Big Head Todd & the Monsters, the Colorado rock trio, is warming up for a big national tour, and it’s using Boulder – where the band got its start nearly 20 years ago – as the place to prep. BHTM plays the Boulder Theater on Jan. 12 and the Fox Theatre on Jan. 13. Tickets, $30, are available at the Boulder Theater and Fox Theatre box offices and websites (bouldertheater.com and foxtheatre.com) starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Split Lip Rayfield – the name and the blisteringly progressive alt-country music are so visceral you can’t help be affected. Its kitsch is its brilliance: Jeff Eaton plucks his one-string bass, modeled out of a gas tank from a 1965 Ford, with the fury of a heavyweight boxer defending his title. But the Kansas band is more than a novelty. The songs are beautiful, well-constructed homages to the life of a small band straight out of Kansas: sweatin’, tour vans and plenty of whiskey. Split Lip Rayfield plays the Bluebird Theater on Jan. 28. Tickets, $12, are available at TicketWeb.
Great Big Sea has its very own niche of Celtic rock cornered, but the whole fusing of traditional Newfoundland music with modern rock hasn’t quite caught afire. Regardless, the band has a fervent following. And fans of the band’s unique instrumentation – including the mandolin, bodhran, fiddle and concertina – are already tuned into the new “The Hard and the Easy.” Great Big Sea will play the Paramount Theatre on Feb. 19. Tickets, $25, are available via Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Newsboys are to Christian music what U2 is to the mainstream world. The band has been together for more than two decades, as its five gold albums and 20 No.1 hits will attest. The Newsboys will play the Budweiser Events Center on Dec. 29. Tickets, $18-$35, go onsale via comcasttix.com (877-544-8499) at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Coldplay announced last week that it was coming to Denver, and now we have the ticket details. The band will play the Pepsi Center on Feb. 19. Fiona Apple will open. Tickets, $36- $70.50, are available via Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Saturday.
-Ricardo Baca
