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Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller July 23, 2016

Stargazer's Theatre in Colorado Springs hosted another great Summer Fun Free Concert on Friday, July 22. Manitou Springs bluegrass pickers Barrel House along with Smith House from Colorado Springs played to a good sized and enthusiastic audience between 8 PM and 11:20 PM on the hot summer night.

Smith House, started around 8 PM and were very good. I was impressed during my first time seeing the young four piece band who recently came back from their first out of state tour. Strong harmonies and varied and interesting original songs had me and the other bluegrass fans engaged for the whole hour long set.

Barrel House, having recently become a three piece were joined on stage by Shannon T. Carr (guitar) from Grass It Up and Jason Gilmore (mandolin & vocals) from the J. Miller Band. It was great to see the members of the different local bands playing so well together. The band with special guests had the audience on their feet dancing for most of their almost 2 hour long set. One highlight included standup bass player Adrian Bradford Alexander's original "Lovin' On My Mind" sandwiched around Pink Floyd's "Young Lust" in the middle of the set. It seems like a strange pairing, but it worked very well.

Stargazer's front of house engineer Jonathon L had both bands sounding very good in the cavernous but also somehow cozy old movie theater. Nearly every time I see a show at Stargazer's I walk out happy and satisfied and that was the case with this show.

I took photos during both bands sets. The Barrel House recording and links to the photos I took can be accessed by following the links below.

  Barrel House ~ 2016-07-22 Stargazer's Theatre, Colorado Springs, CO

  Barrel House - 2016-07-22

  Smith House- 2016-07-22

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller July 18, 2016

Toad the Wet Sprocket appearing on a triple bill with Rusted Root and Luke Wade, played to an enthusiastic medium aged crowd at Denver's Ogden Theatre. The 1,700 capacity venue was more than half full for the warm, Saturday, July 16 show.

Luke Wade who was a successful contestant on Season 7 of the NBC TV show "The Voice" opened the night with a well performed 30 minute solo acoustic set. His seven songs included a cover of "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Wings and the original "'til the Fighting is Through" from his album The River.

Toad the Wet Sprocket played next. They opened with "Good Intentions" followed by one of my favorites, "Crowing" from their 1994 masterpiece Dulcinea. Drawing mostly from older albums, the hour and fifteen minute long set included "Is It For Me", "Fly From Heaven", "Architect Of the Ruin", "Crazy Life", "Something's Always Wrong", "Fall Down" and ended with "Walk On the Ocean" as the second encore song.

I saw Toad the Wet Sprocket close the Denver Day Of Rock in May of 2012. But, I enjoyed this concert much more. You can access my recording of that show on the Live Music Archive here. The band seemed looser at the Ogden, the audience was much better and the sound was much better this time too. It's great to see them back together and touring again. In the future I'll try to catch them every time they come to colorful Colorado.

Mainly because of the heat, I decided to head home during the break between Toad and Rusted Root. I recorded Toad's set and took some photos which can be accessed by following the links below. The audience recording, made in front of the sound board, is available for live streaming and or downloading on the Live Music Archive (LMA).

  Toad the Wet Sprocket ~ 2016-07-16 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO

  Toad the Wet Sprocket - 2016-07-16

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller July 8, 2016

The Wendy Woo Band played a free concert at the Palmer Center in Colorado Springs on July 8. The event was part of the Cushman and Wakefield Summer Concert Series that takes place at the Hilton Antlers Hotel at lunch time on Fridays in the summer.

The band played well to a smaller then usual audience. I recorded the hour and a half long set and took some photos which can be accessed by following the links below.

  Wendy Woo Band ~ 2016-07-08 Hilton Antlers Hotel (Plaza), Colorado Springs, CO

  Wendy Woo Band - 2016-07-08

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller March 23, 2016

On Saturday, March 19 Stargazer's Theatre in Colorado Springs, hosted a free blues showcase concert featuring Jesse Cotton Stone and Grant Sabin along with a couple of friends. Stud Ford and Duncan Morrow from Clarksdale, Mississippi joined the local blues heroes for a fine night of blues music. The event also served as a release party for Stone's new album, Fires and Floods.

I took some pictures and made a recording. I've uploaded the photos and recording which can be accessed by following the links below.

  Blues Showcase ~ 2016-03-19 Stargazer's Theatre, Colorado Springs, CO [Matrix]

  Jesse Cotton Stone - 2016-03-19

  Grant Sabin - 2016-03-19

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller March 6, 2016

Manitou Springs bluegrass band Barrel House opened for San Francisco's Hot Buttered Rum at Stargazer's Theatre on March 4. They did a great job. I think they had a break out performance in front of the good sized Friday night audience.

Barrel House, formally The Barrel House String Band, opened the show a little after 8 PM with their original "Don't Go Changin" sung by Caleb Powell. I enjoyed every single song they played.

From an impressive set, the highlight for me was their original "Long Way Home." At the end of their set,  Stargazer's Theatre co-owner Cindy Hooten gave them an enthusiastic shout out that got the crowd ready for Hot Buttered Rum.

Hot Buttered Rum were also excellent. They played an energetic hour and 38 minute long set that had the crowd out on the dance floor the whole time. For the encore the band unplugged and invited the crowd to come close. They played three songs on the stage lip that brought the night to a close and sent the audience out of Stargazer's Theatre happy.

Follow the links below to access the recordings I made of both bands and some photos I took of the performances.

  Hot Buttered Rum ~ 2016-03-04 Stargazer's Theatre, Colorado Springs, CO [Matrix]

  Barrel House ~ 2016-03-04 Stargazer's Theatre, Colorado Springs, CO [Matrix]

  Hot Buttered Rum - 2016-03-04

  Barrel House String Band - 2016-03-04

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller January 24, 2016

On the second night of their Winter 2016 tour, moe. delivered an impressive and nicely balanced performance at the Ogden Theatre on January 23. The quintet took the stage before a sold out crowd at 8:34 PM on Saturday night. Rob Derhak's "Queen Of Everything" was first and segued quickly into a long jammed out "Meat." The band finished "Meat" and launched into an inspired version of Chuck Garvey's "It" from the 1998 album Tin Cans & Car Tires. I enjoy hearing Garvey's off-kilter compositions. His tunes are often a perfect balance to Derhak and Al Schnier's more traditional and balanced songs when played in concert.

The somewhat rare "White Lightning Turpentine" was next and was a pleasant surprise. The crowd favorite "Captain America" led into Schnier's "Silver Sun" which ended the six song first set.

After a somewhat lengthy break the guys came back out at 10:40 PM to start the second set. Derhak delivered the set opener again with "Faker." I heard the band during sound check while I was in line, so the second ever performance of House Of Pain's "Jump Around" was not a surprise to me. But, it sure was a surprise to the rest of the audience and elicited the biggest cheers of the night. Percussionist Jim Loughlin did a great job singing it and really got the crowd excited.

The opening riff in "Jazz Wank" caught me a little off guard. I love the song, but it seemed too subdued after the exuberance of "Jump Around." The band segued into "Spine Of A Dog" and the audience erupted and cheered again. "Buster" was next and kept the capacity crowd on their feet.

After Schnier's "The Road" the band launched into a sluggish version of "Star Wars Overture" that thankfully segued into the barn burner "32 Things" which ended the set on a high note. Schnier didn't seem to want the song to end as he kept coaxing more feedback and sustain from his Gibson SG guitar at the end of the set.

After Schnier voiced his obligatory encore al.nouncements the band played the lovely, country tinged instrumental "Salt Creek." Then I was pleasantly surprised when the band launched into the hard driving "Bear Song" to end the hour and 53 minute long set.

Overall, I thought it was a great show. I left the Ogden Theatre feeling happy and invigorated. There is a rumor floating around that moe. and Gov't Mule will play Red Rocks together this summer. I hope that's true, because I always enjoy seeing moe. play live.

My recordings and some photos I took are available by following the links below. I like the AKG CK-63 (hyper-cardioid microphone) source recording better. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to record in front of the soundboard this time. So, the recordings are less punchy and there is excessive crowd noise which I think is somewhat minimized on the AKG microphone recording.

  moe. ~ 2016-01-23 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO (AKG CK-63 active)

  moe. ~ 2016-01-23 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO (Microtech Gefell M300)

  moe. - 2016-01-23

Posted and updated by: Chuck Miller January 2, 2016

I spent New Year's Eve with Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven at The Soiled Dove Underground in Denver again this year.

Camper Van Beethoven started the night at around 9:15 PM by playing their 1988 album Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart in it's entirety.  They have been doing that at every stop on this winter tour. I enjoyed the performance, but I would have preferred to hear a set with more variety since Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart  isn't my favorite CVB album.

They filled out the hour and ten minute long set with the popular "Pictures Of Matchstick Men," "Take the Skinheads Bowling," "Northern California Girls," "The Day That Lassie Went To the Moon," and "Club Med Sucks" which were all great to hear.

After a short break to reset the stage, Cracker started their set with "Seven Days" from the Gentleman's Blues album. Johnny Hickman's "California Country Boy" was the next song and I thought his voice sounded as good as I've ever heard it. That was true of all the songs Hickman sang during the night. I generally enjoyed the Cracker set more than the CVB set. The energy and song choices were better for me.

Of course they played their big hit "Low," and the fan favorites "Euro-Trash Girl," "Teen Angst," "This Is Cracker Soul," and "100 Flower Power Maximum." The highlight of the set for me was hearing Hickman sing one of his best songs, "Another Song About the Rain" which included a great guitar solo and an extended ending.

Jonathan Segal from Camper Van Beethoven came out and played during the Cracker encore "One Fine Day."

I made an audience recording of both sets.

Follow the links below to hear the recordings and see some photos I took during the show.

  Cracker ~ 2015-12-31 The Soiled Dove, Denver, CO

  Camper Van Beethoven ~ 2015-12-31 The Soiled Dove, Denver, CO

  Cracker - 2015-12-31

  Camper Van Beethoven - 2015-12-31