One of Denver’s most beloved “main drags,” and home to many of the cities best live music venues, Colfax avenue is just the right blend of seedy and hipster around The Bluebird Theater these days. The storied venue played host to a great night of music last Saturday with The Lil Smokies, Cris Jacobs, and some memorable sit-ins.
True to their word, over the course of three hours, the band played songs from no less than 15 albums dating all the way back to their 2012 debut 12 Bar Bruise with well over half the material having been released before the pandemic. It was truly an incredible show and one that cemented this band’s place on the Red Rocks schedule for years to come I would imagine
Well, well, well, String Cheese Incident pulled it off again. It’s no secret that they tend to save some of their best stuff for Red Rocks. The sky-divers, the tower drum jam, and the giant octopus that made it’s way through the crowd, are just of the mind blowing spectacles the band has put together over the years at the famed amphitheater. This one was just as special!
For many fans in attendance, it had been about 18 months since they had purchased their tickets to this show so what better way to kick things off than by having the man himself, Mr. Billy Strings, open this mammoth four night run by taking the stage alone and delivering a mesmerizing take on “Guitar Peace” from his stellar Home album. This may have been the first night of a four night run, but it was by no means a warm-up. This band is firing on all cylinders right now.
Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann put together his Billy and The Kids project back in 2014 for Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam and while the band played a smattering of shows over the next two years they hadn’t played together since 2016 when the took to a Hawaiian lawn in May for a pair of live-streamed show to celebrate the legendary drummer’s 75th birthday. Joining original “Kids” Tom Hamilton, Reed Mathis, and Aron Magner for these shows was Billy Strings on guitar, and James Casey on Sax. The shows were an overwhelming success and it came as a welcome surprise when Red Rocks announced a pair of concerts with the same powerhouse line-up.
The show must go on, with or without fans and, from the stage of an empty Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Billy Strings proved that even without fans he’s got one of the most energetic shows around.
This past weekend, the Denver music community helped usher one of the best young players in the country to the next level. Back in September, when it was announced that Billy Strings would be playing two nights at The Ogden, the buzz was deafening but people were initially skeptical that he would sell out both shows. Well, tickets went on sale and disappeared so quickly that AEG added a third night and, guess what, those vanished as well. In mere minutes, Strings sold out three nights at the venerable Colfax theater.
What The Night Brings celebrated the life and legacy of the one and only Jeff Austin and was a show that many in the Bluegrass world had been looking forward to for quite some time. While the reason it was happening was tragic, the line-up was formidable. In the words of musical director Nick Forster, it was like all of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival coming together on one night.
“Never miss a Sunday show.” It’s the age old Jamband adage that has been circulating through the scene for years and, while I’ve seen many Sunday shows over the years, until the past Sunday night when Greensky Bluegrass and Billy Strings played Red Rocks, I had never seen one that really proved the saying.
There’s no doubt it was another cold weekend up in Steamboat for WinterWonderGrass, but there are so many hearty, do whatever it takes, music fans that things really heated up with the likes of Railroad Earth, Trampled By Turles, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Billy Strings!