If you’re feeling a bit of déjà blu(cifer) looking at the lineup this week, that’s because we screwed up and listed these two festivals a month in advance! I got ahead of myself and told you all to check out the brand-spankin-new Blucifer’s First Rodeo and oldie-but-a-goodie Underground Music Showcase back in June, but turns out they’re not kicking off until this weekend. So now that you’ve had a whole month to prep, no excuses. See you at one of more than two dozen venues in Denver hosting live music all day and into the night. Let’s dive into take two on Blucifer’s First Rodeo.
July 23-29
Blucifer’s First Rodeo and Underground Music Showcase. It’ll be a different kind of battle of the bands this weekend, when Denver’s breweries, galleries, doughnut shops, diners and dive bars open up to not one but two neighborhood takeovers: Underground Music Showcase, which left its longtime home on South Broadway last year for the RiNo Arts district, and Blucifer’s First Rodeo, the artist-led festival that got sucked into the vacuum that UMS left.
For those counting, that’s 429 bands tucked into more than two dozen venues.
Blucifer’s First Rodeo and Underground Music Showcase. UMS is — and it feels weird to say this, given its “underground” roots — decidedly the more institutional of the two. A weekend pass puts you out $95 and gets you in front of headliners like synthy-soul musician 54 Ultra, indie duo slenderbodies, and pop starlet Goldie Boutilier.
All access passes to Blucifer’s First Rodeo are already sold out, but you can still throw down $20 for the all-ages satellite festival at D3 Arts, and if you’re lucky you might meet someone there willing to share the secret addresses for Sunday’s house party shows. That’s right, house party shows.
It’s a new era for both festivals, so mix and match or pick one and stick with it. No wrong answers, just a lot of live music.
Other events to consider
- Eastern Colorado Roundup. It’s festival time on the Eastern Plains. This week, find town and county fairs in Yuma, Greeley, Brush and Akron, with more to come as we head into harvest season. Various Prices; Various dates; Various locations
- Mountain Fair. The 55th annual Carbondale Mountain Fair returns to Sopris Park this weekend. You’ve got music making, bike racing and pie-baking competitions, horseshoes, limbo, a pottery throwdown and plenty more. Free; July 24-26; Sopris Park, Carbondale
- Mozart chamber concert. Hear musicians from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra play Mozart in a paired-back, intimate chamber concert in the Studio Loft in Denver. $35; 7 p.m., July 29 and 30; Studio Loft at Ellie Caulkins Opera House, 908 14th St., Denver
Note: This is a curated list by the reporter to give readers a sense of arts and culture events happening across Colorado that they may not have otherwise known about. This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of things to do.