The five best concerts in Denver this week

MACKLEMORE/WINTER ON THE ROCKS @ RED ROCKS | FRI, 2/1/13
Winter on the Rocks is slated to return to Red Rocks for its second year. While the inaugural edition of the frozen fiesta featured Atmosphere, Common, Grieves + Budo, the next Winter on the Rocks features Westword Music Showcase 2012 alums Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (with Major Lazer and the Grouch & Eligh). Since performing at the Westword Music Showcase last summer, Macklemore's stock has soared. His independently released album, The Heist, topped the Billboard sales chart, and the album's breakthrough single, "Thrift Shop," surpassed "Somebody That I Used to Know," Gotye's song that was virtually inescapable not too long ago, on the on-demand streams chart, if that tells you anything. But while Macklemore just came to prominence within the past year, he's been paying dues, and he's far more than some mere novelty rapper. From 2005's The Language of My World, the Seattle MC proved himself thoughtful and eloquent, particularly on songs like "White Privilege," in which he examines the white guilt that comes with being a rapper who's not of color, and "Ego," in which he takes an unflinching look at how arrogance can destroy everything and how nobody's exempt from the envy that accompanies it, even him.