Pop Music
Taylor two times
Tuesday-Wednesday.Crossover cutie. It’s rare that an artist can sell enough tickets to warrant two nights at full-size arenas in midsize markets like Denver, but sure enough, country-pop crossover star Taylor Swift, above, will headline two nights at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. Swift’s Fearless Tour has gotten solid reviews, but fans who heard her voice wig out on the Grammys (while singing with Stevie Nicks of all people) are hoping that she’ll sound better in concert than on live television. The tour’s reasonably priced tickets, $29-$59.50, are available via or 866-461-6556. Kellie Pickler and Gloriana will open both shows. More: . Ricardo Baca
The new big
Tuesday.Arena rock. If Bon Jovi and Journey defined Arena Rock 1.0, and U2 and Dave Matthews personified version 2.0, British electro-rockers Muse are heading up Arena Rock 3.0. These guys fill stadiums in Western Europe and the U.K., and in the states they’re playing arenas — including the 1stBank Center in Broomfield on Tuesday — and headlining festivals such as Coachella. Given that Muse sold out this midsize arena date a few months ago, this show could have easily done well at the three-times-as-large Pepsi Center — and for good reason. Muse is all over modern- rock radio, and the kids just can’t get enough. It helps, too, that trendsetting indie stars Silversun Pickups are opening. Remember: The show is sold out, but tickets are floating about craigslist and eBay. More: . Ricardo Baca
Classical music
Violin serenade
Today and Saturday.Symphonic music. Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo, below, first grabbed the classical world’s attention when she won the 1997 Young Concert Artists International Auditions a week after her 15th birthday. Now a well-established, widely traveled professional, Gomyo joins guest conductor Andrew Litton and the Colorado Symphony for a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade. Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s popular Symphony No. 6, “Pathetique.” Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday in Boettcher Concert Hall. $15-$75. 303-623-7876 or . Kyle MacMillan
Visual art
Get a grip
Through Sunday. Installation. Time is running out to see one of Denver’s most ambitious contemporary art shows in at least a decade. The Denver Art Museum invited 17 artists from around the world to create custom-made pieces that physically and figuratively embrace the slanting, angled walls and oddly shaped spaces of the Hamilton Building. The resulting show, titled “Embrace!,” ends its multi-month run on Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Through a special spring break promotion, those 17 and younger receive free admission during the weekend. 720-865-5000 or . Kyle MacMillan
Today.Mixed-media sculpture. English-born sculptor Margaret Realica likes to defy typical notions of what ceramic art can be. While porcelain is a key component of her sculptures, she combines it with plexiglass, pneumatic parts and fittings and an array of other found objects. Her imaginative works will go on view today at the Plinth Gallery, 3520 Brighton Blvd., with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition runs through May 1. Free. 303 295-0717 or . Kyle MacMillan
Today. Geometric art. In his first solo exhibition at the Rule Gallery in 2007, Pard Morrison, a near-lifelong resident of Colorado Springs, announced himself as one of the state’s top abstract artists. His geometric paintings and sculptures used the full spectrum of colors and incorporated a rich array of compositional structures. Morrison is back at Rule, 227 Broadway, with a new body of work. The show begins with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. today and continues through May 22. Free. 303-777-9473 or . Kyle MacMillan.
Family fun
Shell games
Saturday. A hop that’s hippity. Hop to the Children’s Museum of Denver for the Bunny Trail EggVenture, an all-day spring celebration. The whole museum, inside and out, will be prepped for a party full of live performances, demonstrations and activities. Stop in for storytime with The Big Bunny, see performances by Radio Disney or watch liquid nitrogen ice cream being made. In the meantime, try on Colorado Ballet costumes, dye some eggs, make bunny ears and more. Weather permitting, outside activities will include a petting zoo, games and rides on Vern’s Mini-Train. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 2121 Children’s Museum Drive; 303-433-7444. Outdoor activities are free, indoor activities are included with museum admission: $7.50 for guests ages 2 to 59, $5.50 for 1-year-olds and seniors age 60 and older. Visit for more information. .Kathleen St. John
Sci-fi stories
Through April 24. Mini-mystery. Take a turn for the weird with “Captain Swift and the Invasion from Planet X” at the Bug Theatre. Presented by the Planet X Players, the show is a serial science-fiction melodrama. Each performance over four weekends is a chapter in the saga. Each one ends with a cliffhanger, naturally, until the electrifying conclusion on April 24. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturdays. The Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St.; 303-477-9984. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for students and military, $5 for kids ages 12 and younger. Wear a sci-fi costume for $2 off admission. Call to reserve seats. Kathleen St. John
The edge of night
Tonight. Nature walk. Wind down the week with an evening stroll at the Audubon Society of Greater Denver’s Audubon Center. The “Dusk into Darkness” walk starts just when many creatures are getting ready for bed. Learn how the nocturnal creatures of the South Platte River habitat have adapted to life at night. After the walk, warm up with a campfire and snacks. 7:30-9:30 p.m. tonight. The Audubon Center, Waterton Road at South Wadsworth Boulevard, Littleton. Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for children under age 12. Audubon Society members receive a $2 discount. Learn more at , or call 303-973-9530.Kathleen St. John
Obsession for perfection
Idealized images of the female body are everywhere — magazine covers, television advertisements, fitness websites and even toys.
Allie Pohl, who is set to earn her master of fine arts degree from the University of Denver in June, explores the obsession with physical perfection in a exhibition aptly titled, “Ideal Woman: 36-24-36.”
The ambitious 25-year-old artist, who already has a more extensive resume than some better-established professionals, repeats an identical streamlined image of a hinged, female midsection based on the proportions of a Barbie doll.
There is nothing handcrafted here, and that makes sense. Instead, she had the partial figure enlarged and molded into eight squeezable rubber sculptures about 2 feet tall. The image further recurs in 25 or so identical mirrored cut-outs on the walls and in two animated videos.
Her deliberate mimicking of the repetition and slick, manufactured feel of today’s female idealizations become a savvy, pointed critique of it.
The show at Hinterland, 3254 Walnut St., opens with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. today and runs through April 23 by appointment. Free. 720-309-1764 or
Kyle MacMillan
Spoon’s slow burn catches fire
If scientists were to graph the trajectory of Spoon’s career, the band’s sharp peaks and valleys would resemble a gentle upward slope from a distance.
The Austin, Texas-bred rockers have been national players since the release of their 1996 debut album “Telephono,” but only in the past decade have the mainstream kudos caught up with the band’s overwhelmingly positive reviews.
“We’ve been lucky enough that we’ve sort of been playing slightly bigger shows with each record,” said longtime drummer Jim Eno. “With each tour, everything is coming together a little more.”
Indeed, the band’s Monday-Tuesday run at the Ogden Theatre is the product of years of labor, from indie rock flavor-of- the-moment to major-label woes to a triumphant return and artistic peaks on indie label Merge Records.
The January release of a seventh album, “Transference,” netted the band some of the best reviews of its career and debuted at No. 4 in Billboard’s Top 200, moving 53,000 copies in its first week.
That’s small potatoes for some acts, but not for Spoon. Singer-songwriter Britt Daniel’s minimal, punchy songwriting is catnip for critics who love staccato guitar riffs and darkly evocative lyrics, but a bit harder to swallow for the general public.
The band was recently ranked the “Top Overall Artist of the Decade” on review aggregator , but some of us are familiar with Spoon only through its songs in movies such as “(500) Days of Summer,” “I Love You Man” and “Stranger Than Fiction.”
That’s changing. The band sold out its first-ever headlining gig at Radio City Music Hall weeks in advance, and now it is playing two-night stints at large theaters across the country (Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, etc.)
“We’ve played big rooms like this before, opening for people and also by ourselves, but this just seems like a natural, gradual progression for me,” Eno said. “I also really like these first tours on the record just because you spend so much time in the studio and it’s really good to see how this stuff comes across live.”
Spoon has never had trouble there. From the early days, when Daniel used a heavily distorted acoustic guitar, to the more honed, rhythmically driven material of the present, the band has always presented a tightly unified front.
If anything, Spoon’s latest album, “Transference,” is closer to the sound of the live sets than previous work. With a blend of intuitive polish and mid-fi production, tracks such as “Written in Reverse” and “Trouble Comes Running” feel loose but confident, swaggering but clear-eyed.
“I’ve always felt like if a demo is strong and it sounds good, then you should keep it. It’s so hard to re-create the spontaneity of that,” Eno said. “And when you go into the studio and keep trying to do it, you can sort of push the life out of a song.
” ‘Trouble Comes Running’ is a good example. That take on the record was the second or third time (bassist) Rob Pope and I had played the song, and to me it totally sounds like that. The rhythm section was recorded on a four-track, and I can hear that it’s about to go off into chaos at any point.”
The tension in Spoon’s music between coherence and confusion, poetry and brutality, is key to the band’s slow-burn success and a heartening sign that its brand of rock will survive into the foreseeable future.
“I was surprisingly not nervous playing Radio City,” Eno admitted when asked about the experience. “I was thinking I’d be a lot more nervous, but I wasn’t really at all. Maybe I’m just getting used to this?”
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
SPOON
Rock. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., with Deerhunter, Micachu & the Shapes. Monday-Tuesday. 8 p.m. $25. 800-745-3000 or
