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…
When Titus Andronicus released its conceptually ambitious triple album The Most Lamentable Tragedy on July 28, 2015, it became a landmark of modern punk. It also marked singer Patrick Stickles’ thirtieth birthday and came out the day of the end of a five-night run of sold-out shows at New York…
Electronic music is alive and well here in Denver, in all of its many glorious forms. Everything from house and techno to dubstep and glitch-hop are well represented here in the Mile High City. What’s more — Denver music fans know their shit and won’t accept any second-rate DJs. That…
The “wicked shit” is thriving in Denver and other places all over the world, and a lot of the credit goes to Detroit rapper Esham. Since releasing his first album in 1986 at the age of thirteen, Esham’s personalized style of acid rap has influenced rappers like Tech N9ne and…
John Baizley, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist for Baroness, which is part of the Project Pabst lineup on Saturday, May 21, is among the most fascinating figures in contemporary music: smart, complex, conflicted, inquisitive and piercingly articulate. Just as important, his band’s twist on progressive metal operates within the traditions of…
Ben Folds teams up with the chamber ensemble yMusic, who have also worked with Jose Gonzalez and Dirty Projectors, tonight at the Paramount Theatre while Brian Jonestown Massacre returns to the Bluebird Theater tomorrow. Disclosure headlines Red Rocks on Tuesday, Titus Andronicus is at the Marquis Theater, and renowned jazz…
The 22nd annual Westword Music Showcase is just six weeks away, and close to 100 local bands have now been confirmed to perform on a dozen stages across the Golden Triangle neighborhood on Saturday, June 25. The first round of Denver-based bands — including synth-rock band the Epilogues and rap artist Bianca Mikahn —…
Sometimes a music lover has to stay home and get her fix from her own sound system. But buying music — even if it’s not in the form of concert tickets — takes dollars, so what’s a broke music fan to do? We’re here to help with a few tips…
At a certain point in Denver’s musical tribute to Prince last night at Red Rocks, 115 members of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus assembled on-stage and sang an a cappella rendition of Queen’s “Who Wants To Live Forever.” The song, performed after a dozen popular local bands paid rollicking homage…
On a recent tour stop in Vancouver, Lucius singers Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe were walking through a sketchy area of town, dressed in their trademark matching outfits and coiffed hairdos. A man stopped them on the street and looked back and forth, from one to the other, over and…
Thievery Corporation headlines Red Rocks tonight and the venue hosts the Global Dub Festival (featuring Datsik, Bro Safari, Slander, Ghastly and more) on Saturday, as well as Bad Company and Joe Walsh on Sunday. The Denver Uke Fest runs through Saturday at Swallow Hill and Lucius is at the Gothic…
Festivals abound in and around Denver, and while the massive something-for-everyone events start to look the same, there’s still room for music festivals for more specialized audiences. Enter the hip-hop-centric Queen City Music Festival, presented by New Wave LLC, which will happen Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13, at…
Punk icons the Misfits come through Denver fairly often; it’s just that the original members never appear on stage together. Frontman Glenn Danzig played the Boulder Theater last fall; Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein spoke with us about building his own guitars before a gig at the Marquis; and a version of…
In February, we predicted a big year for former You, Me and Apollo singer Brent Cowles. And it wasn’t only us. In that same article, Cowles himself said, “I haven’t been this excited in a long time. Just about everything that’s happening. I have this feeling under my skin that it’s…
Willie Nelson and Family headlines Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 30 with Kacey Musgraves opening. Tickets ($27.50-$149.50) go on sale on Friday, May 13 at 10 a.m. Pitbull brings the Bad Man Tour to the Pepsi Center on Thursday, August 18 with Prince Royce and special guests. Tickets ($29.95-$139.95) go…
Of all the taco joints in Denver…you might want to walk in to the new Illegal Pete’s location at 2001 East Colfax Avenue, which is opening this week with festivities that include not only food but local music. The big opening day is Friday, May 13, when the restaurant opens…
In late 2005, a group of musicians moved into a house at 2155 Franklin Street, blocks from Five Points. The neighborhood, once called the “Harlem of the West” for its thriving jazz scene, had changed a lot by this time, and there were cheap (if neglected) spaces for the young,…
It’s a dreary, overcast Friday morning, and the windows of the Youth Media Studio are already gathering condensation. The hive of musical activity inside is contained within three storefronts occupied by Youth on Record, which officially opened in this new home last spring. In partnership with the Denver Housing Authority,…
We know summer’s here when the festival bills and outdoor series lineups start to get announced, and as is the norm, the Hudson Garden Series is offering some wonderful bills for those partial to nostalgia-based classic rock and soul. Here are ten of the highlights. 10. Jefferson Starship Sunday, June…
