The Mile High City has been hungry for a big time music festival and Grandoozy delivered in it’s first year this past weekend. Feeling the void of failed music festivals in the past (with all due respect for reasons unknown to us) such as Mile High Music Festival, Monolith and just recent Riot Fest, Denver music fans would often have to travel to experience the big time feeling of such a large fest. The festival itself has been years in the making and finally got the green light this year to bring it to Overland Golf Course. Superfly the promoters responsible for bringing the fest managed to play it safe with the lineup and scheduling this year. Initial thoughts of having too many EDM and jam-band artist weighed heavily on concertgoers amongst the first announcement of the fest. Once the lineup was announced it did settle a lot of nerves as the first wave of acts were to everybody’s liking. Headliners this year included Kendrick Lamar, Florence and The Machine and Stevie Wonder, not a bad trio to kick off your first festival.
The burnt end sandwich from Sugarfire. (Photo Credit: Bridget Burnett)
With lush green lawns and plenty of shade, patrons had all the amenities of a big festival in the comfort of a golf course. Three main stages were all within reach as well as many other side stages the provided for some amazing smaller acts. Food and beer were easily accessible although by late afternoon and early evening lines did become a bit congested. Vendors such as Illegal Pete’s, Habit Doughnut Dispensary, and our new favorite bbq joint Sugarfire provided for some amazing culinary delights. What better way to wash down all the amazing food than by some amazing beers. Aside from Bud Light (whoever thought of those 4-packs is a genius) the festival had a craft beer tent to showcase some of the finer adult beverages. From Oskar Blue’s to Breckenridge Brewery there wasn’t an IPA not to like. If you wanted some of the harder stuff our friends at Deep Eddy Vodka had a beautiful oasis setup with enough activities to keep you busy between sets. An Area rightfully named The Flight Club provided flights of everything from Whisky and Rum to delicious Tequilas.
Other fun activities included a replica of South Park that had an array of different challenging games including ring toss, skee ball, nerf darts, and more. One of the busier areas of the festival all three days from what it seemed. An area labeled the Break Room was an all-day dance area that provided for some rad dance moves as well as some not so rad dance moments. DJ’s took their turn spinning everything from house to disco. Noteworthy sets by Soul Clap and Weird Touch were the highlight of the festival. Art installations by some of the best muralist such as Detour303 and DINKC were busy throwing up amazing pieces during the day. Festival coverage is by far one of our favorite things to cover here at Ultra5280 and having Grandoozy right in our own backyard this year was amazing. The festival has a five year contract and we can only hope they return next year for another amazing weekend. We would love to see this festival grow and make Denver a prime destination for all music lovers to attend.
Day one of the festivities had us racing between stages to catch Denver locals AMZY and Flaural both worthy enough of representing our city on the big stage. Flaural entertained with their psych rock sound while AMZY provided for the first wtf moment of the festivals history as lead singer Brennan Johnson climbed the stage thruss in typical rock star fashion. (see below) Other highlights of day one included performances by Tennis (another local five), Bishop Briggs (possibly the happiest musician in the world) Miguel, Phoenix, The War on Drugs and last but not least the reigning champion of hip hop Kendrick Lamar. Day two was headlined by the angelic and majestic Florence and The machine who had the crowd tuned in as she danced all across the stage with her red locks flowing making for an truly magical performance. Day two also included amazing sets by Snow Tha Product, Young The Giant, and Sturgill Simpson. Day three began with a rousing set by locals Dragondeer. Other notable sets included amazing r&B artist Daniel Caesar and Kelela. Mavis Staples held her own on the main stage while De La Soul took us down memory lane with their legendary hits. St Vincent had all the indie kids going wild while The Chainsmokers packed in one of the larger crowds of the weekend. Hip hop artist Logic preached his message of unity to a rather low energy crowd (according to him). The perfect ending to an amazing festival ended as Mr. Stevie Wonder got behind the piano to show us that music is a universal language as many in attendance sang word for word all of his amazing hits that reached far into his catalog. We enjoyed every aspect of the festival and will be looking forward to next year. Check out our extensive photo gallery below.
