Weaving through Denver Music, Art, Culture, and Life
Despite sharing nearly all of the characteristics that define many of the other bands in the melodic punk genre, Gamblers are head and shoulders above any I’ve heard in a while, both in skill and passion.
Weaving ubiquitously through all of it was the music. From so many pipers practicing simultaneously (a cacophony that everyone should experience), to the competing full bands on the field, to the large and small musician’s tents hosting performances with endless combinations of Celtic folk and rock . . . .
I love it when two drummers can pull it off playing together, and Green and Plummer played as if they were one — with the benefit of eight limbs. At the same time Fairchild’s guitar performance came as close as possible to actually replacing Johnny Marr, arguably one of indie rock’s most innovative players.
Having seen the Flaming Lips some 12 times over the past 15 years, the question I kept pondering before their next appearance was “How are they ever going to be able to top the last one?”
Since their appearances on the side stage in 1994’s Lollapalooza tour – the last time they put on any type of “regular” show – the Oklahoma natives seem to out-do themselves on every tour. August 23rd’s Red Rocks show was no exception.
Frontside Five has reached a sort of plateau in skate-punk, which actually involves leaving behind much of the genre’s simplicity in favor of some more complex rhythms, and a slightly more metal edge.
There are some artists that need to be alone, and then there are those that just plain can’t play with anyone else. It’s the latter group that put themselves on stage as a one-man-band — performing with total musical independence, total responsibility.
. . . the fervor, the excitement, the downright religious intensity Slim Cessna’s Auto Club brings to the stage never seems to fade, though I, like hundreds of other natives, have seen it regularly since they started out in 1992. . .
Jonathan Richman has a deeper affection for the Lion’s Lair than we thought. He played in the tiny Colfax dive-bar a year ago . . .
