Concerts

“It wasn’t anything necessarily about the Denver scene itself,” Heffron says about his idea to start Strings and Wood five years ago. “But working as a booking agent I’d reach out to places and they would laugh or pay artists pennies. I saw how poorly the best musicians were treated.”…

The Fort Collins based band, You Me & Apollo ended its career on Saturday night by singing the Beatles balled “With A Little Help From My Friends,” and they had plenty. The sold out show at Hodi’s Half Note in Fort Collins was completely sold out. “It was an emotional…

SPELLS set up on the floor along the south wall of the hi-dive. Wearing matching Christmas sweaters, which each member later took off, the band set the mood for what turned out to be a rowdy and light-hearted performance. Their set was perfect way to end an entire night of…

Crash 45 ended its three-year run on Saturday, December 20. It was a place you could see experimental music, bike clubs, “burners” and b-movies. Its very unassuming facade hid the array of metal art inside. When you stepped inside on the final night, the staff cheered you in welcome and…

Bummeroo, Denver’s first online music festival, occurred on YouTube this weekend. You can read all about the idea here, but basically artists uploaded sets to a YouTube playlist and, as described on the Facebook page, “u can enjoy it from the comfort of yr bed as they are uploaded or…

[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last week’s episode of Rufus Baxter…

When some people think about noise as a genre, they think of harsh noise. But this show was somewhere else on the spectrum. Using samples, guitar, processed vocals, theremin and beats, Tom Smith and Mark Morgan, performing as T/SMM, created an immersive environment with their own musical language, enhanced by…

It’s a little bit of a quiet weekend in Denver, but there are still plenty of great shows, including Nathaniel Rateliff pulling double-duty tonight at the Ogden and T/SMM at Glob. The rest of our picks follow! Enjoy your weekend…

It is no secret that rent in Denver is climbing rapidly — so much so, in fact, that some artists feel they can no longer afford to live in the city. The Arts & Venues department of the city’s government wants to help. Together with the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Artspace, it…

The last time we talked to Guy Gerber (in 2012), the up-and-coming electronic music producer and DJ told us about his new project with P.Diddy, 11:11 — which was just released this year. Gerber will be back in Denver to play a show at Beta this Saturday night, December 20;…

The last major electronic show I attended was Porter Robinson’s World’s tour. The 21-year-old DJ used to be known for his wild drops and ultra-fast techno sounds, as heard in his 2011 hit single Spitfire. But in his newest album, he uses sampling to thread together beautiful melodies with gut-wrentching…

On November 17, Denver City Council passed an ordinance establishing AXS, a ticketing company co-owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, as the exclusive ticketing provider from January 1, 2015, until December 31, 2019, for venues owned by the City of Denver. You can read all 47 thrilling pages of the agreement…

More changes are coming to Globeville’s nightlife scene. Just a few weeks after the Sidewinder Tavern went on the market, Crash 45 announced last night that this would be its last few days in operation. The bar, which was the Portulaca Cafe and then the White Owl before metal artist…

Stage security has been a contentious issue in the decade since the death of Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe was famously cleared of manslaughter in Czech Republic after a fan died from complications of a stage diving injury in 2010. More recently, NOFX vocalist…

It’s another big week for live music in Denver. Be sure to catch Esme Patterson at the Bluebird on Wednesday, and head back the next night for Minneapolis rapper P.O.S. The rest of our picks follow. See also: 50 Ways to Support Your DIY Music Community…

Kicking off early with relatively short sets from Youth Code, Haujobb and Front Line Assembly, this weekend’s Skinny Puppy show at the Ogden Theater seemed refreshingly succinct. And everyone, crowd and performers alike, seemed in good spirits. It was mostly electronic music, but what sets these particular artists apart from…

Halfway through Shakey Graves’s final Denver show of the weekend, he decided to bring out “a local badass” by the name of Gregory Alan Isakov. Together, with local fiddler Jeb Bows, they performed a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Colorado Girl” that left few dry eyes in the sold-out Bluebird…

[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last week’s episode of Rufus Baxter…

Another huge weekend in Denver, including the second and third sold-out Shakey Graves shows at the Bluebird. Elsewhere, pop god Fleetwood Mac plays the Pepsi Center and doom hero Pallbearer is in town on Sunday. The rest of our picks follow…

Yesterday brought upon us the birthday of the late, great, sir Donald Byrd. Mr. Byrd passed away on February 4th, 2013 at the age of 80. He is celebrated as one of the most influential jazz trumpeters to emerge from the bebop era, and his career spanned more than forty…