Gareth Emery and the Best Concerts in Denver This Week
by themoneyoffice2.com@gmail.com February 19, 2024 · Concerts
Up-and-coming local indie act May Be Fern plays a free show at Bar 404 on Friday, February 23, and EDM icon Gareth Emery transforms Mission Ballroom into a laser city on Saturday, February 24.
Keep reading for more of the best concerts in Denver this week:
Dave Hanson
Monday, February 19, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 21, 6:30 p.m.
Dazzle, 1080 14th Street
$15-$25
The astonishing jazz arranger and professional piano player Dave Hanson is completing a residency at one of the city’s best jazz clubs this week. After retiring from a 36-year stint lecturing the next generation of jazz arrangers at DU, Hanson is ready to hit the stage as much as possible. Hanson will be joined by a group of dedicated friends to honor trumpeter Al Hood, whom Hanson had performed with for many years. The residency will end with a concert on Wednesday, February 21, when Hanson is set to do a live recording with his official trio, rounded out by Mark Simon and Paul Romaine.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Tuesday, February 20, 8 p.m.
hi-dive, 7 South Broadway
$20-$22
This heavy-psych group from Newcastle might have a name that sounds silly, but its live shows are an entirely different story. Expect a rowdy display of dystopian-drenched doom metal from the band’s most recent release, Land of Sleeper. Denver’s legendary organ-driven rock-and-roll crew Space In Time and the local femme-punk group Cheap Perfume open the show.
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter
Wednesday, February 21, 8 p.m.
Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue
$49.50-$55
Kristin Hayter has transformed since performing with her former gothic-classical noise-metal project Lingua Ignota, which she started as a cathartic exercise to process her trauma as a survivor of domestic abuse. To effectively leave that damaging experience all behind, she has decided to fully embrace her new folk-centric music persona of an old-timey, fire-and-brimstone preacher. Hayter has even gone as far as getting an online ordainment to gain the title, and as the Reverend Hayter, she is now touring for her most recent release, Saved!. Denver doom-gaze group Bleakheart opens the show.
Alaska Thunderfuck
Thursday, February 22, 8 p.m.
Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, Englewood
$35-$149
With the sixteenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race upon us, what better way to celebrate than by skewering last week’s heart-shaped holiday at a “Valentines Day Is Terrible” performance with one of the show’s All Star winners? Alaska Thunderfuck) came up with her drag persona while smoking the cannabis sativa of the same name, and has continued to channel that stoned artistic nature into a full-blown career. After gaining fame from RuPaul’s show, the drag celebrity went on to record four full-length albums filled with catchy comedic pop and R&B hits. Her most recent album was released in September 2023 and is titled Red 4 Filth (the same name as her perfume, which is playfully described as “a 100 percent vegan, unisexual non-binary scent featuring top notes of hops, turmeric leaf, and cocaine”).
Karina Rykman
Friday, February 23, 9:15 p.m.
Cervantes’ Other Side, 2637 Welton Street
$20
Growing up in NYC, Karina Rykman would attend as many concerts as possible when she wasn’t playing in local bands herself. As her bass-guitar skills increased, so did her reputation, and before she knew it she and her band were being asked to play festival slots alongside such groups as Khruangbin, Guster and the Disco Biscuits (all of whom became her mentors and are thanked on her new album’s liner notes). She also gained the attention of the great Trey Anastasio (of Phish fame), who wanted to help her produce her first record. She is now on tour for that debut album, Joyride, which was released last August and was co-produced by Anastasio (who also plays guitar on five of the album’s nine tracks). The result is a groovy, psychedelic journey through Rykman’s musical subconscious of worldly funk rock and alternative, indie dance tunes.
May Be Fern
Friday, February 23, 8 p.m.
Bar 404, 404 Broadway
Free
May Be Fern, a local quartet of “queer non-male funk rock” musicians, has been playing non-stop shows to share its infectious take on high-energy indie-pop tunes. The four-piece got its start after being connected through the growing music scene in Evergreen and has only continued to gain momentum ever since. Come on down to one of the best bars on South Broadway to hear music from the group’s first full-length release, Okay Grandma, Your Turn.
Same Cloth (ft. JoFoKe)
Saturday, February 24, 6 p.m.
Dazzle, 1080 14th Street
$30-$35
Continue celebrating Black History Month with this local BAM (Black American Music) fusion group led by JoFoKe, the multi-disciplined singer/songwriter and artist-in-residence at Dazzle. The genre-bending band has been playing the jazz club’s last Saturday of each month for a while now, with each performance building upon and being different from the last. This month’s residency theme is “Black Love: An Exploration,” which is inspired by the band’s latest single, “The Butterflies Have Died.”
Gareth Emery
Saturday, February 24, 9 p.m.
Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street
$40-$79.95
Gareth Emery, a widely-acclaimed progressive-trance DJ, songwriter and producer from England, is considered the “Hercules of house music.” He’s touring once again with his laser-dominated multi-sensory experience, LSR/CITY V3, which is now in its third incarnation after originally debuting at EDC Las Vegas in 2022 and tweaking it again during its “V2” tour later that year.
Back Down Memory Lane: An Old School R&B Live Radio Musical Revue
Sunday, February 25, 7 p.m.
The Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe Street
$30
The Clocktower Cabaret is best known for hosting world-class burlesque, comedy and drag shows each week, but this special Black History Month concert is designed to transport audiences back in time to highlight the history of R&B music. The “Rocky Mountain region’s entertainment icon,” Ron Ivory, will be performing with his vocal quartet group One on One, which will be backed by the soulful sounds of the MilesApart Band.
Know of shows you’d like to see on this list? Send the details to [email protected]. Looking for more to do? Visit the Westword calendar.
