Musicians love the spotlight. For a guitarist who knows how to toss out a showy riff or a lead singer with a story to tell, there’s nothing like a chance to rule a crowd of fans willing to actually listen.
But at the Underground Music Festival, where 200 bands and comedians take the stage over four days along Denver’s Broadway strip, it’s hard for any performer to be the center of attention for long. The focus is on the festival as a whole.
Fans take in a lot of acts. On Saturday, the showcase’s third day, wristband wearers were bouncing between scores of venues, taking in snips of music between sips of beer.
Still, performers say they like being here. A multi-band fest like this offers a chance to work before new faces. Local bands trade audiences back and forth. And the national acts, new for the fist time at the mostly local, 9-year-old event, are bringing in listeners who don’t make Denver shows a regular stop.
“A lot of people are just out to be out, not to see any particular bands. And that’s cool because you’ll never know what you’ll find,” said Mishka Shubaly, a Brooklyn musician who came in for two performances.
He’s played South By Southwest, the sprawling, multi-national Austin,Texas, music fest that serves as the standard for urban concerts like the UMS no matter what city they are in. His take on the how the UMS differs from the model?
“It has its own character now — a commitment to local bands that other festivals don’t have. I live and die for the underdogs,” he said during a break Saturday.
