Beer makes for good music — literally, in this case, as New Belgium’s Matt Kowal brought his act, “The Reals” to the Oriental Theater. Photos by Brian Carney.
Matt Kowal, leader of Denver’s the Reals, is also a marketing guy at Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Company who runs the Tour De Fat, a nationwide jaunt that also featured locals Paper Bird as it traversed the country this summer.
But on Nov. 21, it was the Real’s chance to take center stage, which a little help from [...]

“Can I get a burger and fries with a side of chicken nuggets and some honey mustard sauce, please?” Photos by Joe McCabe.
Like a lot of you, we’re still catching up with all the goodness of the last few weeks in the wake of Thanksgiving and various pre-holiday insanities, so here’s a (better) late (than never) posting of the H2O’s set at the Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom on Nov. 18, courtesy of photographer Joe McCabe.
The Los Angeles-based punk group stopped through Denver as part of its [...]

Los Lonely Boys brought the dancers down to the front of the Ogden Theatre during their Monday set. Photos by Brian Carney.
Grammy-winning Tex-Mex trio Los Lonely Boys stopped by the Ogden Theatre on Monday, and Reverb photographer Brian Carney checked in with this update and photo essay:
“Super loud, but killer tight. Amazing that three guys can sound this incredible. Henry Garza on lead guitar is way talented. It’s like he does lead and rhythm at the same time. JoJo Garza plays a six-string bass guitar [...]

For those about to rock, AC/DC salutes you. Photos by John Leyba of The Denver Post.
Brian Johnson has never compared to Bon Scott.
And we knew this walking into AC/DC’s Pepsi Center concert on Tuesday. Johnson has fronted the band through some of its finest moments, including “Back in Black,” the first record the Aussies recorded after Scott’s drunken death.
But the rumors of Johnson’s failing voice aren’t exaggerated. In concert, Johnson gets the job done – but it’s not always pretty. Or tuneful. He’s a lively [...]

Kidz in the Hall brought the dance party on stage at the Fox Theatre on Saturday. Photos by Tina Hagerling.
“It’s all white girls on stage dancing! Can you put that in your article?”
I scribbled down the quote from my concert-going neighbor at the MURS show Saturday night at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, wondering if he had looked at me when he said this. Being that I resemble a 3-D version of Daria with cuter hair, I did have to agree. There certainly was an [...]

Reports of disco’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Photos by Megan Pisha.
Hank hasn’t yet learned how to be cool at dance parties. For example, these days it’s considered passé to take a bite of the cheese cube, leave it on the floor, then pick it up a few minutes later and eat the remainder. Using a hula hoop as a battering ram is another etiquette no-no. And the bubbles emitting from those onstage machines? Not for eating.
These hardly compare with the worst faux pas [...]

No band? No problem, at least not for Jim McTurnan. Photos and text by Matt Schild.
If Jim McTurnan wanted to get into the swing of playing without a band, he couldn’t have picked an easier night to make his first appearance since his former band, Cat-A-Tac, parted ways. The crowd, which was, at a generous estimate, a couple dozen or so, didn’t seem to mind that only McTurnan turned up instead of Cat-A-Tac, as the show had been billed.
He wasted little time getting things going, [...]

Jeff Suthers (right) helms the crowded but smooth-sailing ship that is Moonspeed. Photos by Doug Beam.
Jeff Suthers continues to amaze Denver’s vibrant scene as its premiere soundsmith, and so far Moonspeed is proving to be his most ambitious and beautiful project to date. The group played a multi-faceted, brilliant set Friday night, headlining Radio 1190’s 10th Anniversary Party at the Hi-Dive, in front of a packed house, proving that the scene seems to get it, and agrees.
Moonspeed currently boasts an 11-member roster and, incredibly, all [...]

Come for the acoustic tunes, stay for the distracting chatter from the audience. Photos by Lucia De Giovanni.
Singer-songwriters Mason Jennings and Zach Gill both call Brushfire Records — the label owned by surf-folk musician Jack Johnson — home, so it’s no surprise their mellow sets at the Boulder Theater on Friday went so well together. The Hawaii-based label is a good fit for either artist, although according to Reverb photographer Lucia De Giovanni, the crowd was unusually noisy during their subdued sets.
Nonetheless, the diverse (age-wise, [...]

Pink is the new black when goth grandaddies the Sisters of Mercy visit Denver. Photo by Matt Schild.
Hold on. I’m confused.
My gut feeling was to proclaim the Sisters of Mercy show on Thursday as a hex-breaker, a reversal of the Sad-Aging-Goth-at-the-Ogden curse that’s been wrapped around me like a too-tight cloak. I had a good time the other night; I’m dead sure of it. Then again, I might need to reexamine my experience. I may have been too eager to embrace a band that has [...]