Outside Festival's Second Year at Civic Center Was a Hit

For the second year in a row, music fans and outdoor enthusiasts alike packed Civic Center Park for the Outside Festival. The two-day event, held over the weekend on May 31 and June 1, brought in headliners Lord Huron and Khruangbin, along with other acts, breakout speaker sessions, vendors, food trucks and more, all geared toward encouraging patrons to follow in the great Colorado tradition of getting outside.

The 2025 event added about 40 percent more space to the footprint of last year's Outside Festival; both nights felt about as packed as they could get, with estimated attendance levels surging from around 18,000 in 2024 to over 30,000 this year. I began my festival experience on Saturday afternoon with the Denver jammy prog rock band Squeaky Feet, and while I was sad to miss the official opening set from Brothers of Brass, I was fortunate to catch the band later for a few other special and unofficial sets. Squeaky Feet's loud, technical rock and roll was filled to the brim with fast-paced guitar solos and driving rhythms, marking an energetic start to the fest for the patrons who were still trickling in at the time.

Following Squeaky Feet was Husbands, an Oklahoma City-based indie pop band whose sounds floated from a sweetened alt-rock to moments of dreamy, beachy pop rock. The set was downright pretty, along with being upbeat and lively, as led by the clean, polished vocals of songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist Danny Davis.

With just one main stage for larger touring acts, most of the weekend's earlier sets had a thirty-minute break in between, during which patrons could walk around and take advantage of the many rest lounges, VIP and general admission-plus spaces, and more. After a few laps around the massive sprawl of vendors, food trucks and workshop stages, I made it back to the main stage.Next up was Neal Francis, whose funk, R&B and soul influences were on full display as he ripped keys from behind his Hohner clavs. Vocally, Francis was a powerhouse performer and band leader, characterized by retro-sounding and soulful vocalizations, and drawn-out, neo-psychedelic jams atop thick bass grooves.At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso took the stage for a mesmerizing, infectiously danceable and emotionally captivating performance that immediately made me a fan of the already well-regarded outfit. As soon as it began, the bass felt like it shook the entire Civic Center area, as vocalist Amelia Meath's voice echoed atop the growing sea of fans. I couldn't stop watching as Meath pranced around the stage with mystifying, seemingly interpretive dance moves, while producer Nick Sanborn stood back, pressing buttons and twisting knobs to cue dynamic song shifts on tracks like "Die Young" and the hit song "Coffee."The set was super-energizing and came just as I was beginning to run out of steam, and the sun also dipped behind the stage and City Hall's clocktower to bring the temperature down below 80 degrees. Something about Meath and Sanborn's smiles, verbal encouragements, and overall performance gave me the sense that the two are genuine, kind people, in addition to being incredible musicians. While Sanborn wore a shirt that read "ceasefire now," Meath left the stage with a second encouragement to look after one another amidst the many ongoing horrors unfolding in the world.

"Take care of each other. Free Palestine," Meath said, walking off stage to a cheering crowd.After an hour-long break following the Sylvan Esso set, Houston-based jam trio Khruangbin took the stage, much to the delight of the many fans I saw sporting its merch ahead of the set. The band, whose sound finds influences from a wide range of global music such as Thai funk and Iranian pop, put on a high-energy, psychedelic set to a massively packed Civic Center lawn, playing nineteen songs to close Saturday night with a bang.
Tracks like "August 10," "People Everywhere (Still Alive)" and the popular "Maria También" showed off the live adaptability of the band's chill, albeit far-out, musical palette, while the chemistry between bassist-vocalist Laura Lee Ochoa and guitarist-vocalist Mark Speer kept the energy up as they waltzed around the stage together. Rhythms held down by drummer Donald "DJ" Johnson brought about a feeling of weightlessness and timelessness, and the funky track "Evan Finds the Third Room" just put me in an unshakably good mood as Ochoa repeated the word "yes" over and over again.

"Look out for each other," echoed Ochoa, after Sylvan Esso repeatedly encouraged the audience to do the same.After a deep sleep and a relaxed morning, I came back on Sunday afternoon to catch the festival's second day. If Saturday's theme was jam bands, then Sunday was fittingly opened by Denver-based singer-songwriter Cole Scheifele, who kicked off a day of acoustic-guitar-led music falling somewhere between folk, Americana, bluegrass and country-adjacent rock. Following Scheifele was The Copper Children, whose brand of warm, wholesome folk dips into genres such as gospel, reggae and neo-psychedelia for an overall feel-good experience. Patrons trickled in and danced on the lawn throughout the afternoon set, with cloud cover rolling in for a slightly cooler day than on Saturday — and a substantially wetter day, as it turned out. While I wish I could have spent more time at the smaller, tucked-away stages, I did manage to catch a great, stripped-down two-piece set from Denver rock band The Mañanas on the Scout Motors stage. The act's lo-fi, jangly guitar sound was bigger than the small stage it was on, even without live drums.

Sweden-based, Australian-born folk songwriter Hazlett took the stage at 3:45, with his trio of musicians offering a blend of poppy and twangy tones for a soft, heartfelt set filled with lyrical story songs and downplayed, pensive folk melodies. The vocalist known as Hazlett also said that his parents had flown all the way from Australia to catch the set, adding that their appearance at the packed fest "proved it wasn't a waste of time doing music."

Immediately following the Hazlett set, however, chaos ensued as thunderstorms and rain began pouring down ferociously, and messages appeared on the site's several massive LED screens warning of the inclement weather and telling patrons to "please calmly leave the venue through the nearest exit."After hiding under a tree for a while and being told to "head to our cars" because of lightning (we had walked), staff escorted us along with other people who hadn't yet left into the McNichols Building, which had been transformed into a private lounge for the Outside Summit, a networking session on Friday.

We were lucky enough to share the shelter with Brothers of Brass, whose portable brass band setup allowed the band to perform an impromptu set that saved the day and brightened everybody's moods. Despite the circumstances, the space was filled with laughter, dancing and celebration, as we awaited an all-clear in hopes that Waxahatchee would still get to play a set originally slated to start at 5 p.m. My partner and I snuck out of the building as soon as staffers were let out, only to arrive back at the mainstage lawn to a few drops of rain and significantly fewer people. Waxahatchee finally headed on stage at 6:15 p.m. to massive applause from attendees trickling back in, and after a lot of hard work from staff members squeegeeing water off the stage and uncovering instruments protected by tarps and plastic bags. Waxahatchee floated back and forth between twangy, full-band rock and lively Americana, as vocalist and songwriter Katie Crutchfield welcomed everyone back to the fest. The band's warm slide guitar and rock piano rhythms platformed Crutchfield's vibrant stage presence, as backed by the often subdued yet spirited drumming by drummer-vocalist Spencer Tweedy, the son of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

The band showed how rock and roll could sound atop Crutchfield's confessional, country-leaning songwriting, and her performance offered a captivating, warm-hearted way to reintroduce the music following an unexpected rainstorm, despite the set being shorter than planned. While the band's well-rounded sound shined on tracks like "3 Sisters," "Right Back to It," and "Much Ado About Nothing" from the 2022 album Tiger's Blood, my favorite moment was when Katie stopped the band mid-song to make sure someone could make it out of the pit safely — a real-life testament to the deep humanity in her writing.After the sun went down, bluegrass band Trampled By Turtles came on next with the four-piece's often fast-paced bluegrass keeping the energy alive. Frontman Dave Simonett led the band's twangy songs with a lively stage presence, with many singing along and dancing to his earnest lyrics, which routinely touch on making the best of life and having a good time. Finally, the band closed with an impassioned cover of "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies, appealing to much more than just the country-adjacent listener.Finally, and after much anticipation, Sunday headliners Lord Huron took the stage following a pair of sold-out Red Rocks shows celebrating the tenth anniversary of its album Strange Trails. Even after two big performances, the band's stage presence was unrelenting and dynamic, with the folky rock-and-roll songs presenting a bold confidence that has grown since I first saw the band a decade ago.It's tough to find words for the immense swagger of frontman and songwriter Ben Schneider, who sang through a payphone mic at times, regularly tipping his hat, taking it off, and replacing it in between crooner-style dance moves, mystical hand gestures, and momentary mid-song huddles between band members that kept the set super engaging. The sound was dense with cowboy-style tremolo guitar, soft, tonal mellotron riffs, and drum and acoustic guitar-backed rhythms, as songs such as "Meet Me in the Woods," "Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)" and "The Night We Met" echoed across the Civic Center lawn. "Until next time, may you live until you die," Schneider said into the mic following the band's three-song encore.

The folk rock band was a fitting way to end a festival dedicated to getting outside, as Schneider sang several poetic tales about traversing lands, exploring other worlds, and searching for lost love on the journey.

"To the ends of the Earth would you follow me," Schneider sang on "Ends of the Earth."

"There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see."You can see additional photos from the 2025 Outside Festival and Summit below.