Hair spray, ripped jean vests, black eyeliner.  The masses had come out to see their favorite bands, whether it be a 16 year-old teenager getting ready to see Against Me!, or the 40-ish punks here to see their old-school favorites, The Cult.  Everyone was united in their use of hair spray, ripped jean vests and black eyeliner.  This was kind of an expensive show for the Ogden, I'm guessing because of the nature of the headliner being kind of a big deal (I guess?); regular tickets were about $40 and VIP tickets were $100.  Very un-punk rock prices for a very punk-rock show, the most punk-rock aspect of which being the courageous announcement by singer Tom Gabel of Against Me! of his decision to become transgender and change his name to Laura Jane Grace.


The Icarus Line is very loud.  Their set consisted of songs that were bass-heavy and the drum kit was thunderous.  This is what they must mean by hard rock; it was beating up my ears.  Joe Cardamone's shirtless body was nearly translucent as he swiveled around the stage and his voice ricocheted against the bass chords being fired off by Alvin DeGuzman.


I would say Cardamone was certainly going for the "sensual-by-way-of-disturbing" kind of stage presence, something you might see if Jim Morrison was really skinny and hyper like Iggy Pop.  In between songs, it was hard to tell when Cardamone was improving some one-off remarks or if what he was saying was actually part of a song.   For example, Cardamone slinkily ran his fingers over his floor monitor with his head held low whilst repeating into his mic, "You hurt me," then with a quick swivel raised his voice to exclaim, "You gave me herpes!" and turned his back to the crowd as the initial base chord for another song began.  In summation: a little eccentric and very hard (rock).


Against Me! is a band that began when Gabel moved to Gainesville, FL to play for swampy college kids.  As he gained three other band members, the band became popular with their anarchy-tinged music that chronicled the experience of being broke, getting drunk and sometimes throwing bricks in the new Starbucks storefront window.  15 years later, with a little more polished sound and a new drummer, it's surprising that this band is so popular and still attracting the younger crowd.  I guess the music is just what you want to hear when you're a teenager, with major themes usually sticking to angst, friendship and speaking up against what isn't fair or intelligent.


The band came on stage and presented themselves to the mixed age range that had come to see the second performance of the new Laura Jane since the news broke by Rolling Stone in early May.  Against Me! started the night with "Transgender Dysphoria Blues" which will be the same title of the forthcoming album, according to Rolling Stone.  They played a few new songs, and then stuck to mostly the big singles, like the more recent "Thrash Unreal" and "White Crosses", and older, punk-at-heart tunes like "Pints of Guinness Make You Stronger" and "Don't Lose Touch".  As the night wore on, the teenagers tried their best to jump around but it was all very tame in my book.  The older fans that were standing with their vodka tonics and Coors Lights took a sidestep to avoid any elbows; a highlighter-yellow-haired girl attempted to crowd surf and was airborne for 10 seconds at the most.  I have a friend whose fiance is really conflicted with Gabel's recent decision; having grown up listening to Against Me!'s songs since high school, I have to imagine that he feels a little confused, even if he can't outright say it. A real testament to the experience of seeing these guys on stage in Denver was that I felt like they were the same band I saw in Gainesville; their music changes, their drummer changes, their singer's name and gender orientation changes, but they're still true to my memory of Against Me! almost six years later.


The Cult played to a full theater, whose front row audience instantly aged 20 years.  Instead of the plaid button-up shirt with hipster glasses, new onlookers with mesh tops and devil-horn headbands were now clamoring for the prime spots up front.  A ominous shaman figure was projected on the stage's backdrop while the soundcheck ran on for almost an hour.  When the group came on stage, I was instantly struck by the abundance of black leather.  Singer Ian Astbury also doesn't speak British anymore (many years of Britpop music knowledge has taught me to disregard any political correctness with those blokes).  New songs and old songs were freely distributed in the Cult's set.  For instance, one sample of a few consecutive songs they played included a songs from 2000, 1985, and 2012 ("Li'l Devil" from Electric, "(Here Comes)The Rain" from Love, and "Lucifer" from Choice of Weapon.  At one point, Astbury commented that Denver's love affair with marijuana made the city more like a "Bangkok brothel".  Astbury has almost 30 years worth of songs under his belt with The Cult, and his success has afforded him the opportunity to make such claims.  

Staying fresh in the news, Astbury announced his marriage just last night to Aimee Nash of the Black Ryder.  Get nostalgic with the video for their big 80s single, "She Sells Sanctuary" here:


Not to be upstaged, Against Me! recently made big waves in the punk scene by announcing singer Tom Gabel's decision to officially become transgender and change his name to Laura Grace.  Against Me! orignated in the college punk swamp in Gainesville, FL where bands like Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake gained popularity with record companies like No Idea and Fat Wreck Chords.  The new album  will be appropriately titled Gender Dysphoria Blues, a reference to the condition that Gabel cites that spurred him to choose the transgender lifestyle he is embarking on in front of the whole world.  Last night marked his first performance as Laura, and it will be very exciting to see how the band is reacting to the recent changes on stage.



Here is a catchy tune from the White Crosses / Black Crosses album released last year:




Supporting these two big acts will be The Icarus Line from Los Angeles, CA.  Being 14 years young will make this band just as seasoned as the rest of the night's lineup.  They should be releasing a new record soon, of which the first single, "Bad Bloods / Slow Death," was released just a few months ago.




Tonight's show is for ages 16 and up, doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8:00.  See more details about this show on the event page on the Ogden's website.

Day in, day out you wake up to the routine, the daily grind - sometimes without even thinking about it. But consider this: as we get older, and our routines and patterns become more intricately stained with responsibility and bills, the one word that stood out in our youth as a burning emblem becomes a burden of self reflection: "why". Why do I wake up? Why do I go to the 7-11? Why do I buy neon band-aids? Why do I look at pictures of cats on the internet? Why do I eat frozen yogurt? Why do I do anything that I am not forced to do out of bodily necessity or personal integrity? Well, I bet you weren’t expecting a concert review that doubles as an existential crisis - but Concerted Effort is not just a witty play on words describing the excellent live music coverage provided therein. Ok, that’s exactly what it is - but I will point out that we all could learn a lot by observing these musicians, aka those of us that choose to explore the “why’s” of life and make it something beautiful, or “art,” if you will.

Calling something art is so subjective, and raises many more questions than it does any answers to the “why” question, but when the “artist” is present the whole interaction turns into something different. For instance, when Marina Abramović was present during her exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, she had to deal with the direct scrutiny of the millions of visitors the MOMA sees every day. Literally. Her exhibit was the artist herself staring at anyone who would sit across from her eight hours a day, for four months. There is the type of person that would choose to sit there and delight in the opportunity to be in the presence of the artist, while others may choose instead to dismiss it because their aesthetic tastes require something different than a staring contest. But then there is the type of person who would wonder “why?,” and in doing so they may have found a reason to find life that much more enjoyable; a reason to find life beautiful.


The music of Neutral Milk Hotel, written and sung by Jeff Mangum, is a testament to the courage of art to find beauty in everyday life. His two albums are '90s pop-music at their core, with accents of unfamiliar instruments and words that seem to rebel against the very spine of the songs they are apart of. Mangum’s words are pure poetry: he sings about bodies and feelings like a teenager in love for the first time, but his subject is dark and he approaches it through complicated themes. His words resemble Leaves of Grass in the sense that his ode is grating and doesn’t hold back from the grit of what is dirty, deplorable and acidic in everyday life. For a lot of us, we can say where we were and what we were doing when we first listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It leaves a mark - or in many cases it’s more of a scar because you will never get rid of that one memory. How many albums, musicians or “artists” can claim to have that effect on a person? And how often do we really take the time to appreciate that effect? For me, Jeff Mangum’s songs from Aeroplane will always remind me of the time in my life when I was 16 and had just gotten over the chicken pox. If being a teenager wasn’t awkward enough, try adding chicken pox to the mix, and a part-time job at TCBY, and then let’s make it Christmas time. I was given this album as a Christmas present from a friend and I will never forget that moment.

Two members of the popular '90s alternative band Elf Power and one man who can claim to be a member of Neutral Milk Hotel all came to the stage as Jeff Mangum’s opening act. On first glance of the threesome’s set up, you might have guessed the group’s tour van was raided: two guitars were plugged into amps the size of children’s lunchboxes, a bongo drum sat atop a stool with two wire brushes as drumsticks, and then there was a cello bow, a beer bottle, a (toy?) saxophone and an accordion. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I weren’t seeing it with my very own eyes. Unfortunately I can’t show you what I saw to corroborate my story. With a very strict no-photo policy at the show, I still tried to capture the beer-bottle-as-guitar-pick part of the performance by Laura Carter, Scott Spillane and Andrew Reiger but my lack of stealth and the determination of the stage crew left me empty-handed. These three musicians were given a unique opportunity by Mangum in the sense that they weren’t really expected to do anything other than what they wanted; there were no albums to sell and no merchandise to hawk. The group set out to impress us with unexpected sounds and songs.

The band covered Randy Newman’s “Germany Before the War” - which if you listen to the original song, you wouldn’t take it to be a crowd-pleaser to share with a massive audience on tour. Newman’s version is brooding, slow and full of tinkling piano chords that sound like the background music to a lonely walk in the park after your ice cream scoop fell off the cone. Reiger’s take on the song made it sound more like a sweet lullaby; it was endearing and an incredible choice to preface Mangum’s set which would include his Aeroplane songs about Germany during that war (the album is based on the life of Anne Frank). Another great cover featured Scott Spillane as he took on “Strangers Out of Blue” by St. Thomas - the vocals from the original and that night’s cover were equally matched, it was a great choice for the evening. The crowd was getting a little restless, and responded favorably as Spillane sang about taking a girl home and “biting her on the ear.” For the most part, the songs that Laura, Scott and Andrew performed that evening were 90s-era indie pop gems that were mostly identifiable by the quirky lyrics. I don’t know what it is - something about it just reminds me of Empire Records, or the Cranberries. This quality was most apparent in the closing song, “Glue”: “But I won’t die, the pain is so beautiful . . . it smells like glue.” When I hear these songs, part of me wants to laugh and part of me wants to scratch my head as I wonder if I’m missing some bigger theme, but all the while I’m still left enchanted by the catchy music and will recite the lyrics regardless of what they mean for days.

Jeff Mangum’s explicit request to not be photographed in any way should have been the featured guest cited on the Ogden’s marquee; a smooth, radio-dj voice came on the Ogden speakers to announce this request moments before Mangum approached the stage. His appearance and demeanor seemed to have not aged since the release of Aeroplane - himself remaining a treasure forever stuck in history marking the time he made the most impact.

Mangum’s setup included a humble stool with five acoustic guitars waiting beside it. Mangum tuned a guitar and mentioned to the crowd, “I’m sorry this is taking a while - this guitar is very old, it belonged to my grandfather.” Responding quickly to some banter from the crowd he went straight into “Song Against Sex” - in true grandfather-ly form. Mangum sang impeccably as he presented musical gems that had aged ten years, sometimes more. “Holland, 1945” is a completely different ode without the fuzzy, electric guitars and drums of the original album recording, and Mangum carried most of his performance with the zeal to compensate for an entire band. But, slowly an entire band began to join him on stage as the night progressed. Mangum took a moment to address the audience after a few songs, and tell us about how he lived in Denver for a few years and was glad to be back in the city where his two albums were recorded.

Laura and Scott came out with the brass accompaniment towards the end of “Oh, Comely,” marking the first appearance of any band members to join Mangum on stage. Mangum addressed the crowd to voice his appreciation for the positive reception he had that evening. “I’m so glad I decided to do this again. It’s been a while. But, you know . . . I need my people.” For “Two-headed Boy,” a single drum, and the two horns, with Laura doubling with the accordion once more, all came out to serenade Mangum as he prepared to leave the stage before his last encore song, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”. For these last two songs, the entire theater reverberated with the voices of all in attendance who most likely sang along to these songs a hundred times or more. One may have wondered if Mangum was performing for the people or, as he put it “[his] people” were performing for him.

Before his encore song and as he departed for the evening, Mangum did this thing where he rose from his stool, did a quick bow, a small wave and then he headed stage left, pausing for a moment to turn once more and give a last wave before he would exit. The way he carried himself off the stage reminded me of seeing a child get up and leave after a violin recital. Much more than a violin recital, but maybe not anything more, Mangum’s music that night at the Ogden was absolutely beautiful.

Fresh off the Coachella Ferris wheel in Indio, CA, Jeff Mangum is ending his North American leg of his tour with a stop in Denver at the Ogden Theater, before heading to Austin and then Europe for a handful of festival appearances. Mangum is the singer-songwriter behind Neutral Milk Hotel, whose In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a critically acclaimed album which may be considered one of the top artistic accomplishments of the decade, and forever the staple of anyone’s top ten albums’ list who has appreciated solid pop music.



Mangum is no stranger to Denver; he recorded Neutral Milk Hotel’s On Avery Island with Apples in Stereo’s Rob Schneider in Denver. In a 1996 interview, Mangum described the peculiar recording environment: “It was January in Denver, freezing cold and snowing all over. I moved into a friend's house and was living in a closet and it was cold, not only because of the weather but because it was a haunted house. The closet I was living in was haunted.” Mangum’s relationship with Schneider’s band continued to grow as the songs that would become the second full-length release from Neutral Milk Hotel were honed in Athens, GA in the late 90’s. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was recorded in Denver in a makeshift studio that was demolished right after the album was released in 1998.

Mangum’s Denver appearance is also special in the sense that he has not done a proper tour since 2001; his appearances in general are rare. Mangum's website reports that a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales is going to support the Children of the Blue Sky charity, a nonprofit “on a mission to help abandoned Mongolian street kids rebuild their lives by placing them with foster families, providing them with livestock, and giving them a chance to go school” (as quoted from Mangum’s website). Elf Power’s website reports that members of the Gerbils and Elf Power will be performing songs from their own bands as well as some covers in support of Mangum’s set this Thursday.

The Ogden Theatre doors open at 7:30PM and the music starts at 9:00PM. The show is 16+ and tickets are $36 dollars at the door. Tickets and more information are available online here.

It may have been a Sunday night, but with about ten minutes to go before the scheduled showtime, the lengthy line in front of the Ogden Theater box office window certainly made it seem like a Friday or Saturday night. Trouble was, it was at that moment those in line had to be turned away, as the last tickets to the evening's show had been sold and the venue would be at capacity. As unfortunate as that was for those that could not enter the show, it meant those that could had a golden ticket to what was sure to be a great night of music accompanied with the energy of a sold out crowd.

American Tomahawk

The night began with an opening performance from American Tomahawk. American Tomahawk is an indie rock band based out of Los Angeles with Denver ties. They performed as a five-piece band; Adam Halferty (vocals/guitar), Jessie Dixon (drums), Nolan Aldridge (guitar), Sean Foreman (bass/vocals), and brand new member Crisanta Baker (keyboard/vocals). They played a promising albeit brief set of their indie rock, which featured a mellowed Americana, almost modern folk/singer-songwriter type sound with subdued yet punctuated rhythms around an indie rock framework. The band didn't seem completely comfortable up on the big stage but played five songs from their EP, shining brightest on their performance of "Me Vs. The Apocalypse". It was a low-key start to the evening, an interesting way to begin a concert featuring high-intensity bands, but at least the crowd had plenty of energy reserved for the rest of the night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. took the stage next, delving headfirst into a high-energy set to kick the sold out crowd into high gear. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. consists of Joshua Epstein (vocals/keyboard/sampler/guitar/bass/drums), Daniel Zott (vocals/guitar/bass/drums) and Mike Higgins (drums). The duo of Epstein and Zott crafts music with such a host of influences, it's hard to peg it into any individual category, but I would describe it as indie pop-rock infused slyly with electronic elements through live looping and clever sampling. The result is catchy songs with memorable lyrics that inject danceability into modern rock songs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

When it comes to live performance, the energy and intensity of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s music increases immeasurably. They began with the first track off of their debut album, It's A Corporate World, titled "Morning Thought". The album version is one of the more mellow songs in their repertoire, but there's nothing mellow about the way Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. performs live. Donned in colorful fluorescent suit jackets and joined with lighted J-R-J-R's up on stage, they gave the song an arena-like feel by triggering extra samples, rocking out with distorted bass guitar, and really letting Mike Higgins go to town on the drum set. Although they set the energy bar really high with their opening song, they managed to have it climb up higher from there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

The electro-rock/dance-pop infused "An Ugly Person On A Movie Screen" came next, really getting people to shuffle their dancing shoes on the floor. The dancing continued with "When I Open My Eyes" and was accompanied by an audience sing-a-long with their single "Skeletons". Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. owned the stage with incredible presence and energy as they brought that song to a crescendo with a rock-n-roll style breakdown. The crowd went from a sing-a-long to a whistle-a-long with the performance of "Simple Girl", before erupting into another dance fest with "Vocal Chords". Rocking out continued with the soul injected "We Almost Lost Detroit". The amazing set ended with the performance of "Nothing But Our Love", a usually mellow song made cleverly into a dance floor burner. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. album experience is already a fun ride, but it does not compare to how captivating the live experience is. If you like their songs, their live experience will completely sweep you away.

Fitz & The Tantrums

Fitz & The Tantrums came out next faced with the tough task of performing a set that would maintain the energy of the riled up crowd. The six members of Fitz & The Tantrums took their places on stage; keyboardist Jeremy Ruzumna, drummer John Wicks, and bassist Joseph Karnes were towards the rear of stage with James King on saxophone/flute,  Noelle Scaggs on backing vocals, and Michael Fitzgerald on lead vocals at the front of the stage. Luckily for Fitz & The Tantrums, their brand of revivalist '60s inspired soul made the task of delivering more energy to the crowd an easy one for these very capable performers.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The sweat inducing dance-athon began with "Don't Gotta Work It Out", as the crowd knew exactly what to do once they heard the keyboard stabs and drum beat. The crowd matched Fitz word for word as they sang along with him. "Breakin' The Chains of Love" kept the singing and dancing going. "Winds of Change" got the whole venue swinging their arms in the air, all the way to the upper balcony last row. With Fitz & The Tantrums the crowd's singing and dancing never stopped while the music went on, and the stage presence of the band, especially the dynamic between Michael Fitzgerald and Noelle Scaggs, kept the crowd fed with constant energy.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The only time the crowd stopped singing along was when Fitz & The Tantrums debuted a brand new song, which they said they wanted to make sure would get the 'Denver seal of approval'. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, it seems the mile high city did indeed approve. From there, the sing-along resumed with the band's soul infused cover of The Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes". The rest of their regular set consisted of almost all the remaining songs off of their album Pickin' Up The Pieces, performed flawlessly with incredible energy and crowd involvement.

Fitz & The Tantrums

They ended their regular set with an epic eight and a half minute long rendition of "News 4 U", which incorporated both slow-dance and uptempo elements. The building walls were shaking all night, but they shook the hardest when the audience called for an encore. After a short respite Michael Fitzpatrick returned to the stage, asking the crowd if they wanted more and explaining the band was passed out in the back, so if the audience wanted them to return they better call them back loudly as to wake them up. The crowd obliged, nearly blowing the roof of the place with their wails.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The band returned to the stage and performed a sweeping three song encore, starting with a slow song off of their first EP, Songs For A Break Up Vol.1 titled "We Don't Need No Love Songs". Then they tore into another soul injected cover, this time of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams". The night ended with another extended song, "Moneygrabber". Not only did the crowd sing along and dance to that final number, but they had every person in the venue get low to the floor and burst up into a boiling dance fest to close out the night - an incredible experience and sight to behold. Overall their set may not have changed much since the last time they were in Denver, but neither did the energy or the polish of their performance. It was still an incredible show having seen them before, and those that witnessed it for the first time will likely have the night lodged in their memories for a long length of time. If you need a little (or a whole lot) of soul in your life, Fitz & The Tantrums will have you covered.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

For those that wanted to keep the party going, the Larimer Lounge was the place to be. After the show concluded, the Larimer Lounge hosted local DJ and founder of Lipgloss, boyhollow, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. to perform DJ sets for an afterparty. The dance party began with boyhollow's set, mixing a smooth set of indie dance songs that got people in the dancing mood. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. took the decks and mixed an amazingly eclectic but highly enjoyable set. Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein left no stone unturned, mixing songs from all over the place - Mayer Hawthorne, Madonna, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Young M.C., The Chemical Brothers, Was (Not Was), Wang Chung, even the Tiger & Woods remix of their own song "Simple Girl". Although some transitions weren't buttery smooth, the crafty song selection brought excitement and smiles to those that came to afterparty, and I certainly wouldn't hesitate to seem them play out another set in the future - such a great way to end an amazing night.

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page and stay up to date!

Concerted Effort makes its first return to the Ogden Theater this new year for an indie/soul spectacular. Two of the hottest bands around are visiting Denver, ready to deliver music that'll be sure to get the crowd dancing, joined by an indie band with local ties and a talent for songwriting. One band is new to me, but two of the bands I've seen before, and the prior performances of both those bands are still lodged in my memory because of how incredible they were to witness. Having them both in the same show is sure to be a treat.


The headliner is indie/soul band Fitz & The Tantrums. This six-piece band from Los Angeles has seen quite the meteoric rise since its inception nearly five years ago, just about becoming a household name over the past year or so. They did so by crafting songs extremely rich in soul, so much so that some who hear their music for the first time might conclude it came from an earlier era, because one wouldn't expect new soulful songs like theirs to be made in the present. The good news is, this band is for real and they are in the here and now, ready to deliver their incredibly danceable songs with stage presence so strong, it just has to be witnessed. Check out this live recording of "Don't Gotta Work It Out".
Dont Gotta Work It Out (Live) by Fitz and The Tantrums


Detroit based indie band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. joins this strong lineup. This indie/electronic pop band crafts songs that are a little different, but extremely catchy and made to get people dancing. They combine rock elements using live guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, but also an electronic element that comes from clever sampling and live looping. To top it off, they perform with the high-energy stage presence of true Detroit rock stars. Check out "Vocal Chords".
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Vocal Chords by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.


American Tomahawk will get the evening started. This four piece indie rock band calls Denver home although they are currently based out of Los Angeles. This band is new to me, but it seems this band delivers heartfelt songs that manage to carefully balance moods. They seem to blend an atmospheric instrumental sound and emotive vocals with rhythms and melodies that keep everything slightly upbeat and not overly melancholy. Check out "No. One".
06 No. One by American Tomahawk

The Ogden Theater doors open at 7:00PM and the show starts at 8:00PM. The show is 16+ and tickets are $28. There is also a 21+ afterparty at the Larimer Lounge following the show featuring a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. DJ set.

Although this blog only existed for half of this past year so far, it was a great year in music. At this point there have been countless amounts of 'best of' lists put out there, and now it's my turn to add mine to the mix. There is so much I want to talk about, but I'm narrowing it down to the top concert experience and band performances that I saw. I will also include a separate list that includes shows that I did see over the year but did not write about because either they were before I started this blog or for some other reason. I saw a ton of shows over the year, so narrowing them down was extremely tough, but without much further ado, here is the first part: