Take Car2Go to Red Rocks, But Not The Way I Did

Driving to Red Rocks is a little ridiculous. It’s a huge, unspoken part of the experience that goes directly against why the amphitheater is so great in the first place: It’s a natural venue in a picturesque part of the state, a space where you can see an amazing show…

Mike Watt on Touring: “I Guess You Pick Where You Want to Gruel”

The night before Minutemen played in Denver for the first time in 1984, at the now-defunct Rainbow Music Hall with Black Flag, the punk progenitors made up of singer and guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley endured what Watt called a “seventeen-hour hell ride” right after…

Premiere: Tommy Brown’s “Intro Music” Video

Denver rapper Tommy Brown’s latest release, Covered in Gold 24k, has caught ears in the city and outside it since its release this summer. The first video from it premiered on The Source, and we’re happy to debut the latest visual today on Backbeat. Watch below…

The Return of Colorado’s Bluegrass Kings

If there’s one band that put Colorado bluegrass on the map, it’s Hot Rize. Longtime members Pete Wernick, Nick Forster, Tim O’Brien and Charles Sawtelle met at the Denver Folklore Center in the late 1970s. They worked there in various capacities — as music instructors, instrument repairmen or at the…

The Queen of the Ravers

Lady Casa is perhaps the country’s most famous raver, and something of a cult leader to her tens of thousands of fans. When the Miami native makes a pilgrimage to LA and hosts an event on Venice Beach the day after seeing DJ Armin van Buuren, it quickly turns into…

25 Things We Learned at Riot Fest 2014

Live music always offers some kind of release, but Riot Fest appeared to be a particularly welcome respite for many fans. Tom Murphy It’s been almost two decades since I first saw Mineral, and the time hasn’t hurt its sound. It hasn’t helped it, either. Mineral’s brand of whiny emo…

Meet the Byers Kids Who Got a Free Pass to Riot Fest

Some unlikely VIPs rolled into the back gate of Riot Fest on Friday, driven in a chartered bus from their high school in Byers, Colorado. In addition to the easy entrance and free ride, the young music fans, all teenagers, got free passes to the entire weekend-long festival courtesy of…

Was Riot Fest Worth a Drive Across Kansas?

It’s one thing to brave I-25 traffic to get to Riot Fest, or even to make the hour-long drive from the Byers (the original site of the festival), but a lot of people made a real trip out of this year’s festival. Walking around the parking lots at Sports Authority…

Where Were You When Mykki Blanco Played at Rhinoceropolis?

“I was excited to someone in the hip-hop genre who is progressive,” explained Brittany Fitzgerald in the outdoor space behind Rhinoceropolis over the weekend. “It’s good to see somebody with a strong voice.” She was talking about Mykki Blanco, the stage name of rapper and performance artist Michael Quattlebaum Jr…

A Day in the Life of a Riot Fest Carny

At noon on Saturday, Riot Fest officially begins for the day, and fans come streaming through the gates. Inside, carny Robert sits at his booth with his back to the entering crowd, enjoying a breakfast of pierogi and cigarettes. His feet up on a stool next to him, his plate…

Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler on Fighting the Profit Motive

Shabazz Palaces is the adventurous hip-hop outlet of former Digable Planets MC Ishmael Butler and multi-instrumentalist Tendai Mariare. Based in Seattle, the group is signed to the historically rock-centric Sub Pop label. We talked to Butler before Shabazz Palaces’ show tonight at the Fox Theatre about consumerism, the innate power…

Overheard at Riot Fest 2014

Maybe it’s the punk rock origins of Riot Fest that brought out the funny and the ridiculous in various performers and attendees at Riot Fest. It was mostly the usual self-deprecating and/or sarcastic commentary one expects out of musicians but there were a handful of gems both inspired and just…

Meet the Youngest Punk Rock Fans at Riot Fest

“Punk rockers are nice,” says Owen Clark, who, at five years old, is one of the younger attendees at Riot Fest in Denver. His mother, Tyanne Clark, says she wrestled with the decision to bring Owen and his brother, two-year-old Noah, from Colorado Springs to see the festival. “It was…

The Rides of Riot Fest, Ranked

Riot Fest is bringing some loud bands along with the spirit (and hay) of May Farms to Sports Authority Field parking lot this weekend. It also comes with a carnival complete with games and rides. This could have been our only chance to ever ride a Ferris Wheel while a…

The Eight Best Shows This Weekend in Denver

There are some punk rock bands playing next to the football stadium this weekend. Perhaps you’ve heard. There are plenty of options for those not headed to Riot Fest, including the inaugural Cloak & Dagger fest, with an impeccable lineup full of some of dance music’s most interesting up-and-coming artists…

Failure’s Ken Andrews on the Absurdity of Hair Metal

Failure is slated to perform at Riot Fest this Friday, September 19th. Though the band enjoyed a great deal of popularity during its first run before splitting in 1997, its influence has loomed large on a good deal of guitar rock that has come along since. If someone writes a…

Radke May Be the Best Band at Riot Fest Not Playing the Main Stage

While a lot of the focus during Riot Fest this weekend will be on the headliners playing the May Farms stage and the Byers General Store, the festival includes up and coming bands, local and otherwise, worthy of attention. These are generally not the bands riding in large tour buses…