A group of firefighters with yellow walkie talkies swaying at their chests were examining the new on-site structures at the first show at a renovated Fiddler’s Green Ampitheatre. They wanted to ensure that they were familiar with the new facilities in case they were called to the scene in the…
We hope your long weekend was as full of smoked meats and assorted outdoor activities as ours was. And now we’re back and ready to talk about Denver concerts some more. Obviously the selections are a little lighter in this week’s show round-up given that we lost a day. But…
I can’t help but think about last night’s mash up of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the marijuana industry as a giant piece of performance art, though I know that wasn’t anyone’s intent. On the surface, the idea behind the “Classically Cannabis” series — of which this was the first…
Well, hopefully the hail and tornadoes are over. Certainly this is no weekend to be stuck at home, not with a Monday off and a shocking array of great shows. Esme Patterson will finally play that in-store performance at Twist & Shout to celebrate her excellent Woman to Woman. Country…
I drove all the way to Colorado Springs once because I heard a Myspace scene queen was going to be at a house party I was invited to. I wanted to see if she was real. She was. Seeing Riff Raff at the Bluebird last night felt similar; I went…
The way you find a band is important. I discovered Haim in a park in small town Illinois with five story oak trees towering over strings of warm lights. I was camping nearby and drinking wine straight from the gallon-sized jug. The three sisters from LA drew me around the…
Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Englewood is one of the largest concert venues in the state; it can hold more than 17,000 people. Recently, AEG Live Rocky Mountains took over management of the venue and is working to complete a $6 million renovation ahead of this summer’s concert schedule. Read about…
The Westword Music Showcase is one month away. On June 21, 130-ish Colorado bands and artists of every possible variety will play assorted venues around the Golden Triangle. Each of those bands is a nominee for a Westword Music Award, and they represent a music community that is easy to…
There was sad Lana, drowning Lana, sleeping Lana, smiling Lana. There was even a Lana on fire. But all of these Lanas were just projections on a screen behind the physical manifestation of Lana Del Rey, who held tight to a stoicism personified in a single pout. She wore the…
10. Stephen Stills came to Boulder on Saturday. He talked about his busted knees and encouraged fiscal responsibility. 9. Stephen Stills is capable of a particular confluence of guitar chords and mythology reserved for songwriters born before, say, 1953. Maybe their stories have simply had the time to become indelible…
Riff Raff mysteriously postponed a Denver show earlier this year. It’s back, just in time for a Texas-esque week of heat and thunderstorms here in Colorado. The Houston native should feel right at home. He does in most places. It’s a good week for other bands who get people angry…
The house show used to be something you could count on in Denver with some regularity. But in the last two or three years, such things have dwindled, becoming virtually nonexistent. What makes going to these kinds of shows special in a way that can’t be duplicated at a venue…
“I’m a man, I can take it,” Morrissey said on Saturday after being knocked to the ground by an overzealous fan during his show at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Looking a bit more grey than his last appearance in Denver seven years ago, Morrissey was genial if a bit…
Red Rocks’ season is in full swing, with Global Dub Festival tonight and country star Brantley Gilbert on Sunday. In between, you can catch Will Hoge at Grizzly Rose, Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Cervantes’ and, of course, the dude who wrote “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” He’s playing the Boulder Theater…
As a clumsy and shy teenager, a pre-Smiths Morrissey began his first of many pilgrimages to the U.S. in 1976, visiting his sister in New York. “I manage three more trips to America before 1980,” Morrissey said in his recent memoir, Autobiography. “But by now Mary has moved to the…
When Colorado Symphony Orchestra announced their Classically Cannabis concerts, a series of bring-your-own-weed performances, it sounded like a great merging of the city’s classical music culture and its rising cannabis culture. But the City of Denver felt the shows violated the ban on “public” consumption of marijuana stipulated by Amendment…
Update, 5/16: We’ve added a couple dozen bands to the lineup, bringing the running total to 121 Colorado bands in addition to the five touring ones — the full list as of today is below! The Westword Music Showcase is less than two months away. On June 21, 130-ish Colorado…
In a world where you can buy a Dead Kennedys T-shirt at Urban Outfitters, the “punk” label has lost some of its ability to describe anything at all. We spent the past couple of months going to the shows that still embody the genre’s original spirit, the ones that now…
Last week, we held the first of three Westword Music Showcase social hours. Times were had. I’ve spent the week listening to new music I discovered there, and I hope to find a bunch more at round two, which we’ll hold tonight. You’re welcome to join us from 5 p.m…
After 28 years at 7699 West 88th Avenue, Hoffbrau Colorado moved to a new 15,000 square-foot space at 9110 Wadsworth Parkway. It’s about twice as big as the old location and features an expanded stage and more ambitious concert calendar. The grand opening is tonight, May 15 with live music…
For the past 25 years, Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Englewood has been owned by the Museum of Outdoor Arts and operated under a single lease, most recently controlled by Live Nation. Last year, that lease expired, and AEG Live signed on to operate the venue for the next fifteen years…
Jordan Leone just turned nineteen, but she’s already a veteran of the behind-the-scenes world of music. She was so adept as an intern for a record label in Australia that they offered her a job, but she returned to Denver to pursue a degree and a burgeoning career as DJ…
