Beat the Heat With Bands at the Indoor Venues of Westword Music Showcase 2016

The Westword Music Showcase is taking over the Golden Triangle on Saturday, June 25, and with the high-quality lineup comes incredibly high summer temperatures as well. The forecast for Saturday says Denver temperatures will stay in the nineties, but luckily the Westword Music Showcase has more than a dozen indoor stages to check out, where the heat will be generated on stage and in the crowd. Here’s a list of must-see acts from the 2016 lineup that will save you from sunstroke, if not sweat, organized by show time.

7.  Morning Bear

Morning Bear will be kicking off the lineup at 100% de Agave with its signature “orchestral indie folk” sound. The band mixes folk with indie songwriting and takes it up a notch with instruments like mandolin, violin and cello, landing somewhere between Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. Start Showcase on a light note with a cold margarita in hand for Morning Bear’s 12 p.m. set time. 

6. Gasoline Lollipops

Get in some early-day alt-country at La Rumba at 12:40 p.m. Gasoline Lollipops is a Boulder-based group taking sounds of rockabilly and folk and combining them with punk. The band is a favorite at Oskar Blues in Lyons, and the Westword Music Showcase is just one stop in its full summer schedule. Additionally, Gasoline Lollipops has been nominated for Best Country Band in the Westword Music Showcase Readers’ Poll, so be sure to check out videos from the group's upcoming EP Resurrection before casting your vote.

5. Kitty Crimes

City Hall has a few stages to choose from to keep you cool during this Saturday’s Westword Music Showcase, and at 1:50 p.m. Kitty Crimes will be dominating the Main Room. Maria Kohler will be dropping raps and her signature R&B vocals with her full band behind her. With Kohler’s commanding stage presence as she performs favorites like “Find a Penny” and “Egyptian Lover,” Kitty Crimes is an indoor act that’s not to be missed. 

4. Male Blonding

Broadways will be getting a taste of post-punk from Male Blonding on Saturday at 3:25 p.m. Not to be confused with the rock group from the U.K., Denver’s Male Blonding has been described as having a sound of “psych rock with surf punk vibes.” Keep out of the sun with them. 

3. Bianca Mikahn

Watch as one of Denver’s most notable female MCs takes the stage in City Hall’s Cue Room. Bianca Mikahn has proved that it is, in fact, possible to combine spoken word with rap, and the “femcee” does it better than most. Mikahn is an accomplished poet and activist in the Denver community, and she’ll be connecting with her audience at City Hall starting at 4 p.m. this Saturday.


2. Bollywood Life

Anton Krueger, better known as Bollywood Life, is all grown up and will be playing the main stage at Vinyl this Saturday. The young electronica artist is often mistaken for a DJ, but it’s clear in seeing him live that he is a musician on all accounts. See him bounce from drum pad to drum pad with his electro-pop sound at 4:35 p.m. on Saturday. 

1. The Epilogues

The Epilogues — no strangers to the Westword Music Showcase, playing the main stage in 2011 and taking home top prize in the 2010 Best of the West competition — announced yesterday that they are calling it quits at the end of the summer. If that doesn't cool you down, we don't know what will. So catch the Epilogues and start the long farewell process at Showcase, in the air-conditioned confines of the Church, at 4:35 p.m.