Tangled up? No worries, Neva Dinova will help smooth things over. Photo from MySpace.
“This is easily the funnest show we’ve had in quite some time,” raved Jake Bellows, lead singer of the laidback folk-rockers Neva Dinova. The loyal fans that came out to the group’s show at the Hi-Dive on Thursday were mostly underage, and it was a surprisingly sparse turnout. Bellows’ interactive stage presence that night showed a mellow confidence and charm that’s part of the larger band persona.
Neva Dinova has been around since [...]

Great Big Sea’s Newfoundland folk-rock energized the crowd at the Paramount Theatre on Thursday. Photos by Mark T. Osler.
“Great Big Sea is a bastard,” the band’s website proclaims before going on to explain that the Canadian act is the progeny of a couple defunct groups from the frozen north. Certainly, the band’s high-energy performances (imagine sea shanties and barroom songs on steroids) implies the band has something to prove.
Of course, after 15 years of rockin’ the Celtic stuff Great Big Sea has developed a loyal [...]

“Want some? Git some, mother!” Photos by Brian Carney.
Git Some, one of the Mile High City’s mightiest, most face-melting rock bands got ready for its current tour — which takes it extensively around the U.K. and Europe through Dec. 1 — by playing a show at Bar Bar (a.k.a. the Carioca Cafe) on Oct. 7.
They’re no strangers to the gutter punk haven: the band has played there before with different (i.e. less aggressive/ear-shattering) Denver acts such as Widowers. Reverb photographer Brian Carney stopped by to [...]

Anberlin’s theatrical performance fit nicely at the high-walled Ogden Theatre on Tuesday. Photos by Jason K. Powers.
Anberlin, an anthemic, guitar-driven act that hails from Winter Haven, Fla., stopped by Tuesday at the Ogden Theatre to peddle some of its earnest, vaguely Christian-rock tunes to the screaming crowd.
Despite the emo-leaning melodies (and band name, which was what lead singer Stephen Christian reportedly wanted to name his first daughter) the band’s sound is actually a bit more mature than the watered-down punk tack taken by many of [...]

Black Diamond Heavies flattened a sparse but appreciate crowd at the Larimer Lounge on Sept. 19. Photos by Jason Claypool.
(Editor’s note: Due to an e-mail mixup, this September review is just now being posted. I know, I know… late, but better late than never. -JW)
Despite the toll on my liver and utter lack of sleep, going to shows five nights a week has irreplaceable rewards every once in a while. Sept. 19 at the Larimer Lounge was one.
The sparsely-occupied room was jumping from the first [...]

Silver Jews leader David Berman, in all his shadowy eminence, is eager to tell you what it’s like. Photos by Joe McCabe.
Silver Jews hint at the poetic brilliance of their music with just a glance at their song titles: “Smith & Jones Forever,” “Federal Dust,” “Horseleg Swastikas,” “Slow Education,” “Suffering Jukebox,” “San Francisco B.C., ” etc. The band, first considered a Pavement side project due to Stephen Malkmus’ involvement and later affirmed as the creative vision of one David Berman, has been crafting a “beautiful [...]

A Place to Bury Stangers turned the Larimer Lounge into A Place to Bury Eardrums on Wednesday. Photos by Lucia De Giovanni.
I am a firm believer that, to clear one’s head from the overwhelming sonic media din that constantly invades it, there is no substitute for a sustained dose of ribcage-and-cranium-rattling noise. While threatening to annihilate the eardrums, the experience of sheer volume seems to literally cleanse my headspace, leaving a slight humming that I like to think is the sound of synapses shaking [...]

Cold War Kids’ Friday set at the Boulder Theater created heat without a lot of light — a good thing considering the band’s serious stage presence. Photos and text by Samuel M. Gault.
Denver locals the Knew opened Friday’s Cold War Kids show at the Boulder Theater and easily held their own in front of the sold-out crowd. The audience was supportive, even clapping their hands to the beat of the rousing finale. The band’s excited alt-country flair fit perfectly for the bill.
San Francisco’s Sean Hayes [...]

Despite his palor and relative lack of singing, Rivers Cuomo confidently led his band through a night of comforting nerd-rock on Sunday. Photos by Candace Horgan.
I wasn’t aware Angels & Airwaves were on the bill for the Weezer/Tokyo Police Club show Sunday night at the Broomfield Events Center. I also wasn’t aware Tom DeLonge had made the successful transformation into Jesus Christ Superstar.
While a certain amount of drama is expected/allowed when a band is playing a 6,000-seat venue, sometimes there is such a thing as [...]

All the pretty ladies wear feathers, don’t they? Photos by Doug Beam.
Saturday night at the Bluebird Theater felt more like a night in pre-World War II East Berlin, a vaudevillian show in early 20th century America, as Yard Dogs Road Show stopped by. The colorful, 13-member cabaret act mixed burlesque dancing, sword-eating, music, magic, sideshow acts, poetry and more. Or, as the group’s website puts it, it’s “a love letter from the bordello of your imagination.”
Originally a jug-band trio formed a decade ago by leader [...]