This week’s concert offerings include Dierks Bentley at the big stage in Morrison and Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn taping at eTown in Boulder. There are a few good ones in the actual city limits of Denver — read on for our picks this week…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his sunny outlook with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work and even buy it on his website. • BACKBEAT’S GREATEST HITS • – The fifty best rap lyrics of all time – The ten…
Jason Isbell, playing Tuesday at the Boulder Theater and Wednesday at the Ogden, embodies all the traditions, influences and stories that make up Southern folk and country. He was raised in rural Alabama and immediately took to singing and playing guitar. He toured and wrote with Drive By Truckers. He…
Ask anyone who was around the underground rock scene in Denver in the early ’90s and chances are that person at least heard of Sympathy F. Since its 1991 debut at 7 South, a club now known as the hi-dive, Sympathy F became a favorite of peers and fans by…
After being denied special-use permits required by Arapahoe County, Riot Fest has moved its 2014 festival from May Farms outside Byers to Sports Authority Field at Mile High in downtown Denver. The dates (September 19 to 21) and schedule (see below) are unchanged. Previously purchased tickets will be honored as-is,…
If you are in my advertising demographic–18 to 34–the pop culture you loved as a child is terrible. The Power Rangers were terrible, the Transformers were terrible, the Ninja Turtles were terrible. Michael Bay didn’t ruin any of it; it came pre-ruined. I loved all of it (I love the…
Christopher Michael Richard, known as Crash on stage, has been a singer and percussionist with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros since the beginning of the band in 2009, following a four year career with the Deadly Syndrome. He has embarked on his own solo project and played his second…
Gared O’Donnell is back in Denver now. He wants a cigarette badly, but with six smoke-free months under his belt, he’s keeping his cool and just enjoying being back in the city he loves, despite occasional cravings. He even ran a half-marathon a little over a month ago. “I no…
Word is getting around now about Governor John Hickenlooper’s surprise guest appearance last night during Old Crow Medicine’s show at Red Rocks. He played banjo, sang some harmonies and even took the lead for a brief verse on an old blues classic, “CC Rider.” The Governor posted a message on…
In spite of its jogging and vegetable addiction, plenty of people in Denver still smoke. No, the other kind. The one you can get in gas stations. Some music venues are better equipped to serve smokers than others, so we’ve put together a roundup of the best places in town…
Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation planned his summer tour months and months ago, with one major gig request: to play in the mountains. That wish was granted when Thievery Corporation headlined the Ride Festival over the weekend in Telluride. But just playing in the mountains wasn’t enough. He wanted to…
When he dropped out of school to start bands, Carl Sorensen didn’t imagine he’d be scrambling between gigs, juggling several bands at once. But he’s managed to make a career out of playing music – and then some. Isa Jones offers a profile of Sorensen in this week’s feature, breaking…
Tommy Metz works as a web developer and is unassuming and friendly. He’s also one of Denver’s more prolific musicians. His voice is unexpectedly powerful and brightly melodic, and it floats over his finely crafted beats. Lately, Metz has separated his work, releasing his darker, more experimental pieces under the…
Lily Fangz bounces on the balls of her feet, looking out on the crowd from the stage at Red Rocks. Her long hair flows past her shoulders. She raises the mic. It’s time to go. Fangz, aka Lileana Krenza, is a rapper and hip-hop artist, and she’s diving into reggae…
There is no trout at Trout Steak Revival’s band practice, but there are five musicians and a manager full of bratwurst and salad in a back yard in east Denver. “You can only eat so much trout,” banjo player Travis McNamara jokes. Fiddle player Bevin Foley hosts her bandmates on…
While the folks behind Riot Fest were recently denied a temporary-use permit to hold the event at May Farms in Byers the third week in September, organizers will reportedly have a new venue announced in the coming days. Sure, it’s a major pain in the ass for everyone involved to…
Carl Sorensen is in the passenger seat of a car as it races through the Golden Triangle toward Santa Fe. It has been four minutes since he walked off stage after a set playing drums for Science Partner at a Westword Music Showcase pre-party, and there are only six minutes…
These days, buying a ticket to a Lauryn Hill concert is basically like buying a lottery ticket-you’re either going to end up a little more broke and a little more bitter than yesterday, or you’re going to strike gold. No question, Ms. Lauryn Hill is volatile. Her tours from recent…
There’s been some discussion as to what to label Cloud Nothings. Punk, noise-rock, garage-rock, grunge and even emo have been tossed around when referring to the Ohio-based trio. But to put it into one of these labels would be a disservice. As the band proved at the Larimer Lounge last…
Weezer is the official band of AOL Instant Messenger. The years between 1996 and 2001, in which they went from well-reviewed one-hit-wonder to (briefly) unimpeachable generational touchstone, were peak-Buddy-List; in 2002 they demoed a song called “Private Message,” which is exactly what it sounds like. At some point every word…
Monika McMahon goes to a lot of concerts — hundreds each year, by her estimation. And although she doesn’t remember the specific show she first put in ear plugs, she remembers the last show she didn’t. It was a Bad Religion show at the Fillmore which caused her ears to…
Real life stops at Ride festival . Sheer rock faces in the distance and a heavily forested backdrop for the small wooden stage make it easy to feel a sense of escape for a weekend. No wi-fi signal, no cell phones out, with the focus on music and the people…
