Meow Wolf's Vortex Fest, My Morning Jacket and the Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Cigarettes After Sex swoons the Mission Ballroom for a two-night run on Monday, August 21, and Tuesday, August 22, while Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats bring it all back home for an annual Red Rocks run on Tuesday, August 22, and Wednesday, August 23.

My Morning Jacket returns to Red Rocks for its own two-night run on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26, while Meow Wolf's annual Vortex Festival will once again take over outdoor space the JunkYard on Friday, August 25, Saturday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27.

Keep reading for more of the best concerts in Denver this week:
Cigarettes After Sex
Monday, August 21, and Tuesday, August 22, 8 p.m.
Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$35-$39
Greg Gonzalez's soft-spoken, melancholic voice floats over minimalist synth soundscapes built by the rest of his band to create the atmospheric dream-pop tunes that Cigarettes After Sex is so well known for. The ambient shoegaze band began in 2008, when Gonzalez started to experiment with a new musical style. After the release of a four-track EP, the project quickly gained traction through various online music platforms and became the new sleeper hit that it is today.
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Tuesday, August 22, and Wednesday, August 23, 7:30 p.m.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison
$65-$399
Nathaniel Rateliff and his band are a bona fide hometown success story, with humble roots that saw them playing in and out of numerous smaller projects before finding a foothold in the soulful, vintage R&B and country-rock sounds that catapulted the crew into fame. Thanks to the band's locally loyal fan base, the annual Red Rocks run is always a rootin'-tootin' boot-scootin' time not to be missed. Indie alternative Americana act Waxahatchee provides support both nights.
W.I.T.C.H.
Wednesday, August 23, 8 p.m.
Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue
$24.50
This Zambian psychedelic rock group's name is an acronym that means "We Intend To Cause Havoc," and the band was one of the driving forces in the emerging Zamrock movement of the 1970s. The innovative Zamrockers of W.I.T.C.H. faded into obscurity until 2012, when several of their albums were reissued and rediscovered by a new generation that sparked the band's revival and reformation.
The Body
Thursday, August 24, 8 p.m.
Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 East Colfax Avenue
$22.50
The Portland-based dark doom lord duo the Body is guaranteed to rattle your bones and shake your skull with its hellaciously heavy brand of experimental sludge metal. Electro-industrial dark-wave group Troller and dungeon-synth band Dead Times open the show.
My Morning Jacket
Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26, 7:30 p.m.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison
$65
After experiencing the joy of playing Red Rocks, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James proclaimed the famed venue to be "the birth canal of the universe," thanks to its ineffable quality that seems to unite all things in a peculiar and beautiful way. The group's unique sound is an awesome amalgam of its Kentucky country-rock roots and the psychedelic folk exploration that gives it such a strong stage presence. Indie alternative folk artist (and frequent collaborator) M. Ward opens both nights.
Vortex Fest 2023
Friday, August 25, Saturday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27, 4 p.m.
The JunkYard, 2323 West Mulberry Place
$59.50-$219.50
The ever-expanding immersive-art collective Meow Wolf is bringing its annual Vortex music festival back to Denver, after relocating the music festival from Taos to the Mile High City last year. The festival's new venue was formerly a scrapyard, and (in true Meow Wolf fashion) has been converted into another playground full of weird and wonderful art located in the heart of downtown Denver. This year's headliners include GRiZ, Remi Wolf, Claude Vonstroke, Dusky, Blond:ish, Dennis Ferrer, Justin Martin, the Funk Hunters, Mindchatter, Tokimonsta and many more acts to be seen and experienced.

Know of shows you'd like to see on this list? Send the details to [email protected]. Looking for more to do? Visit the Westword calendar.