereotype. A you a burner? A bro? A VIPrima donna? Don’t be afraid to embrace out your festie identity. See you on the polo…
There are dance clubs that host dance parties all the time — every weekend night. Those are great. Some of them do that really well, to the point that an entire culture develops around those nights, those parties. People wait in long lines in the freezing cold in very few…
For Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday celebration, local jazz vocalist Venus Cruz saw an opportunity to honor both the icon’s role in American history and jazz’s place in Denver’s story. This Saturday, April 11, Cruz and a group of fellow musicians will pay tribute to Holiday inside the Great Hall at…
It really does take many kinds of people to make a world, some good, some bad. And then there’s the really bad, and the ugly. And now that Coachella is upon us once again, we’re reminded of the ugliest types of people to be stuck in a blazing desert with,…
The Colorado Chatuaqua is the state’s oldest music venue — it opened in 1898 in the shadow of the Flatirons. This year, Chatuaqua will celebrate its 118th summer concert series with a particularly strong lineup: Steve Earle & the Dukes, Ziggy Marley, Michael McDonald, Indigo Girls and plenty more —…
The guys in Homebody pulled into Boise, Idaho, for the Treefort Music Fest on Wednesday, March 25. On paper, the drive from Denver to Boise is roughly eleven hours, but it really takes more like thirteen-plus if you choose to take I-70 instead of I-25 out of Colorado. Why make…
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 SAINT COLE from Fantagraphics books. Last Week’s Episode of Rufus…
West coast act Random Rab played Cervates’ Masterpiece Ballroom over the weekend, and the visual spectacle was equal to the music — there was live painting, swirling glowsticks and plenty of enthusiastic fans. Our Brandon Marshall was there to give you a sense of the scene. …
Sitting on State Highway 105, Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado is like a well-appointed community arts center in any small town. With its tastefully painted exterior and a sense of having been part of the community for years but never neglected, it reminded one of something…
Hot Rize w/ Aoife O’Donovan Tuesday, June 16 – York Street Shovels & Rope w/ John Fullbright Wednesday, June 17 – York Street Cooder – White – Skaggs Monday, June 22 – York Street Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Tuesday, July 7 – York Street Boz Scaggs…
