Ultra5280's Best Of 2018: Top Shows

2018 brought us some amazing shows. From comebacks to the unexpected to the rebirth of a local festival. Denver finally got it’s own big festival after months of rumors with Grandoozy. Red Rocks continued to impress with probably its best lineup in years. It’s hard task when asked to name your Top 5, but we sat down with some of our friends and finalized our lists. The consensus from our panel would be that David Byrne returned in 2018 with the best show of the year, landing number one on many lists. Taylor Swift toured with her amazing production landing a few spots on the list. Other notable shows were Janelle Monae, Childish Gambino and a few new faces such as CupcakKe and Jungle. With 2019 announcements already starting to roll in we expect it to be bigger and better. Thank you to our amazing friends at Live Nation, AEG Presents, Illegal Pete’s, Do303, The UMS, Levitt Pavillion, Open Air, Behind The Scene Podcast, without you we wouldn’t be able to attend so many amazing shows. Until next year…..

Robert Castro / Editor In Chief Ultra5280

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  1. Janelle Monae- Austin City Limits Music Festival

  2. Travis Scott- Pepsi Center

  3. David Byrne- Austin City Limits Music Festival

  4. Taylor Swift- Mile High Stadium

  5. Childish Gambino- Pepsi Center

Amy Osgood / Certified Peace Sign Thrower

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  1. SZA- Coachella

  2. Taylor Swift- Mile High Stadium

  3. Beyonce- Coachella

  4. Janelle Monae- Paramount Theatre

  5. Florence and The Machine- Grandoozy

Bruce Trujillo / Programming Assistant at Open Air

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  1. Los Mocochetes/Pink Hawks/Vic N The Narwhals- Hi Dive

  2. Tammy Shine (of Dressy Bessy)- Sally Centigrade

  3. Ms. Lauryn Hill- Red Rocks

  4. Paul Simon- Fiddler’s Green

  5. Childish Gambino- Pepsi Center

Tobias Krause / Event Director at Underground Music Showcase

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  1. DUCKWRTH- Underground Music Showcase

  2. PPL MVR- Underground Music Showcase

  3. Dragondeer (as Bowie)- Globe Hall

  4. Childish Gambino- Pepsi Center

  5. Madge- Underground Music Showcase

Zoe Lanterman / Marketing Manager at Live Nation Colorado

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  1. Jungle- The Gothic Theater

  2. Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever- Larimer Lounge

  3. Cold Cave- Marquis Theatre

  4. Sylvan Esso- Red Rocks

  5. BROCKHAMPTON- The Ogden Theatre

Peter Wallace / General Manager at Do303

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  1. David Byrne- Red Rocks

  2. Big Gigantic (Rowdytown 3D)- Red Rocks

  3. PHISH- MGM Las Vegas

  4. Travis Scott- Life Is Beautiful Music Festival

  5. Dave Chapelle- Summit

Joel Rekiel / Levitt Pavillion Denver

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  1. David Byrne- Red Rocks

  2. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats- Levitt Pavillion Denver

  3. Godspeed You Black Emperor-The Ogden Theatre

  4. MGMT- The Fillmore

  5. Rainbow Kitten Surprise- Velorama Music Festival

Shon Cobbs / Host of Behind The Podcast

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  1. The National/Sharon Van Etten- Red Rocks

  2. Jesus and Mary Chain/NIN- Red Rocks

  3. Ghostpulse-Syntax Opera House

  4. The Milk Blossoms- Lost Lake

  5. Beach House/Sound of Ceres- The Ogden Theatre

Virgil Dickerson / Fun Pusher at Illegal Pete’s

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  1. David Byrne- Red Rocks

  2. Lizzo with Maggie Rogers and Haim- Red Rocks

  3. Janelle Monae- Paramount Theatre

  4. Cupcakke- Marquis Theater

  5. Shannon and The Clams- Crescent Ballroom

Ryan Garbarino- Marketing Manager at AEG Presents

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  1. David Byrne- Red Rocks

  2. Khraungbin- The Bluebird Theater

  3. The War on Drugs- Grandoozy

  4. John Prine with Nathaniel Rateliff- Buell Theatre

  5. Taylor Swift- Mile High Stadium

Rikki Aston / Talent Buyer at Live Nation Colorado

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  1. David Byrne- Red Rocks

  2. Pearl Jam- Safeco Field

  3. Against Me!- Summit

  4. Janelle Monae- Paramount Theatre

  5. Sofi Tukker- Gothic Theater (can I have 5 more!!!)

Lina Skrzypczak / Lifestyle and Music Writer at Ultra5280

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  1. Black Moth Super Rainbow- The Bluebird

  2. Washed Out- 420 Block Party

  3. Childish Gambino- Pepsi Center

  4. Mac Demarco- Red Rocks

  5. Tycho- Summit

Danny Sax / Talent Buyer at AEG Presents

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  1. Bouncing Souls- The Bluebird Theater

  2. Highly Suspect- The Ogden Theatre

  3. Dropkick Murphy’s/Flogging Molly- Fox Street Compound

  4. Mac Demarco- Red Rocks

  5. Rancid/Bad Religion/Pennywise/The Interrupters/Mad Caddies/Potato Pirates - Fiddlers Green

Geoff Brent / Talent Buyer at Live Nation Colorado

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  1. Itchy-O Hallowmass- Summit

  2. Against Me!- Summit

  3. Turnstile & Culture Abuse- Marquis Theater

  4. BROCKHAMPTON- The Fillmore

  5. The Frights- The Bluebird

Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers Make Love to Denver

Photo courtesy of Hobo Johnson Facebook

Photo courtesy of Hobo Johnson Facebook

Stellar young lyricist, vocalist and frontman of Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers, Hobo Johnson, also known as Frank Lopes Jr. summoned people of all ages and backgrounds to the Summit Music Hall and sold out a Tuesday night show.

If you haven’t heard Hobo Johnson - think slam poetry, rap, and angsty garage punk had a baby and added cute curly hair and a super expressive face. This group of guys from California throw down cool beats and relatable, emotion packed lyrics that attracted an obviously large fan base. After a Tiny Desk Concert submission, the group gained quick popularity, for pretty obvious reason in my opinion. Quirky emotional guys smoking cigarettes in a backyard? Yup, I’m in. Add tight music, even better.

Now hearing the crowd at a sold out venue sing every lyric must be a crazy experience, and one Lopes experienced here in Denver. But as great as that aspect was, Denver crowds are becoming disrespectful in the arrogant level of chatter and disruptiveness happening during a set. To the point in this instance where Lopes was obviously getting flustered and frustrated, at which point obnoxious audience member was asked to “Fuck Off.”

Soooooooo, I will kindly remind you Denver to mind your manners and be courteous to not only the performer (who’s trying to perform, for one) that you, and the other people surrounding you paid cash money to see, but also your fellow concert goers. You don’t want to be the guy getting yelled at by an angry fan, and he doesn’t want to yell at you, so just avoid it and take your conversation somewhere that people aren’t trying to listen to music.

Playing almost their entire discography in addition to some new songs, in front of a beat up couch/living room setup the group did not disappoint. Hits like “Sex in the City” and “Creve Coeur 1” stood out to me, but everything was performed with vivacity and true emotion, and honestly felt like I was seeing my friends play music about stuff that was happening to all of us at the time. Ending with fan favorite and the “slapper” of their set, “Peach Scone”, the crowd was involved and pleased as ever. I would recommend checking out most recent album The Rise of Hobo Johnson (2017) and giving the lyricism a chance to blow your mind as it did mine the first time I watched their Tiny Desk submission earlier this year.

Link to watch the Tiny Desk Concert here.

Summit Music Hall Announces Lineup For New Remodeled Venue

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Our good friends at Live Nation has some amazing news for us today. One of our favorite venues is getting a touch up in the next few months and we cannot wait to see the outcome.

Live Nation Clubs & Theaters has announced that Denver’s Summit Music Hall which it acquired in February, will undergo significant renovations and upgrades this summer expanding audience capacity while improving patrons’ concert-going experience and artist accoutrements.  
 
Summit will be shut down from June 21ST through early September. Along with Summit, the Marquis Theater, originally opened in 2006, will close from July 2nd through August 12th while improvements are made. The famed Marquis Pizza, beloved by the community, will continue to serve its popular pizza without interruption. 
 
At Summit, significant renovations that will improve the experience for both concert goers and artists include: increased capacity to 1350, an upgraded sound system, new and expanded restrooms, improved sightlines, new artist dressing rooms as well as other cosmetic upgrades.
 
STS9 kicks off the venue’s reopening with a massive underplay on September 6 th, the night before back-to-back shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

A stellar line-up follows including: 

Sep 6 – STS9
Sep 7 - The Epilogues + PLACES
Sep 8 - Stones Throw feat. Mayer Hawthorne, Dam Funk, J Rocc
Sep 13 – Residente                                                                                    
Sep 14 – Suicide Girls
Sep 15 – E-40
Sep 21 - El Ten Eleven
Sep 29 - Emo Nite LA
Oct 6 – Autograf
Oct 8 & 9 – Against Me! 
Oct 10 – GWAR & Hatebreed
Oct 12 - The Dan Band
Oct 19 & 20 - Tycho (DJ Set)
Nov 3 - Lily Allen
Nov 6 - Lil Xan
Nov 7 - Thrice
Nov 9 - Dermot Kennedy
Nov 10 - Perpetual Groove
Nov 16 - Michal Menert & The Pretty Fantastic                                                                                Nov 24 - Kodaline                                                                                                                              Dec 1 - Giraffage / Ryan Hemsworth

Tickets to most shows go on sale Friday, June 15 at 10am MST. 
Live Nation Clubs & Theaters promotes nearly 15,000 shows in over 100 venues across the United States including close to 600 shows in the Denver area.

Starset Lifts Off At Summit Music Hall

Photo Credit: Austin Voldseth

Of Mice And Men and Company Delivered To The Sold Out Summit Crowd Tuesday

Of Mice and Men (Photo Credit: Austin Voldseth)

It’s like any typical Tuesday night right? Wrong, not when you got Of Mice & Men included in your schedule. 

It started off with the first opener Moscow, who came out with energy and a trap beat instrumental. Then as the lead singer took to the stage with the brightest, whitest, and fuzziest jacket I’ve seen she began screaming into the mic while the rest of the band trailed behind with energy. The lead guitarist dressing like he was taking the stage with Motley Crue or something shredded solos while the drummer kept flipping us all off in-between spin tricks with his sticks. 

Fire From the Gods (Photo Credit; Austin Voldseth)

After them was a new up and coming band called Fire From The Gods. Running about the stage, jumping with scissor kicks, and getting the crowd hyped with all the break downs. After the first three the singer got down on a knee to get to crowd level to talk personal business about life and struggles to encourage everyone to be themselves and not overthink all the bad decisions in life. A couple songs later and one more talk about how good you should feel about life they closed with their famous song “Excuse Me” that got everyone jumping and surfing to the front to high five the band.

Bless The Fall (Photo Credit: Austin Voldseth)

Last of the openers was Bless The Fall, they’ve been around for awhile (almost 10 years now) performing shows along side a lot of other pop punk legends of the 2010 breakdown core music. Personally this was the hardest set to shoot. Why might you ask that? Well, strobes are a tricky one to shoot stills of. Yes, looks great when enjoying, I can say I did on that note. However with all the constant firing of photos and craziness of running around everywhere to follow the bands excitement I got a few keepers. The thing that stood out a lot with Bless The Fall was how involved with the crowd they got. Squirting/spitting water, group hugging and singing along on the front gate, and getting the circle pit spinning was the perfect way to make sure everyone was ready for Of Mice & Men.

Finally the moment we all we’re waiting for. The boys took the stage and performed ‘Defy’ from their new album as the opening track. There was an intense amount of strobes this set as in it put Bless The Fall’s to shame with how much there were. Luckily, there was more constant fill lights so it wasn’t too hard to make a great photo with it. I truly enjoyed the lighting set up they had with their set (kudos lighting tech) because it just matched how everything worked on when drum patters would happen with certain lights and rhythms. So after three songs and one kick to the head from a crowd surfer I enjoyed the rest of the show. I was surprised at how many people knew the entire new album word for word already and how much they wanted to mosh. With me personally I’m more of a fan of their older stuff and would have loved to hear more from ‘The Flood’ album, granted they did play “The Depths” as the last song of the encore even though that song is on the special edition released after the original album.

Of Mice and Men (Photo Credit: Austin Voldseth)

Words and Images: Austin Voldseth