Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Shady Elders and Raury are our picks for the best shows in Denver this week. See you there, and if you don’t make it out, follow our music musings on and our selfies on . Oh, we have a Snapchat, too. Our name is HeyReverb. Hit us up.
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats — The Ogden Theatre, Dec. 19-20
2015 was Nathaniel Rateliff’s breakthrough year. Not for Denver–both solo and as the frontman of The Wheel, Rateliff has been one of the city’s proudest musical sons for years. But thanks to his self-titled debut album with his soul band the Night Sweats, now the rest of the country gets it, too. On Dec. 19 and 20, Rateliff will perform his 10th annual holiday show at the Ogden Theatre along with Caroline Rose and Land Lines among other special guests to ring in what promises to be his biggest homecoming yet. Tickets are sold out.
Shady Elders’ Holiday Party — Larimer Lounge, Dec. 19
EP by EP, Denver’s Shady Elders have socked away a cache of dreamy pop songs for their inevitable debut album. They’ve been relatively quiet this year, sharing only the spacey “Pale Blue Dot.” But that stands to change at their holiday-themed year-ender on Dec. 19. As if catching them with post-punk outfit Male Blonding and darkly psychedelic trio The Savage Blush weren’t enough incentive, the headlining Shady Elders have teased new music at their Larimer Lounge show. Tickets: $12-$14 via larimerlounge.com.
Raury — Larimer Lounge, Dec. 18
Nineteen-year-old rapper Raury Deshawn Tullis rolled onto the scene earlier this year with his impressive debut, “All We Need.” The album casts Tullis as an outsider in the women-and-caviar mainstream hip-hop landscape, both in production and verse: acoustic guitars float in to propel the album’s opening title track, which are pinned down by the weight Tullis shimmies off his shoulders: “Are we ever gonna overcome the fear?” Tickets: $3 with an .
