The Denver Post reviews and photographs up to 15 concerts a week for posting on . Here are some recent excerpts:
The Fluid.
I usually approach reunion tours with trepidation. We’re all hoping to catch a glimpse of the same band we fell in love with 20 (or more) years ago, to get a taste of the energy that used to pump and surge through us, spinning us into a mosh pit, leaping off the stage.
Instead we’re usually left with a group of old rockers who have not aged well and often aren’t even talking to each other.
Not so Friday night. All of us among the capacity crowd at the Bluebird Theatre were transported directly back to the ’90s. Between bumping into friends I hadn’t seen since the last Fluid shows 15 years ago, the band blasted out a continuous stream of hard-driving sonic bliss that, for a time in those heady days, formed the pinnacle sound of the Denver punk scene.
Singer John Robinson and the boys came out as if they’d never left Denver, and they didn’t skip a beat. If anything, they sounded even tighter and more polished than I remembered. Somehow they made it all feel new again.
Robinson used to start shows with no shirt — and often no shoes — and in no time, his long hair would be swinging around spraying sweat and beer onto the crowd. He started Friday, however, in a sport jacket, vest, tie and jeans. His hair is now respectably short. Eventually he was left the way I remembered him: shirtless and drenched.
When the band came back and belted out “Black Glove” for the encore, everybody was pretty satiated. It was like having our boys back and watching them play at our own special reunion.
In the early ’80s, there was a minor vacuum in punk rock where hardcore ended and metal began. The Fluid filled that gap. I remember thinking how lucky we were to have our own real contributors to the history of super-fueled rock ‘n’ roll along the lines of the Stooges and the MC5, with a heavy dose of the disintegrating U.S. hardcore scene. Billy Thieme
Westword Music Showcase.
The spirit and camaraderie that rush down the street at any local music fest, that proud communal vibe you’ll feel at the Denver Post Underground Music Showcase on Aug. 1-3, was evident at the Westword Music Showcase on June 21.
The annual event took over 10 stages throughout the Golden Triangle neighborhood, and it was a solid showing of some of the best talent Colorado has to offer. Observations on two:
The Overcasters is one of those bands that needs to be seen to be understood and felt. Peek through the gauzy guitars and all those instrumental effects, and you’ll hear a familiar voice — singer-guitarist Kurt Ottaway. He’s best known as the man behind Twice Wilted and Tarmints, but you’ve never quite heard this side of him before. His new project is decidedly a more psychedelic and emotive, layered, pop-oriented rock outfit that’s as pretty as it is spooky.
Laylights: These boys absolutely deserved to play the main stage. But they also deserved to play to more than the 50 people who were gathered for their 4 p.m. slot. Laylights sounded great, and it helped that the PA was booming, thus helping spread the gospel of their latest EP, “Auricle,” to the masses. Ricardo Baca
Indigo Girls.
As much as production and fanfare can be important to a performance, there is something to be said for musicians who come out in plain clothes, relying solely on the music that brings them together with their fans.
Indigo Girls’ beautiful harmonizing warmed the evening air at Chautauqua Auditorium on June 17. Their show was about the lushness of two voices, punctuated only by the faint organ and accordion sounds of Julie Wolf. Midway through, the Girls brought up local Matt Morris to play his song, “Love.” Bree Davies
