People in Colorado love live music. That statement can apply anywhere in the country, of course, but in Colorado, the ability to see shows in amazing indoor and outdoor venues year-round seems like just as much of a reason that folks move here as our weed, our mountains and, well,…
Jukeboxes are hard to come by in the digital age. But Devo founder Mark Mothersbaugh brought one with him when his band played in Denver last week. And it isn’t just any jukebox; it’s one made more than fifty years ago by AMI Music and filled with sixty vinyl records…
Thousands of people will descend on the tiny town(s) of South Park and Fairplay this patriotic weekend for the South Park Music Festival. Whether you’re a pro at camping music festivals or a newbie who only bought tickets because you didn’t realize South Park was a real town, there are…
Every year, we celebrate the impossibly dense and diverse Denver music scene with the Westword Music Showcase and Westword Music Awards. We brought those to a close last week with our awards ceremony; you can find a list of all the nominees and winners at backbeatblog.com. We’re starting to think…
Jena Ardell Did you know that Michael Bolton’s real last name is “Bolotin”? (It’s pronounced “below-tin.”) Or that he is a major Scrabble nerd? These are important things to know. Bolton’s talent supersedes any genre. He has worked with an eclectic array of musicians, including Pavarotti, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Bob…
[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…
We’ve just received word that the Hundred, one of Denver’s most prominent event promoters and show producers, will be hosting a one-day festival called Cloak and Dagger at City Hall and Vinyl, on Saturday, September 20. The lineup looks promising, and given that it’s spread across four stages in the…
It is known that there are still several hundred bodies somewhere beneath the surface of Cheesman Park, which was a burial ground during the late nineteenth century. Many of the dead were re-interred at Riverside Cemetery, but plenty remain. If there is a haunted place in the heart of Denver,…
While there are only a handful of shows on sale this week, there were a fair amount of gigs that were announced recently, including a pair of Against Me! shows, including one at the Black Sheep on Friday, August 8 and the other at the Aggie Theatre on Saturday, August…
Some people just know how to hook you, right? Say you’re browsing an online dating profile and someone catches your eye. Witty one-liners, cute smirks, maybe something cryptic like a tattoo of Josef Stalin eating a hot dog. Their linked Tumblr page shows they have an active interest in occult…
Anyone who has ever taken in a show at Red Rocks knows that it is hard to describe. The acoustics, the crowds, the breath-taking view in every direction. Instead of describing it, our photographers have been hard at work capturing it, and the many concerts that occur there on film…
There are some excellent shows in town this week as we lead up to Fourth of July weekend, including Fitz & the Tantrums two-night stand at the Ogden Theatre, Sarah McLachlan at Red Rocks, as well as Zeds Dead and Dada Life co-headlining at Red Rocks…
Few bands that were around in 1994, at least in Denver’s punk milieu, are still around. But somehow King Rat has endured and reinvented or reinvigorated itself again and again, despite personal turmoil and the vicissitudes of public tastes in punk and music in general. And it was the reinvigorated…
Perhaps you have noticed increasingly ridiculous merch options on your favorite band’s web site. In addition to the T-shirts, hoodies, posters, and brass boat necklaces (?) found in their online merch section, for example, Sigur Ros once introduced their “Vardeldur candle” for the princely sum of $23.50. The site described…
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
The mighty King Rat turns twenty this weekend and will celebrate with a pair of unusual shows at Three Kings. If you go to nothing else this weekend, we advise you go there. But we understand if you go to Red Rocks instead for Widespread Panic’s annual weekend getaway in…
We’ve just announced the winners of this year’s Westword Music Awards. See the winners in each of our forty categories in the post that follows — the names of the artists who came out on top of the public vote are bolded and enlarged. We took a few photos of…
The soft colors and fake palm trees of a local Peruvian spot served as ideal backdrop as we caught up with the unique band of personalities in Latin reggae band Mono Verde. For many of the band members, this quiet spot recreates a feeling of home, with its imported South…
Bruce Dickinson rules. He’s the greatest singer for one of the greatest bands of all time, Iron Maiden. But recently, he unleashed some pretty charged words in an interview with The Guardian. In addition to dropping one of the most incredible quotations ever, “fame is the excrement of creativity,” he…
The votes have been tallied for this year’s Westword Music Awards, and the trophies are almost ready. We won’t blow the surprise, but suffice it to say they will not bludgeon as effectively as last year’s. Find out what they look like tonight: Thursday, June 26 at Cassleman’s. An Awards’…
It is no surprise at this point that KISS fans do not come unprepared. Still, a flock spanning three generations spent hours getting that eye-star just right before last night’s show at the Pepsi Center. Photographer Aaron Thackeray was there to commemorate their work. Here are our favorite face-painted KISS…
Bringing the bombast, drama and light show of a larger venue to Lost Lake, EMA and opening act Mas Ysa pushed enough air to test the sound system of most smaller rooms to its limits. Mas Ysa even commented that he thought he was overloading the monitor, but it didn’t…
