Concerts

Katy Perry is brilliant. And, no, that’s not an assessment of her music — although, to wit, the gal does have a knack for injecting just the right amount of passion and pathos into her pop songs that makes them resonate, as evidenced by the impassioned expressions on the faces…

THE HELIO SEQUENCE at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/24/13 When Brandon Summers pulled out his harmonica last night at the Bluebird, we all what was coming, “Harmonica Song,” of course. Summers blew into his mouth harp like he was playing some kind of strange blues rock song, and he did so…

The Monkey Barrel, a new bar and live music venue being brought to us courtesy of Rock-a-Billies owner Jimmy Nigg, was slated to open last month, but after some construction delays, the venue, which is housed in the former Salvagetti Bicycles space at 1611 Platte Street, pushed back its debut…

SUNDAY | COLORADO RISING at 1STBANK CENTER | 10/27/13 Colorado Rising is a fitting name for this benefit show. Aside from its obvious meaning, the title could also describe the homegrown acts on the bill, each of which has helped raise the profile of music being made in our state…

FRIDAY | TALE OF US at CLUSTER STUDIOS | 10/25/13 “Epic” is a word that gets thrown around so much it’s practically lost its meaning. Yet in the case of Tale of Us, it’s one of the few descriptors appropriate to what the Italian duo creates on stage. Carmine Conte…

While the individual members have released new music in various configurations in the past few years, it’s been a while since we’ve heard new music from Prime Element. The last release from the act, formerly known as Three the Hard Way, came a few years back when Kamikazi Airlines picked…

Plenty of Discovery Channel viewers cried foul a few months ago when the cable network aired a bogus documentary about a prehistoric shark called the Megalodon. But that little piece of on-air fiction for “Shark Week” proved more inspirational than frustrating for FaceMan’s uni-monikered frontman, Steve. Inspired by the idea…

The lap steel guitar is a tough instrument to learn, but that’s exactly why Will Buck of West Water Outlaws wanted to take a crack at it for his band’s new album. “I’ve been playing guitar for about twenty years at this point,” says Buck, who co-founded the Boulder-based quartet…

It’s hard to make an overarching creative statement in the space of just four songs. Happily, though, the Highland Ramblers keep the message fairly straightforward on Four the Pour. Although the tunes don’t boast a lot of diversity in terms of style, the quintet shows plenty of heart when it…

Armed with just two acoustic guitars, a trap kit and Nate Cook’s zealous singing, the Yawpers have been known to kick up a hell of a racket not only on stage, but also in the studio, as heard on last year’s Capon Crusade. That same musical energy is more than…

If an early-’70s Laurel Canyon band were to get caught up in progressive jazz and some kind of gypsy music and then go on a decade-long tour playing experimental venues, Jellyfish Tuesday might be the result: a chilled-out version of a cabaret carnival, as Renaldo Migaldi once described Chicago’s Maestro…

Omniism, which began life as a side project for Spools of Dark Thread frontman Chris Thomas, is blossoming into an impressive modern-rock powerhouse. A Turn for the Worst, the band’s new four-song EP, finds Omniism (due this Saturday at Herman’s Hideaway, with Lola Black, Horse and No 1 Left Standing)…

Stevie Boiser is an omnipresent figure in Denver metal. He fronts Vale of Pnath and recently stepped down from Enemy Reign to focus on Dissonance in Design, a progressive/death-metal quintet that features brothers Harrison and Zac Patuto on guitar and drums, respectively, as well as Vale of Pnath guitarist Vance…

KRS-ONE at EXTRACT HARVEST FEST at CERVANTES’ | 10/19/13 The Extract Harvest Festival took over both sides of Cervantes’ with classic hip-hop and reggae filling the place. KRS-One was the main headliner, but all of the acts, which included the Pharcyde, Mr. Vegas and Trapzillas, among others, had the house…

TODD SNIDER at BLUEBIRD THEATER |10/19/13 Todd Snider didn’t skimp on stories at his show at the Bluebird Theater. Before “Ballad of Devil’s Backbone Tavern,” he told us how his nephew is getting into singing and songwriting. Apparently he had told Snider that he didn’t sing a lot of his…

THE BAD PLUS at THE ORIENTAL THEATER | 10/19/13 After the Bad Plus opened its set with “Pound for Pound” and “Wolf Out,” bassist Reid Anderson told a packed Oriental Theater, “We have to roll out the brand tunes because it’s that time of year,” he said. “The season changes…

THE NAKED AND FAMOUS at FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 10/18/13 Naked and Famous was in total control at the Fillmore. From the first chords of “A Stillness,” every string pluck and cymbal crash had been calculated, presumably in some sort of rock laboratory. Frontwoman Alisa Xayalith appeared onstage, clad in black,…

TUES | FLATBUSH ZOMBIEZ at CERVANTES’ OTHER SIDE | 10/22/13 As if torn out of the pages of a graphic novel, Flatbush Zombies are intense and ultra-stylized to an extent that is at once cartoonish and darkly gritty. Sometimes, in the case of very exciting music such as theirs, substance…

FRI | THE NAKED AND FAMOUS at FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 10/18/13 Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith formed this pop outfit in 2008 and recorded two EPs with future keyboard player Aaron Short when the three were students at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand in Auckland. Taking its…

SAT | LOO & PLACIDO at NORAD | 10/19/13 Artists like Danger Mouse and Z-Trip have brought the art of the mash-up to the forefront, but few take it to the extremes of Loo & Placido (aka Laurent Lupidi and Jeremy Johnson, respectively), who each played in assorted French bands…