Concerts

This past weekend, Show and Tell, our sister blog, hijacked Backbeat’s resident cartoonist/funny man Noah Van Sciver and asked him to sketch out his impressions of Artopia. Unsurprisingly, his impressions turned out to be hilarious, awkward and awesome, the work of staggering genius. Well it made us laugh anyway, particularly…

Talk about sensory overload. Touring the five venues of Artopia over the course of three hours felt overwhelming at times. Skipping from band to band and exhibit to exhibit in the clubs along Broadway was a frenetic way to take in the best of Denver’s visual and musical acts. The…

Looking over the schedule for Artopia, it quickly becomes clear that it is impossible to see everything. Choices must be made and none of them are easy. To wait until the end of the set; or make sure that you catch the beginning of the next act down the street…these…

In addition to other items once owned by Whitney Houston being offered up to the highest bidder, the sprawling mansion where the legendary performer once lived in Mendham, New Jersey, is reportedly being tastelessly touted by a real estate broker from Beverly Hills as “the scene of the activity that…

LESLIE & THE LYS @ HI-DIVE | 2.19.12″Reba McEntire.” With the mere mention of that name, queen crafting bee and cuddly rapping princess Leslie Hall incited riotous applause from her audience last night at the hi-dive. But the shout out to the renowned country singer that came at the end…

ENGLISH DOGS @ SUMMIT MUSIC HALL | 2/19/12 Throughout the show, Adie Bailey of English Dogs came off the stage and sang with the crowd just over the barrier and encouraged people to sing into the mike. But it was halfway through the show that Bailey figured he could trust…

WALE @ SUMMIT MUSIC HALL | 2.17.11 With the Summit Music Hall packed to the gills, Black Cobain was standing on stage in a blaze orange knit cap and a white t-shirt telling the crowd “everybody put your middle fingers up.” To the casual passerby, it might have looked like…

So Dave Grohl, through his peeps at Nasty Little Man, just clarified the seemingly incendiary remarks he made during his acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards last weekend when he was picking up his Gramophone trophy. Turns out, as suspected, he wasn’t ripping on dance music specifically, his comments were…

This weekend is ready to grab you by the hand and whirl you around on a dance floor or three. The party lineup is looking gloriously funky and melodic, from DJ Mu$a’s celebration of black music tonight at Euphoria to the one-year anniversary of the Massive Reggae party at Funky…

Welcome to the weekend! You made it! While we’re assuming we’ll be seeing you at Artopia tomorrow night, if for some reason we don’t, there’s a pretty diverse lineup of music on tap otherwise for the next three days, including two more nights of Phil Lesh at 1STBANK Center, two…

PHIL LESH AND FRIENDS @ 1STBANK CENTER | 2/16/12 – NIGHT ONEPhil Lesh played the first of a three night stand last night at the 1STBANK Center, bringing with him some extremely talented friends and an energy and enthusiasm in his playing that brought fresh breath to the timeless Grateful…

EXCISION @ OGDEN THEATRE, 2/16/12 Last night, Excision, the Canada-bred dubstep monster, carried the Ogden Theatre on low frequency bass waves that were so powerful the ceiling is probably still resonating this morning. He opened his set with the title track of X-Rated, which immediately sent the eclectically clad (neon…

TENNIS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 2/2/12For a band whose music is so bright and sunny, the tinge of melancholia that swirled around “Waterbirds” gave this Tennis performance an otherworldly feel. The breakdown section in the middle was one of the most evocative moments of the entire night. Patrick Riley and…

The biggest news in dance music this weekend is undeniably Doc Martin, who’ll play an intimate set at Bar Standard tonight as part of Full Flavor Fridays. But if house isn’t your cup of tea, there’s plenty of bass, minimalist techno and more to soundtrack your weekend. If you feel…

THE DARKNESS @ SUMMIT MUSIC HALL | 2/15/12If you are one of the four original members of The Darkness, a band that hit its peak in 2003 but never seemed to care, where in the set do you strategically place “I Believe In a Thing Called Love”? Saving your monster…

Illegal Pete’s really, really cares about bands. This much was clear from the moment the restaurant launched its Starving Artists Program, in which Pete’s feeds hungry touring acts heading through Denver. But what about the bands that tour here all the time? What about the acts that are from here?…

It’s Mardi Gras week at Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge, and what better way to indulge in all your favorite past times than with a few drinks, some great food, a ton of jazz and a lot of celebrating.The party kicks off tonight and runs until Fat Tuesday, February 21 with…