Cheyenne Frontier Days is a big, crowd-pleasing event under the banner of Western cultural tradition — think rodeos, bull riding and other cowboy activities — so it follows that the upcoming July 22-31 installment (its 115th!) will continue the brand name, stadium-filling musical flavor of years past, including pop country (and pop country-friendly) artists Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, the Charlie Daniels Band, Darius Rucker, Zac Brown Band and Toby Keith. Single tickets and packages are on sale at 9 a.m. Dec. 11 via TicketsWest ($16-$70). Visit for updates and the full schedule of events.
Linkin Park, which made its name on a mash of angst-ridden alt-metal and hip-hop tropes, seems to be inching toward maturity on its fifth album “A Thousand Suns,” which dropped in September. The band is launching a national tour in January, including its Feb. 26 final stop at the Pepsi Center, with the Prodigy. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($42.50-$72.50, TicketHorse)
Blue Man Group seems reluctant to mess with a winning formula, which is why the multimedia trio (actually a shifting cast of stoic, face-paint-smeared performers and musicians) has tweaked its show so relatively little over the years. The theatrical event returns to Denver for a Dec. 7-19 run at the Buell Theatre. Tickets are on sale. ($20-$115, )
Medeski, Martin & Wood have done more to bring jazz to the masses than most major touring groups of their generation — though they’re by no means the only experimental musicians with a populist, dance-friendly bent. The trio does well in jam-loving Colorado, which explains its shows at both the Boulder Theater (March 4, on sale today) and the Ogden Theatre (March 5, on sale Saturday). ($25-$27, ; Ticketmaster)
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals weave thick strands of twang and grit into their throwback yarns, which hug an increasingly pop-friendly frame on their recent, self-titled album. It’s partly due to the glossy influence of producer Mark Batson (Jay-Z, Snoop Dog, Beyonce), who clearly knows his way around a radio hit. Tickets for the band’s Feb. 11 concert at the Ogden Theatre are on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. ($20, Ticketmaster)
Big Boi, one half of the visionary (and lately quiet) Atlanta hip-hop duo OutKast, will hit the Ogden Theatre on Jan. 28 with Eligh and Scarub from the Living Legends ($30-$35). Also announced for the Ogden this week: Robert Randolph and the Family Band (Jan. 22, $25), Excision with Downlink and Antiserum ($25-$30, March 4), Cold War Kids (March 8, $20-$22) and Symphony X with Nevermore and Soilwork (May 4, $27.50-$30). All tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday and available via Ticketmaster.
