Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
It would be a fool’s errand to attempt to write about all of my favorite Colorado concertgoing and music-listening experiences from this year. There were simply too many.
In the four years that I’ve lived in Denver, I’ve found it to be a destination for highly esteemed folk rock, head-turning electronic music and artists finding inspiration at high altitude.
The experimental electronic shows at the Aztlan Theatre this year were the subject of a previous Staff Favorite of mine, as was “Gentle Worship,” an album by Denver composer Nathan Hall and percussion trio Perc Ens performed using stone instruments from the San Luis Valley.
Below are five other musical moments that gave me chills this year.
Autechre at Ogden Theatre (Oct. 1)
Fliers taped around the lobby of the Ogden Theatre the night of Autechre’s long-awaited return to Denver read:
“Autechre will perform in darkness. For their set all lights in the venue will be off. Please plan on being in one place for the performance and do not move unnecessarily until it has finished when the lights will come back on again.”
Quite the opening salvo for a content advisory that goes on seven more sentences and ends with “Thank you.” But to fans of the pivotal UK electronic duo, whose output since the 1990s has consistently pushed the boundaries of bass, techno and dance music, it was a promising sign. Things were about to get weird.
Indeed, they did. Barely visible from behind their on-stage equipment, the floating headphones of Autechre dropped a ceaseless, complicated, breathtaking assault on the senses. Industrial grind floated over shifting interlocking drum programming. Having played at Denver’s Bluebird Theater 10 years before, the bass-heavy performance felt like a homecoming.
Ethel Cain taps Midwife for EP
Naming her EP “Perverts” was a bold move for Ethel Cain, the Tallahassee-born singer-songwriter who had previously been known for her haunting folk and Americana. (Many publications named Cain’s “American Teenager” the best song of 2022.) The project veered toward her most experimental impulses, stretching to nearly 90 minutes of drones and eerie spoken word. Fleshing out its sound is Madeline Johnston, a guitarist and singer-songwriter from Denver who records delicate, reverb-soaked folk songs as Midwife. The EP’s closer “Amber Waves” features her strongest contributions, a track that unfurls Cain’s pained vocals and Johnston’s gentle guitar over 11 minutes and 32 seconds. Though Cain would return to her roots later that year with her most recent album (“Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You”), “Amber Waves” is a high-water mark for a ghostly, heart-wrenching sound Johnston has developed over a string of solo and collaborative releases.
Ben Gibbard at Red Rocks (May 14)
When alt-rockers Julien Baker and Torres pulled out of Rilo Kiley’s comeback tour this May, with Baker citing health struggles, none other than Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard filled in the opening slot. He and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis are longtime studio and tour pals.
By himself on stage and slowly fingerpicking an acoustic guitar, Gibbard cooed hits such as the Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights” and Death Cab’s “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark” along with a song he wrote for The Monkees and a Julien Baker cover. His voice is an iconic one in indie rock, and that night it served as a sort of palate cleanser, bringing the crowd to appreciate the views and each other.
Paul McCartney at Coors Field (Oct. 11)
I thought my time to see a living Beatle had passed. Then came “Got Back,” Sir Paul McCartney’s U.S. tour with a stop at Coors Field. There were plenty of theatrics staged at center field, including McCartney performing a virtual duet with John Lennon at their seminal rooftop show. Some of it was clunky, like his on-stage choreography, but that did little to stop the masses from singing along to nearly every song. No matter how jaded you may be about pop music today, it was special and heartwarming to witness a full stadium of fans sing along to “Hey Jude.” That night, witnessed from the highest stadium chairs, it felt like the most popular song on Earth.
Rare Byrd$ at Manos Sagrados (Sept. 13)
Electronic music hardware is expensive. Computers, hard drives, drum machines, synths, effect pads, sequencers and a spaghetti bowl of cables; it all adds up, and the return in music sales may not surpass the amount put in. That’s why it was a breath of fresh air to see Denver hip-hop duo Rare Byrd$ turn the tables on its audience during a workshop for a music festival my wife put on this summer at Manos Sagrados, a new venue in Aurora. After giving a brief presentation on the capabilities of each instrument and how to mix them live into a song, they invited members of the audience to try their hands at making a beat. I hopped on a touch pad and tapped a drunken bassline. Then the person across from me added a synth arpeggio on top and another set up a hi-hat sequence using a drum machine. We were making the music that boomed over the speakers, talking to each other without saying anything at all.
