The Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

Gary Numan and I Speak Machine weird up the Gothic Theatre tonight, while jam band Aqueous hits up the Bluebird. The Infamous Stringdusters play two sold-out shows in Frisco this weekend, but you have two chances to see blues legend Taj Mahal, who plays the Boulder Theater tonight and the Vilar Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 26. Saturday will also see stoner rock/ doom metal outfit Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats take over the Ogden, while John Mayer comes to Ball Arena on Sunday, March 27.

Here are the best concerts in Denver this weekend:

Gary Numan
Friday, March 25, 9 p.m.
Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, Englewood
$32.50
English post-punk/new-wave dude Gary Numan released his 21st studio album last year. Hopefully he’s figured out a way to perform “My Machine,” his 2011 team-up with Battles, because it’s awesome, and the music video is terrifying (prepare for a fear of escalators). He’s bringing along Tara Busch and her audio/visual experimental outfit I Speak Machine in what is sure to be a strange evening.

Aqueous
Friday, March 25, 8 p.m.
Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue
$18Aqueous brings a very danceable strain of rock and roll to the Bluebird, and a kick-ass live take on the Super Mario Bros. theme makes it okay in our book. The band improvises during its live shows and comfortably falls under the jam-band umbrella but blends different genres together. Denver-based progressive psychedelic-rock outfit Squeaky Feet is also on the bill.

The Infamous Stringdusters
Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26, 8:30 p.m.
10 Mile Music Hall, 710 Main Street, Frisco
$35-$37.50 (Sold Out)Nashville’s progressive bluegrass is doing a two-night run at 10 Mile Music Hall in Frisco. Sadly, it’s sold out. The ticketing site does, however, ask fans to check back in case some tickets become available. If you are heartbroken, we understand. Check out the band’s excellent take on “Don’t Think Twice” to lessen the pain.

Taj Mahal Sextet
Friday March 25, 8 p.m.
Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder
$45-$57.50
Saturday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.
Vilar Performing Arts Center, 68 Avondale Lane, Beaver Creek
$68-$78Taj Mahal is a genre-skirting bluesman and son of musicians. He has incorporated reggae, calypso, jazz, zydeco, R&B and gospel into his music over the years. His first, self-titled record leans heavily into electric blues and includes his take on songs by Delta and Piedmont blues legends Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. He also played in a group called the Rising Sons with slide guitar legend Ry Cooder. He knows his music, and if we’re lucky, we’ll hear a little of everything.

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats
Saturday, March 26, 8 p.m.
Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax Avenue
$28.50You’ll feel giggly after just one song from this stoney-AF Cambridge, England. stoner-rock outfit. Described by Metal Blade records as “the original Alice Cooper band jamming in a cell with early Black Sabbath and the Stooges,” the group is bringing its stoner rock/doom metal to the Ogden Theatre. Honestly, these guys look straight out of 1970. Along for the ride is King Buffalo and ten-minute-long heavy psychedelic rock songs that kind of build and build and then explode in a fuzz storm. Get ready to groove.

John Mayer
Sunday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle
$69-$209Love him or hate him, John Mayer is a good guitar player. He’s spent the last few years fronting the reconstituted Grateful Dead band Dead & Company; now he’s on his own and touring to support his soft-rock/pop-focused eighth solo album, Sob Rock.

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