Music

This summer, the Denver Botanic Gardens will host Guster, the long-popular indie band which now performs as a four-piece. Newest member Luke Reynolds is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who has previously performed with the band and collaborated with the group on recent album Evermotion. With elements of Beach-Boys harmony, trombones reminiscent of tooting…

According to a 2014 analysis conducted by data scientist Matt Daniels for Polygraph, the largest vocabulary in hip-hop belongs to Ian Bavitz aka Aesop Rock who had used 7,392 unique words in his song catalog up to that point, more than a thousand more than the next highest artist in…

It’s a stellar lineup of shows this week with the Flaming Lips and the Colorado Symphony performing The Soft Bulletin in its entirety at Red Rocks, Tom Petty and Mudcrutch at the Ogden Theatre, Florence + the Machine at the Pepsi Center, Leon Bridges at the Paramount Theatre and Brett Dennen…

As I watched Paul Simon perform at Bellco Theater on Friday, I kept wondering: “Does he still enjoy doing this?” Which isn’t to say that the 74-year-old singer/songwriter wasn’t trying to put on a good show (or one worthy of Bellco’s minimum ticket price of $64.50). If anything, Simon seemed…

Three months ago, nobody in Denver knew who LANY was. When the three-piece alt-pop electronic band opened for Troye Sivan back in February at the Ogden, they played to a crowd of people who only just learned their name and hadn’t yet had a chance to learn their music. Despite…

The Violent Femmes put out a new studio album in March, their first since 2000’s Freak Magnet. That’s been a massive gap for a band that previously averaged an album about every three years. But band members have come and gone, and the group took a break between 2009 and…

With the rescheduled Denver 4/20 Rally (with performances from Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne), Project Pabst and the Five Points Jazz Festival all happening on Saturday, May 21, things will be a bit crazy around downtown, RiNo and Five Points. Also this weekend there’s Paul Simon at Bellco tonight, the…

The Coathangers have been touring Europe for the past couple of weeks in support of their new album, Nosebleed Weekend. The punk/garage rock band with experimental leanings will end its European tour with a flight from Berlin straight to Denver to play the Project Pabst festival this Saturday, May 21…

Elephant Revival’s first headlining show at Red Rocks promises to be a celebration of community made at home and on the road. This Sunday, the Nederland five-piece will have its turn at headlining Denver’s favorite stage, and are joined by Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band, Rising Appalachia and…

“We went to a flea market today, and there was a sign that said ‘Tasers on Special’ next to a sign that said ‘Real Cool Knives’ or something. This place has, like, the worst humans,” says Alex Edgeworth with a laugh. Her phone is half-functioning, so she’s blasting this speakerphone…

High Elevation Rock Festival debuts at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on Saturday, September 10 with a lineup includes Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat, Chevelle, Pierce The Veil, Ministry, Killswitch Engage, Animals As Leaders, Sevendust, Texas Hippie Coalition, The Amity Affliction, Neck Deep, Shaman’s Harvest, Twelve Foot Ninja and Lola Black.  Tickets ($59.50-$79.50) are on…

Following the announcement that the original Misfits lineup would perform together for the first time in thirty years at Riot Fest & Rodeo in September, the traditionally alternative festival has announced its full current slate of bands for the Denver and Chicago editions, featuring many big names and rare appearances…

When Indianapolis indie-folk-pop duo Lily & Madeleine emerged with their self-titled debut album in 2013, much of the focus in the press seemed to be on their tender years. As they faced a hungry media for the first time, the fact that Lily was sixteen and Madeleine was nineteen seemed…

While Angie Stevens has a long history as a singer-songwriter in Denver, she also teaches people of all ages about singing and crafting songs, and some main principles she drives home to her students are to be honest, vulnerable and authentic, all qualities Stevens steeps her songs and performances in…

For almost a decade, it’s been pretty standard for Boulder-born rock bands to relocate to Denver to find regional and national success. That’s at least partly due to Boulder’s lack of a small, music-focused venue that could serve as a bridge between cafes and bar-and-grills and headlining the Fox Theatre…

An April storm disrupted the scheduled 4/20 rally and concert featuring Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne, but the artists and festivities will finally arrive in Denver this Saturday, May 21. Though it may seem anticlimactic a month later, the weather should be gorgeous this time around, and huge crowds are…

Denver has officially entered the season of too many concerts to choose from, and last weekend was no exception, with music events ranging from classic rock at Red Rocks to celebrating our city’s next generation of musicians at Youth on Record’s Block Party. Westword photographers were there to capture many…

Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work…

Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, a district known historically as a hotbed of the city’s musical entertainment, will host two separate music festivals this weekend: the Five Points Jazz Festival and Project Pabst. The jazz celebration, which started in 2004, is put on by Denver Arts & Venues and features many…