Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde looks great, right? But don’t you dare take a picture of her else you’ll risk being reprimanded by her — mid-song, even. Photos by Mateo Leyba.
First, a tangent.
Read any review from the Pretenders’ current slate of shows and you’ll see references to how great Chrissie Hynde looks as she struts the length of the stage in her torn jeans, tailor-cut jacket and high-heeled boots. And Hynde knows she looks great – that bangs-in-her eyes look of tousled freedom and careless abandon.
That [...]

A ribbon dancer works her magic as DeVotchKa frontman Nick Urata works his magic at the Paramount Theatre on Friday. Photos by Joe McCabe.
O, DeVotchKa. Never before have I heard you make such beautiful music as you played at the Paramount Theatre on Friday. The set list was magnificent. The mix, from where I was standing, was glorious and full. You looked lovely. And you capitalized on the romantic, dramatic, kissy-kissy occasion – the night before Valentines Day.
I’ve seen you play plenty of shows over [...]

It all leads up to The Song.
All the sequin costumes and the sexy choreography. All of the lesser hits. All of the love, love, love that Celine Dion throws out: to her friends Pierre and Coco who came to the show, to her guests from the local hospital who treated her brother after an accident, to entertainment mogul Phil Anschutz who bankrolled her smash Vegas show and sits in a center stage skybox counting his cash.
It is all just a prequel to the number fans [...]

A host of Denver’s finest helped Dan Craig release his new EP at the Bluebird on Saturday. Photos by Brian Carney.
As an instrument, the male voice is an oft-overlooked and sadly underappreciated one. But at Saturday’s Dan Craig EP release at the Bluebird – with openers Ellison Park and His Parade of Elephants, Hello Kavita and Ian Cooke — proved that male vocals can be just as powerful and evocative as any guitar lick.
Ellison Park started off the show with a duet, featuring the talented [...]

Guttermouth brought their signature “Warped Tour sound” to the Marquis on Friday. And yes, they denounced the festival. Photo from MySpace.
The crowd packed into the Marquis Theater Saturday night looked like it could’ve been lifted directly from the west coast hardcore scene of the mid-‘80s, full of skate punks, surf punks, speed punks and a few honest-to-goodness old school punks. Most were in the 18 to 25-year-old range, but more than a few looked old enough to have been in the original scene way [...]

Sonic textures are king with Lawrence, Kan., act the Appleseed Cast. Photos by Tina Hagerling.
The Appleseed Cast made there way through Denver to play an electrifying set at the Hi-Dive on Saturday night in support of their latest and seventh album, “Sagarmatha” (an area in eastern Nepal that means “head to the sky”). The band has been around for upwards of a decade and it was great to see the new and old die-hard fans come out of the woodwork for our neighbors from Lawrence, [...]

A new set of songs invigorated Achille Lauro and its fans at the Oriental Theater on Friday. Photos by Brian Carney.
Matt Close and his band Achille Lauro debuted a reinvented set of songs at their excellent Oriental Theater show on Friday, easily the best one this photographer has seen.
Starting with the new tracks “No Brakes” and “Friends War,” the band stunned the audience, vocalist Close sounding at times like the all-time-great Robert Plant. His guitar work and singing combined with Luke Mossman’s guitar to impressively [...]

Young but assertive, the Morning Benders made a few new fans at the Hi-Dive on Friday. Photo of previous show by Bryan Derballa via MySpace.
The Morning Benders, the Submarines and Denver’s up-and-coming Houses dealt a winning hand on a semi-wintry Friday at the Hi-Dive, the bands ending up as a better-than-expected fit with each other.
Houses is one of the newly notable “super group” additions to the local music scene. You may recognize some of the players from Boys Who Like Audrey, Old Radio, Harpoontang, Widowers, [...]

Tyvek drew a tiny but devoted crowd to the Larimer Lounge last week. Photo of previous show from MySpace.com.
Troublesome is the sight of three sad sacks taking to stage at the Larimer Lounge last Wednesday, just minutes after most of the crowd has disappeared for the night. Tyvek’s bassist (Shelley) had the look of a girl who’d just missed a bus; the drummer (Matt Z.), clad in all denim and a knit cap, resembled a prison escapee; the guitarist (Kevin), bespectacled and beak-nosed, held his [...]

Nappy Roots — as trio on Wednesday — spiked their hour-plus set with sleaze but managed to slide by with an overall strong performance. Photo from MySpace.
There is something fascinating about rap from the South that sets it apart from the traditions of hip-hop’s bi-coastal capitals. Rubber-band beats combined with a nonchalant attitude and the slow-drip of a true Southern accent acts part hypnotizer, part panty-dropper, and Nappy Roots fully embody it. Their show Wednesday night at the Marquis Theater showed that even if the [...]