Tom Murphy

Velvet Acid Christ on stage at Casselman's Bar & Venue in Denver

At one point or another during Velvet Acid Christ's set, Bryan Erickson became winded, and he joked about how it was the altitude. He then said it was probably that he was out of shape because of too much eating, and then noted how at this age, he would have to eat less and less in order to lose weight. All joking aside, Erickson proved to be a lively performer whose sense of humor did nothing to distract one from the visceral power of this music live.

See also:
- For the first time in more than a decade, Velvet Acid Christ performs live
- Bryan Erickson of Velvet Acid Christ on keeping friendships to a minimum make time for music
- Review + photos: The Photo Atlas at the hi-dive, 2/8/13

Antonio Valenzuela

Dom Kennedy last night at the Larimer Lounge.

Dom Kennedy hit the stage to a packed house at the Larimer Lounge last night, and, riding a wave of nostalgia, he urged, "If you're a '90's baby, put ya hands up." Rocking a fitted Dodgers hat and Stanford hoodie and backed by his OpM crew, Kennedy wooed the crowd with soulful samples and party records reviving that old West Coast fun loving style, proclaiming, "You ain't heard nobody like this since Snoop," during his song, "I Love Dom."

See also: Dom Kennedy on the Yellow Album and the advantages of being an independent artist

Wyatt Boswell

Brandon Flowers of the Killers last night at 1STBANK Center.

Somebody told me a few years ago that the Killers were over, that their talent was gone, and their stride ended after Hot Fuss. Apparently, nobody told Brandon Flowers. After one of the most surprisingly strong rock shows we've seen this year, it was clear why we should all still keep the faith. The Mr. Brightside crew has only gotten better. The comparisons to a young U2 were well-deserved last night.

See also:
- Review: The Killers at Red Rocks, 9/9/09
- Review: The Killers at Magness Arena, 1/20/09
- Brandon Flowers at the Ogden Theatre, 11/18/10
- Best of Denver 2004: Best Concert, Killers at Larimer
- Profile: The Killers move forward into the past
- Vegas, Baby! Meet Danny Vegas, the Sin City showman the Killers love

Train, the San Francisco band that has been the darlings of radio rock for over a decade, played to a capacity crowd at Red Rocks last night, and if the multigenerational audience's hoots and screams were any indication, the guys will be welcome back anytime. The crowd-jostling began far beyond the Morrison city limits. The traffic jam backed up at least five miles from the venue, creating a long red line of brake lights leading up to the Rocks.

See also: Train shills Drops of Jupiter, its new...wine

All photos by Eric Gruneisen.

For more photos: Slide show: Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube at Comfort Dental Amphitheatre.

With a lineup in which the youngest performer was Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony at 35, one might assume that this show was doomed to an early bedtime and fading energy as the night wore on. In reality, the crowd got more and more hyped as legend after legend graced the stage of Comfort Dental Amphitheatre, finally culminating about halfway through Snoop Dogg's set with total audience involvement, in perfect cadence, answering the night's ultimate question: What is his motherfucking name?

See also:
- The five biggest hip-hop name changes
- Slide show: Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube at Comfort Dental

Britt Chester

Justice last night at Red Rocks.

See Also: Justice, March 2008 profile

Let's review last night's Justice set by the numbers. The number of towering Marshall amps outfitted with LED lights: eighteen. The estimated rank of those bad boys on the volume scale: eleven. The number of smooth-operator Frenchmen in matching Justice World Tour '12 track jackets with matching confident smarm: two. The number of inches they stood apart from each other: three. The number of times they genuinely rocked: countless. The number of times they did anything truly noteworthy: zero.

Eric Gruneisen

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith last night at the Pepsi Center. Slide show: Aerosmith brings its mojo to Denver.

See Also:
- Aerosmith fans in the Pepsi Center parking lot
- Q&A with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer

From the beginning, they promised a spectacle. "We're gonna go all Aerosmith mojo on your ass tonight," lead screecher Steven Tyler promised vaguely but aggressively less than a minute after appearing center stage in a cloud of smoke. And later: "I feel like Wild Bill Hickok over here with this shit." Outfitted like a gay pirate with a strut like a zoo peacock, Tyler made good on his promise across an occasionally disjointed, frequently bloated show of living legendary proportions.

Eric Gruneisen

Cake at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

See Also:

- Slide show: Cake at Red Rocks, 7/28/12
- The Lumineers shed light on life in Denver and their evolving sound

The capacity crowd at Red Rocks on Saturday seemed determined to defy the elements. Overcast skies, steady sheets of rain and regular gusts of wind did their best to derail the outdoor performances from the Lumineers and headliners Cake, but the rotten conditions couldn't dampen the overwhelming mood of celebration. Even as the rain fell early in the evening and the wind continued well into Cake's encore, the collective enthusiasm and zeal from the crowd was impossible to miss. It was all the more remarkable considering the fact that performances from both bands boasted a meditative and measured feel.

Eric Gruneisen

See Also: The Walkmen's Peter Bauer: "Skrillex makes me feel like I don't understand what's happening"

Funneled through the slight, almost frail body of its pale owner, Florence Welch's voice cuts through the silence to fill the spaces between lyrics. And last night, in front of a breathing-room only crowd under the stars at Red Rocks, that voice attempted to bring meaning to misery. For about three minutes, Welch stopped using it. During a pre-encore moment of silence for the victims of the Aurora shooting, Welch instead bowed her fiery mane, closed her eyes and stood in complete silence as a few of her fans burst into tears. Last night, Welch's most powerful note was an implied one.

Denver PrideFest 2012 played host to the first solo American appearance of Fab Morvan -- better known as the brown-eyed one in the pop group Milli Vanilli, a group that was scandalized with the 1990 discovery that Morvan and Rob Pilatus didn't sing on their award winning album. While no more relevant to history than a discarded Trivial Pursuit question, Milli Vanilli still intrigues people, and people want to know whatever happened to those guys -- they were, after all, profoundly good looking.