SLEEP at THE GOTHIC THEATRE | 1/3/14 Cannabis is legalized here in the same week Sleep comes back to Colorado to play a show. Coincidence? Whatever the case, this show surpassed the last time the outfit played at the Gothic in September 2010. Something just seemed more coherent and focused…
FRI & SAT | ADVENTURE CLUB at OGDEN THEATRE | 1/10-1/11 The Montreal-based Adventure Club is a duo that started as a pop-punk act. Quickly outgrowing that hybrid, Christian Srigley and Leighton James started making electronic music, their first foray into it being a remix of Brand New’s “Daisy.” Adventure…
Drawing from influences from nearly every genre, Pan Astral (due this Saturday, January 4, at Larimer Lounge) is pushing the barriers between sound and visual elements in a live show. Similar to the likes of bands like EOTO, which improvises audio and visuals live in each show, Pan Astral strives…
DISCO BISCUITS at OGDEN THEATRE / 1STBANK CENTER | 1/23-25 Pioneers of the jamtronica genre, Philly’s Disco Biscuits build interesting set lists; they invert portions of jams into each other, surprising the crowd again and again while shining a mega ton of lasers in your face for an overstimulation extravaganza…
Maria Taylor (due this Sunday, January 5, at the Larimer Lounge) first came to prominence as a member of Azure Ray. Her luminous and ethereal yet strong and warm vocals and skill in multiple instruments helped to make that band stand out and resulted in Taylor being invited to collaborate…
FRI | ILL.GATES at BETA | 1/3/14 With more than two decades in the electronic-music scene under his belt, ill.Gates is now helping to inspire a wave of new-school producers via his ill.Methodology online courses and the events he hosts, which cater to those interested in stepping up their game…
FRI | SLEEP at GOTHIC THEATRE | 1/3/14 Stoner rock and doom metal gained mainstream popularity over the past decade thanks to acts like Queens of the Stone Age and High on Fire, whose reach expanded beyond metal fans. Before playing in the latter band, guitarist Matt Pike had been…
THURS | CHICK COREA & BELA FLECK at NEWMAN CENTER | 1/16/14 Over the last five decades, the virtuosic pianist Chick Corea has delved into quite a few variations of jazz, as well as classical, and on his latest effort, The Vigil, he’s reinvented himself again. His new band, also…
It’s 2014, which means you can now legally smoke marijuana here. Of course, most of the people smoking now probably haven’t been waiting patiently for the government’s seal of approval to sample nature’s goodness. Still, we get the feeling that the end of prohibition means there’s a lot of newly…
ITCHY-O at 3 KINGS TAVERN | 12/31/13 It only took moments to lose a sense of context. Less than five minutes into Itchy-O’s New Year’s Eve set at 3 Kings Tavern, any normal sense of time and place had already started to melt away. No, it wasn’t because of too…
WU-YEAR’S EVE at CERVANTES’ | 12/31/13 The last night of 2013 was spent with the three most recognizable faces of the Wu-tang Clan: Ghostface, Method Man and Raekwon. The three demonstrated virtuosity and vibrance, delivering a memorable performance in front of a capacity crowd. Much of the evening was dedicated…
JELLO BIAFRA & GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE at SUMMIT | 12/31 As Jello Biafra strolled around the stage at the Summit, singing with real power and conviction while jumping around and gesturing dramatically, he displayed an almost superhuman level of energy and enthusiasm. A legend in his own right, Biafra…
The eleven alternative weeklies of Voice Media Group are responsible for a tremendous amount of music writing: This year, we produced thousands of pages of printed stories and tens of thousands of blog posts. We’re proud to present the very best of that work in the second annual Voice Media…
The A-OKs met on the Internet. As frontman Mark Swan notes, “We’re pretty much the billboard band for the success of finding people on Craigslist.” But while the players linked up essentially sight unseen, you’d hardly know it, watching the natural chemistry and sense of camaraderie among them. The initial…
While there are a number of high profile jam-centric New Year’s Eve shows this year, including dates with Yonder Mountain String Band, String Cheese Incident and Umphrey’s McGee, there are also a ton of other concerts and club events on NYE. We’ve put together a comprehensive list of ways for…
Jello Biafra has had an unmistakable and enduring impact internationally, both on punk and the counterculture. The iconoclast grew up in Boulder and moved to San Francisco in the late ’70s, where he formed the Dead Kennedys and established the Alternative Tentacles imprint. As an outspoken critic of the more…
Welp, we’ve reached the end of another year, and what a year it was here at Backbeat. From delving into extensive Phish analysis and listing the best Swedish Metal bands to running down the best light shows and rap lyrics of all time to offering up a field guide of…
Hot Tuna, featuring former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, returns to the Oriental on Sunday, February 23; tickets are $30 and on sale now. The Bad Plus are due at Dazzle on Tuesday, April 23, and Wednesday, April 24. Tickets are $25 and on sale now. Mountain Sun hosts its…
If you were at Decadence last night, then you already have the drop on the first headliner for this year’s edition of the Westword Music Showcase. In keeping with our longstanding tradition of capping the night off with a blockbuster dance party, Diplo will have the honors this year. Tickets…
Welcome back to another edition of In the Mix, a feature in which we spotlight new dance tracks and mixes from some of the hottest Colorado producers and DJs. We’ve got an eclectic mix on deck this week, with new cuts and mixes from PowTron, Paul Basic, Mux Mool and…
STRING CHEESE INCIDENT at 1STBANK CENTER | 12/29/13 A true switch-up in the pace of the music and dynamics of the String Cheese Incident set came four songs into the set when the band called Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips to the stage for a cover…
Update: Contest is over. We’ve picked a winner. Congrats to @fjscar0319. Check your email for details on how to claim your ticket, and thanks to everybody else for the other entries — and for reading Backbeat! Night one of Decadence kicks off tonight at the Colorado Convention Center with performances…
