Wiz Khalifa, H.E.R. and the Best Denver Concerts This Week

You've got plenty of options for tonight: Bad Cop/Bad Cop brings punk rock to the Marquis, doom metal legends Sleep will keep the Mission Ballroom awake, and rapper Wiz Khalifa will bring the perfect pre-4/20 show to Red Rocks.

H.E.R. takes her flame thrower guitar to the Bellco Theatre on Tuesday, April 19, while the Bristol post-punkers in IDLES bring their infamous concert experience to the Mission Ballroom and Lindsey Buckingham spends an evening at the Paramount.

On Wednesday, April 20, catch noisy duo Local H at the Marquis on Wednesday or Joy Oladokun at the Summit. Then round out your week with some Moroccan-Hungarian fusion with Chalaban at Swallow Hill Music on Thursday, April 21.

Bad Cop/Bad Cop
Monday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer Street
$15
Bad Cop/Bad Cop sprang from two bands. One was an all-woman tribute to Oi band Cock Sparrer called Cunt Sparrer. The other was a San Francisco punk band called the Angry Amputees. So really, Bad Cop/Bad Cop seems to be the least controversial name these musicians have operated under. With this show, you also get Fea, an awesome, all-Latina punk band out of San Antonio.
Sleep
Monday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$35-$75
Call it doom metal or stoner metal — Sleep will lull you into a trance with its down-tuned, repetitive grooves. The band also spawned several other doom/sludge metal outfits such as OM and High on Fire after it "broke up" in 1998. It reunited in 2009 and released a surprise album, The Sciences, through Third Man Records in 2018. The band's playing another show at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs the following evening. Superwolves, a Matt Sweeney and Bonnie "Prince" Billy collaboration, is opening.

Wiz Khalifa & Trippie Redd
Monday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison
$59.95-$149.95
If you know Wiz Khalifa, then you know this may be the perfect pre-4/20 show. He's also working on a new record, the as-yet unreleased Multiverse, and if you're lucky, maybe he'll play a track or two of it at his Red Rocks appearance. He's coming with MC Trippie Redd as well as Curren$y, Chevy Woods and DJ Squizzy Taylor.



H.E.R.
Tuesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.
Bellco Theatre, 700 14th Street
$49-$375
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony performances are often less than inspiring. One notable exception is Prince's solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the 2004 ceremony. Another is H.E.R. playing "It's Only Love" last year, when Tina Turner was (finally) given her due. If the guitar had been a flamethrower, dozens of people in the front row would have been injured.

IDLES
Tuesday, April 19, 8 p.m.
Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$34.99-$59.95
While Bristol, England, band Idles is often labeled as post-punk, guitarist Mark Bowen tells Westword that its music contains influences from hip-hop to heavy rock, and that draws some of the best "fringe" crowds. The concerts are a sight to behold, with Bowen describing the experience as “Violent. Joyous. Chaotic and cathartic. Uninhibited, but considered.” Don't miss out.


Lindsey Buckingham
Tuesday, April 19, 8 p.m.
Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place
$59.50
Lindsey Buckingham has had an eventful few years. He was fired from Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after a disagreement about the tour the band was about to go on. Then he had emergency open-heart surgery the following year. But it hasn't appeared to slow him down. He released a self-titled solo record last year, his seventh, and who needs Fleetwood Mac? He's going on his own tour, damn it.

Local H
Wednesday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St
$22
Local H is perhaps best known for its 1996 song "Bound for the Floor," which is a perfectly fine radio song, but not representative of the band's sound. The Illinois-born two-piece band is really something to see live. It's loud, noisy and heavy, heavy, heavy. Bring ear plugs; you'll need them. When the band opened for Soul Asylum in February, 2020, frontman Scott Lucas looked like he was about to keel over dead from what, in retrospect, might not have been the flu. In either case, a consummate showman.
Joy Oladokun
Wednesday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Summit
1902 Blake Street
$18
Joy Oladokun is a queer Black woman and the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. She started her musical career playing church music in middle-of-nowhere Arizona before she decided to come out, leave the church and set out on her own. Currently based in Nashville, she brings a unique perspective to the singer-songwriter realm, and her music is increasingly drawing on the hip-hop she grew up listening to and loving.

Chalaban
Thursday, April 21, 8 p.m.
Swallow Hill Music
71 East Yale Avenue
$18
Said Tichiti grew up in Morocco but settled in Hungary as an adult. His band, Chalaban, plays the music of his native country but incorporates the music of his bandmates, most of whom are Hungarian. So it's Moroccan music but with some Baltic, Carpathian and Roma elements tossed in for good measure. It's music that will lull you into a trance and make you want to dance.

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