Best Shows in Denver on Black Friday & Beyond

This weekend’s line-up includes A. Tom Collins two-night album release at the hi-dive, Warren Haynes’s two-night stand at the Ogden and Leftover Salmon’s release of its new live album with two nights at the Boulder Theater. There’s also a celebration of the life and music of Mike Herrera, who passed…

Journey, Doobie Brothers & More: Every New Colorado Concert Announcement

Happy Thanksgiving, Denver! Westword is technically closed today, but we here at Backbeat understand you need something to read while you’re sitting at the table, avoiding political conversations with your family and checking your phone today. Give thanks and plan ahead: here are this week’s new concert announcements.  Journey and…

Dead & Company Kept It Tight(er) at 1stBank Center

Pop-rocker John Mayer fronting a band featuring three of the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead may sound like an odd, even off-putting, endeavor. But 50 years after the Dead started playing LSD-soaked improvisational electric blues at pizza shops in what’s now Facebook and Apple territory south of San…

Top Ten Thanksgiving Eve Concerts in Denver

While there are some bigger Thanksgiving Eve concerts like Dead & Company and the Last Waltz Revisited included in our Twelve Best Concerts in Denver This Week, we’ve compiled the top club events and smaller concerts on what’s hailed as the biggest bar night of the year. See the full…

High Five Hip-Hop Collective Reaches Out

When High Five came together in 2012, the collective comprised solo artists who pooled their talents and resources in order to create something bigger than their individual efforts — a creative model not unlike that of Minneapolis’s Doomtree. “That’s a very similar format to what we have in that they’re…

The Twelve Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Our Thanksgiving week top picks include Corrosion of Conformity, Puscifer, Misfts, Ryan Bingham and Dead & Company, which features original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann as well as John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. See our top dozen picks below.  MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23 Corrosion of…

TOKiMONSTA DJ Set at the Bluebird Blasted Away Misconceptions

“Toki smiles mischievously, drops dirty beat on unsuspecting crowd,” is what I find scribbled at the bottom of my notepad after TOKiMONSTA’s Thursday show at the Bluebird Theater.  That’s as good a way as any of summarizing what happened when the L.A. beat producer came through Denver to promote her…

The Fourteen Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

This weekend’s best shows include Dustin Lynch at the Fillmore Auditorium, Redman and Ky-Mani Marley at City Hall, Greensky Bluegrass at the Ogden Theater, Public Image Ltd. at the Gothic and more. See the full list of our picks below.  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 Dustin Lynch $10, 6:30 p.m., Fillmore Auditorium Redman…

The 1Up Colfax Shuts Down Live-Music Venue

It’s game over for live music at The 1Up Colfax. The popular arcade bar remains open, but will no longer host concerts in its 500-capacity venue space, effective immediately. In 2013, owner Jourdan Adler expanded The 1Up’s second location to include a well-equipped concert venue. While the space enjoyed successes…

Every New Colorado Concert Announcement

More than four years after Ween’s New Year’s Eve run in 2011, the band reunites for three-night run at the 1STBANK Center from Friday, February, 12 through Sunday, February 14. Single day general admission tickets ($38.75-$45) and three-day passes go on sale Friday, November 20 at 10 a.m. Justin Bieber…

The Paris Attacks: When Loving Music Becomes a Radical Act

I’ve been reviewing concerts since I first thought I could be a journalist. It was way back in the now more-popular-than-ever ’90s, when I was a staff reporter for my high school newspaper, the George Washington Surveyor. I took notes on punk shows and relayed my experience to my fellow…

Chance the Rapper Shook the Fillmore With Family Matters

“I met my daughter this year,” Chance the Rapper told the crowd last night at The Fillmore. The crowd responded with love vibrations that shook the street. His current tour, called Family Matters, is chock-full of sentiment from the 24-year-old Chicago rapper, as he welcomed the birth of his daughter…

Is Jentry McCombs the Best Street Performer in Denver?

Jentry McCombs has a bone to pick. “Your magazine says I’m the ‘self-proclaimed’ best street musician in Denver, but I don’t like that,” McCombs says, semi-jokingly referring to a five-year-old article about Denver’s street musicians. “I am the best street musician, and I am the king of Denver. Who can…