Cheers to Project Pabst (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Last saturday, thanks to our friends at PBR, our favorite block on Larimer Street between 27th and 28th were barricaded for a day of thirst quenching beer and stellar music. Festival goers shuffled from two stages right in the heart of our beautiful city. Meadowlark, The Larimer Lounge, Cold Crush provided sets of both national, and local bands featuring Colfax Speed Queen, Flaural, The Knock, Felix Fast4ward, and Dragondeer. The crowd estimates were bigger than last year, leading to believe that this festival is here to stay.

With a cold, frosty PBR tallboy in hand we headed over to the first set. Twin Peaks set off the day with their high energy beachy, british rock sound. If Cage The Elephant and The Kinks had a baby out would come a fresh little Twin Peaks. The three front men traded off lead singing each song yet their vibe didn’t seem to alter between. Don’t see that every show!

The small but steadily growing day crowd was herded over to the opposite stage by badass female rocker duo, Deap Vally. We saw these ladies at SXSW and gah zamn, can they own a stage. “Smile More” and it’s hard grunge vibe had us teen angst head-banging in delight. One of our favorites of the day.

Considering Noname was a No Show, our local friends, Monteneros took over in place and it was no longer bummerville on the Lazer Horse Stage. The local boys saved the day with an exceptional cover of The Pixies “Gigantic”.

STRFKR hit us hard. Literally. Our crowd surfing astronaut made his way over to us and we may or may not have dropped his ass. With our beer soaked sneaks, we danced through our favorites and the lesser known rest. I think we were all a bit distracted by the hot dogs and pickles flying about. A rousing rendition of “While I’m Alive” set off confetti and inflatable penises and pizza. Yes we said penises and pizza, picture that for a moment.

Danny Brown slaying during Project Past ( Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Oh you wanted to mosh? Our boy Danny Brown had ya covered. Although much more subdued this time than his normal self, Brown still managed to encourage crowd sing-a-longs and participation with his tongue in cheek approach to his recognizable rap flow.

The festival was so great that we even had time to fit in a nap and a burrito during Kurt Vile’s set. The slow indie, melodies weren’t in the cards for us, maybe because we weren't stoned. The rest of the day was high energy and high spirits, that he didn’t quite mesh with the line up. Maybe we’ll catch ya at Coachella 2018, Kurt.

The always lovely Sarah Barthel of Phantogram (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

The Phantogram team was in full force as Sarah Barthel and Josh “Fucking” Carter made the crowd sing and dance to their catchy hits and awesome display of showmanship. We even got a glimpse of Leroy (Sarah’s famous Instagram dog) on the side rocking out. Hits such as “Black Out Days”, “When I’m Small” and “Fall In Love” had us dancing with our neighbors in the crowd. Phantogram is currently on tour with Tycho so make sure you check them out at a city near you!

Legend Status (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

It’s one thing to see legendary performers, it’s another to get to see them in such an intimate setting. This was our second time seeing Ice Cube and while he didn’t bring out the members of NWA, he did manage to take us down memory lane with his recognizable street anthems. Ice Cube with his intimidating presence (although you may have lost a bit of that with the Are We There Yet? movies) and Westside hand gestures made everybody in the audience feel like a gangsta even if it was for a brief second.

Words by Kelly O'Keefe and Robert Castro

Crowd surfing on a pizza is on our bucket list (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Past Blue Ribbon, Lazer Unicorns, and more....

The first annual Project Pabst Denver edition took over the Larimer block this weekend with an abundance of PBR and great music to make it a success. A perfect description would be Sturgis meets Coachella, bearded denim wearing fellas coexisting with ladies wearing full flower dresses all for the love of music. Pulling from a a impressive and diverse lineup of acts there was musical taste for everybody to enjoy along with the official beer of hipsters everywhere (festivals take note, you do not need to charge $8 for a beer). The one block layout had two main stages that would alternate between bands making it easy to navigate back and forth between acts. Some of our favorite venues such as Cold Crush and Larimer Lounge also played host to some amazing acts for those who wanted to catch some shade. A variety of food carts were stretched out beyond the route to accommodate those who were hungry, we went for the $2 tacos which we may have gone back for seconds at one point. Art installations in the form of a van were on hand for attendees to practice their unlawful graffiti skills, later covered up by some amazing artist. A full arcade was stationed on the side for you to relive your pinball wizard days.

If you look closely you can see a portrait of Shia LaBeouf.

Not sure if anybody noticed but this unicorn had a tattoo on his ass.

A music festival wouldn't be a festival without music. Our day started by catching Small Black who headlined the early afternoon lineup to some exuberant fans. They played a variety of their songs including their biggest hit "Despicable Dogs". The indie-electro darlings sparked the first crowd dance party of the day. Not a bad way for us to start our amazing day. We also managed to catch Chicago emcee K Flay. No stranger to Denver, as she often performs here she managed to give us our first taste of indie hip-hop and had us dancing to carefully orchestrated lyrics and dance heavy beats.

Small Black got our day started. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Chicago native K-Flay laying down an early impressive set. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

It was time to take refuge inside to enjoy some shade and yet more PBR. Aside from being relatively affordable the can design was a special festival edition featuring a hybrid lazer-horse-unicorn (see pic above). As we entered the catacombs of Larimer lounge we heard a familiar sound coming from the stage. The soothing sounds of one of our favorite local bands South of France was a perfect balance of indie-pop to set the mood for the rest of the day. The duo of Jeff and Kelly Cormack bring a dream like element to their music that isn't overly emphasized by loud instrumentation, instead focusing on creative lyrics that the listener can indulge at a moderate pace.

Jeff and Kelly Cormack of South of France. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

The fun wasn't over as we managed to enjoy outdoor sets from hard rockers Baroness. We then headed over to get our surf grunge from favorites Fidlar. They probably had the best crowd of the day with crowd surfing and an abundance of PBR raining from the crowd. Our diet for hip hop brought upon the main course in the form of Big K.R.I.T. who took us on a country hip hop journey featuring cadillac whips and soul food. In between sets we had a chance to check out some comedy at Meadowlark and mingle with friends who all agreed that Denver needs more one-day block parties like this. Our early evening included amazing sets by Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires. A soulful set capturing the past and remarkable era of early funk and rhythm and blues. He managed to capture the crowd who imitated, yet gracefully failed at their James Brown dance moves. Give them credit they were probably 6-7 PBR's in and thought they looked good. Original headliner Courtney Barnett had to cancel last minute, we don't blame her as she managed to headline Saturday Night live that same night. As consolation we were given the amazing Best Coast who played a remarkable set with the alternative (beach rock) influenced sounds that have become a staple of theirs for many years. The nights main act was a homecoming for our own Nathaniel Ratliff and The Night Sweats who have recently returned home from touring. Decked out in an all white denim ensemble Nathaniel and company laid down a gritty rowdy retro sound of pure soulful bliss. Seeing the band perform only a couple years ago in a backyard to full-scaled festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza has brought the band to main stream success. No band more deserving than these hard working fellas we like to call our own.

Baroness made our ears bleed in a good way. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Fidlar causing all kinds of havoc. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Big K.R.I.T. giving us a dose of Country Shit. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

The dapper and soulful Charles Bradley. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Blistering in the sun..Violent Femmes took us down memory lane. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

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