Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, otherwise known as Ariel Pink played the Bluebird Theater on Tuesday as a part of his tour promoting newest album Dedicated to Bobby Jameson.

If you’ve heard the music, you know it’s good. Ariel has a hold on this “hypnagogic pop” that makes you feel a sense of nostalgia because it specifically incorporates music, technology, and entertainment from time periods that make you feel this way. A master of the Lo-fi, psychedelic pop genre, he’s got lyrics that make the crowd simultaneously sing and sway, a kind of eerie setup full of props and webs, and fan base that obviously loves him through projects solo or otherwise.

Despite all these factors, Ariel still seems to get himself into some trouble when it comes to his demeanor, such as October 14th at The Chapel in San Francisco when some of his fans left the venue after “gross behavior”. He took to Twitter to apologize for this incident saying, “I got very drunk and overdid everything and wrecked my vocal chords and managed to offend with my antics.” I bring this up because I’m under the impression that these same factors caused the Denver show to be much less than it could have been. Rosenberg was visibly drunk, lighting a cigarette onstage, running into his stage props, and causing a lot of microphone feedback. I can’t imagine that insulting the lighting guy by calling him “local talent” really helped either, which I think resulted in super obnoxious lighting choices made the rest of the set.

Favorites such as “Another Weekend”, “Lipstick”, “Round And Round”, and of course, “Baby” redeemed some of the front man’s seeming carelessness, but his ingenuity and overall seeming disconnect from the beautiful music he’s making is a slight put off.

The show was a good time, and the people around me seemed to think so too. I will say however, that it is a little discouraging as a fan to see an artist you love give very few shits about the performance you’re watching. Oh and, #Lightingguysmatter.

Words: Lina Skrzypczak Images: Meesh Deyden