Neil Young, Devo And More Will Be Covered at My Favorite Bands Festival

While Colin Bricker, owner of Mighty Fine Productions, is one of the area's best sound engineers, he's also played in the cover band Peter, Paul & Gary since he and some buddies formed the band they were in high school in Greeley. Over the years, some of the band members...

By Jon Solomon

September 19, 2014

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While Colin Bricker, owner of Mighty Fine Productions, is one of the area's best sound engineers, he's also played in the cover band Peter, Paul & Gary since he and some buddies formed the band they were in high school in Greeley. Over the years, some of the band members moved away, he still wanted to an excuse to have the band to play once a year. So that was one of the reasons Bricker and Damon Smith started My Favorite Bands Festival six years ago in downtown Greeley, where musicians pay tribute to their favorite bands. This year's fest will include bands playing the music of the Violent Femmes, ZZ Top, Neil Young, Devo, James Taylor, U2 and Peter, Paul & Gary will play the Gross Pointe Blank soundtrack.

There's a free festival kick-off party starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 19 on the 9th Street Plaza with the Tom Waits tribute band Lost Dog Ensemble (which Bricker also plays guitar alongside members of Hamster Theatre and Judge Roughneck and Fatty Jenkins), and the 10-piece band Winehouse, which touts itself as an embodiment of Amy Winehouse.

While acts like Lost Dog Ensemble, Winehouse and the Dirty Femmes usually play the music of the artists they each cover, Bricker says that the other bands learn sets specifically for the festival. "That was the concept of the festival," Bricker adds, "get our friends together and get to play a set of music that they've been listening to all their lives but maybe don't know the music as well as they want to, so then they learn to play the stuff."

The festival features two stages of music, a playground and bouncy house for the kids, food and beverages. Tickets for the Saturday festival are $5.

The line-up for the festival on Saturday, September 20 at Lincoln Park in downtown Greeley is:

Violent Femmes - The Dirty Femmes 4-4:45 p.m. ZZ Top - Fandango 4:50-5:35 p.m. Neil Young - Gary Bragg 5:40-6:25 p.m. Devo - Jocko Homo 6:30-7:15 p.m. James Taylor - Craig Cornett and the Phast & Wreckless 7:20-8:05 p.m. U2 - Shawn Waggoner and the Tumblyweeds 8:10-8:55 p.m. Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack - Peter Paul and Gary 9-10 p.m.

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