When people talk about Denver, and the music scene, the words “vibrant,” “active,” and “huge” get thrown around. Those aren’t just tourism marketing buzz words. Denver is thousands of people descending onto a few block radius to have beers with friends and listen to the music that gets created in their own backyard. People might call Denver a desert island, and if they think that, then we’ll be the first ones to push them off the island in a makeshift raft with a anthropomorphized volleyball. Denver is an oasis, a haven, the Queen City on the Plains. It is the city where people from every social group and every class and every age come together to enjoy the music and culture they so love.

Church Fire played a mesmerizing set at Stoney’s early in the afternoon. One half of the duo obscured his face with a giant scarf, the other wore a flowered head-piece. Their gothic synth-pop is tense and intriguing, like being in a dream you feel might turn into a nightmare at any moment, yet you refuse to wake yourself up, curious about where it may go next. In the crowd was a tank-top clad bro in reflective sunglasses. A green-haired girl hula-hooped next to the stage. Feet away, a couple played skee-ball, stopping every few minutes to dance to the beats emitting from the light up synths. A girl wearing all leather (like Arrested Development style leather-daddy leather) stood front and center in the crowd. Nearby soccer fans split their attention between some international game and the captivating set.

That is Denver: All those people coming together to witness something weird and wonderful that half of them had probably never heard before. There are few better places to see it than the Westword Music Showcase. We'll see you next year!