The Best Concerts in Denver this Week

Kind of a quiet week, as week’s in Denver’s live music scene go. There are a few good shows before the weekend, though, including Drake and Lil Wayne’s co-headlining tour and Midge Ure at Soiled Dove. Rest up: The weekend’s a doozy, with big shows from Rubedo, Miss America and…

The Breeders – Summit Music Hall – September 5, 2014

Siblings are the best. Siblings are people who understand your weirdness because they too, are usually a product of the same upbringing. They are often the only people to agree with you when the rest of the world seems not to. They are also often the best partners in both…

Rufus Baxter Makes a Deal With God

[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. Rufus Baxter: Part Nine Rufus Baxter:…

Etsy Has a New Way to Sneak Pot Into Music Festivals

Megan ArseneauxArseneaux shows off how to smoke out of her handmade Secret Smoker Bracelet. Even though recreational marijuana is now legal in Colorado, you can’t smoke it in public, and most private operations still ban its use. So how are you going to sneak your drugs into music festivals while…

Swallow Hill CEO and Executive Director Tom Scharf Resigns

Swallow Hill Music, a Denver-based nonprofit that runs music education programs and organizes many concerts in the area, has just announced the resignation of its CEO. Tom Scharf, who also served as Executive Director, has served in the top role at Swallow Hill for seven years — his last day…

The Five Best Reunited Bands Playing Riot Fest

If music festivals are good for one thing it’s seeing great new bands. If they’re good for anything else it’s seeing bands you used to really like play again after a long hiatus. This year’s Riot Fest has a great crop of both new and old acts, so for anyone…

Who’s Afraid of the New York Swans?

At the end of the Swans’ hypnotic set last night at the Bluebird Theater, frontman Michael Gira told the crowd he’d be at the merch table in ten minutes if anyone wanted to talk or have him sign anything. He seems to do that every show. On stage, the guy…

Rufus Baxter Still Wants Heroin

[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. Previous episodes of Rufus: Rufus Baxter:…

Fucked Up and the Futility of Defining Bands

A lot can happen over the course of a decade. Even the punkest of punk bands aren’t immune to the curve balls life can throw. Toronto’s Fucked Up definitely falls into the category of “punkest of punk.” Since its inception in 2001 Fucked Up has done just about everything possible…

Photos: Fans at the First Phish Show With Legal Weed

Hey, weed is legal in Colorado for all fun-loving adults! Phish is a band best understood while the listener is in a state of mind unlike the one required to do things like pay taxes and wear slacks. This year’s three-night stand by the Vermont band at Dick’s Sporting Goods…

The Fourteen Best Shows in Colorado This Weekend

It’s Phish weekend in Denver, but there are plenty of options for those of you who practice different musical religions as well. Delightful weirdo Bob Log III plays Larimer Lounge, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott hits town and the Labor Day Experience comes to Snowmass. Our full list of picks for the…

Future Islands’ Sam Herring Is the New Freddie Mercury

The way Sam Herring moves on stage can be frightening: One moment he’s slashing at the air with a balled-up fist, the next he’s pounding that fist into his chest with brute force. He crawls across the stage on his knees, sweating and wailing in frustration, but will look up…

The JAS Labor Day Experience Gets a New Start

The Jazz Aspen Snowmass nonprofit started throwing an eclectic music festival on Labor Day more than twenty years ago. Now it has expanded to three days, and this year includes headliners like Carrie Underwood and Fun. In this week’s music feature, now posted on the Backbeat blog, A.H. Goldstein explores…

Rufus Baxter Meets a Useless Hippie

[jump] • PREVIOUSLY • -Rufus Baxter: Part Nine -Rufus Baxter: Park Eight -Rufus Baxter: Part Seven -Rufus Baxter: Part Six – Rufus Baxter: Part Five – Rufus Baxter: Part Four – Rufus Baxter: Part Three – Rufus Baxter: Part Two – Meet Rufus Baxter: Part One Follow @Westword_Music…

OutKast – Fiddler’s Green – August 22, 2014

There was a moment on Friday night when, in the general vicinity of an IKEA, all six feet, three inches of Waka Flocka was jumping into a crowd of teenagers, waving a Flosstradamus flag. Flosstradamus, meanwhile was sending a cacophony of drums and drum-like electronics and rapid-fire laser noises and…

The Seven Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Future Islands, touring on the strength of an album that has demonstrated to a much broader audience what the DIY crowd has known all along (namely that Future Islands are awesome), will be in town on Wednesday. There are a few other good ones, including MC Frontalot at Larimer Lounge…

Remember Black Kids? They’re Amazing Now.

When Black Kids seemed to disappear from the popular music landscape in the .mp3-blog heydey of 2009, it looked like another example of too much hype, too soon. If the pressure of impossible expectations is weighing on the band’s members still, it sure wasn’t present at Larimer Lounge, because everyone…