Concerts

Update: Read about how Tupac was brought back to life last night at Coachella and check out our Q&A with Nick Smith, co-founder of AV Concepts, the company that helped consult on the technology for the project. Tupac at Coachella. While there were plenty of memorable performances and an equal…

SLEIGH BELLS @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4.13.12 Ever heard of the loudness wars? Doesn’t matter. War’s over. Sleigh Bells wins. Decisively. Right now, there’s a roomful of people banging their heads in unison, in the kind of scene that makes dollar signs appear in the eyes of chiropractors. It’s so…

KS107.5’s Summer Jam: Tickets for the 2012 edition of the aptly titled hip-hop extravaganza at Comfort Dental Amphitheatre go on sale to the general public tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. LiveNation is holding a special pre-sale right now (password: Boss), if you wanna get a jump. In case you haven’t…

Feel like cutting loose this weekend? Good news, you will lack for nothing when comes to things to do, whether you feel like losing your inhibitions and partying like a rock star or losing your mind to some killer dance music. Our own Ru Johnson will be at Milk Bar…

TGIF! You’ve worked hard all week, now it’s time to coast into weekend. Plenty of great music on tap to help you unwind — or get wound-up, as the case may be. Tonight at the Ogden, Sleigh Bells assaults the senses, Mojo Nixon kicks off a two-night stand at the…

It’s the off-season. Do you know where your Broncos are — uh, we mean, the ones who aren’t huddled around fawning over their fearless new leader? We know where one of them is, or was, rather, earlier this week. Broncos running back Willis McGahee was in Miami, his old stomping…

One Direction is at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday, July 24…2013! You read that right — next summer. Wow! Talk about getting a jump on things. Hot on the heels of its mind-changing performance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, the U.K.-based neo-boy band (the hottest thing to cross…

DOM KENNEDY @ THE BLUEBIRD THEATER | 4.11.12 Maybe it was the monitors and he couldn’t hear himself, maybe it was excitement at rocking his tracks to an adoring packed crowd at the Bluebird, maybe he was trying to scourge our memory of the awful performance by Tommy Hilfiger’s son…

With the new EP Arroyo, Mariposa has delivered an emotionally mature record with rich, expansive instrumentation. Although previous releases contained a great deal of sensitivity and beauty, those elements were locked away inside a fragile song structure. Now performing with a few new musicians, Madeline Johnston has blossomed, and her…

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA @ 1STBANK CENTER | 4.10.12 Although Rodrigo y Gabriela are performing with a full band on their current tour, the most memorable moments of the act’s set still come when the two are playing by themselves. About half a dozen songs into their set last night, with…

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE @ ELLIE CAULKINS OPERA HOUSE | 4.10.12 Is there a science to picking a day to start a tour, or is it all some big random coincidence? Last night’s Death Cab for Cutie show at the Ellie Caulkins was sold out, and it had been for…

Mojo Nixon (due Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, at the Lion’s Lair) gained notoriety in the mid- to late ’80s for his irreverent songs informed by an absurdist humor with partner Skid Roper. Nixon’s exuberant, unapologetic persona won over audiences because even as Nixon would make seemingly over-the-top,…

The party most surprised to learn that City Councilwoman Judy Montero harbors a soft spot for the Flobots might actually be the Flobots. According to the District 9 rep, they are her “very favorite band,” which explains why she referenced two of their songs — but, alas, did not sing…

After booking hardcore and ska shows around Denver for the past six years, DJ Maladjusted has taken his massive record collection and almost dogmatic devotion to vinyl and garnered a small but devoted following with his obscure selections. Spinning 2tone, ska and reggae every third Friday for One Step Beyond…

Update (4/10): We’ve confirmed that Talib Kweli will indeed be performing at Cervantes’ this Saturday, April 14, in place of Black Star, originally slated for that same date but moved to 5/11. Tickets for the show are $5 ($10 on Saturday for those under 21). Heads up, hip-hop heads: Black…

NEON INDIAN @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 4/09/12 A little over halfway through the Neon Indian show, Leanne Macomber left her spot at the keyboards and picked up the Roland G-77 Bass Controller that had been played by Joshua McWhirter during certain parts of the rest of the show, while McWhirter,…

Everybody has self-esteem issues,” declares Dyalekt. “But you gotta work with what you’ve got.” Born to an Apache father and a Latina mother, Dyalekt — the MC, producer and self-made cultural sociologist known to his family as Justin Romero, the younger brother of rapper, producer and fellow Diamond Boi Zome…

If its own bio is to be believed, Steel Blades of Vengeance (due at 3 Kings Tavern on Thursday, April 12) seems to have been through lineup changes worthy of Iced Earth. The two bands also share musical influences, as Steel Blades started life as Maiden Denver, an Iron Maiden…

Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion met at the House of Blues in San Diego, where Follin’s older brother Richie’s band, the Willowz, had a show. The two hit it off; both happened to be leaving to study film at the New School, which is where they formed Cults. The group’s…

Combining the former guitar player from hardcore band Poison the Well with a former Nickelodeon star, Sleigh Bells is the most aggressive, poptastic, ear-drum-splitting glamour-thrash band around. On its debut, Treats, released on M.I.A.’s N.E.E.T. Records, Sleigh Bells offered up songs like “Rill Rill” and “Tell Em” that managed to…