Due to the Coronavirus-related cancellations we will include the shows we already had planned for coverage but indicate that they are cancelled as appropriate and as that information is available.
Thursday | March 12
What: Thundercat w/Guapdad 4000
When: Thursday, 3.12, 7 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: Stephen Lee Bruner, aka Thundercat, has been the go-to bass playing genius in the hip-hop world and beyond for over a decade including performing on albums by Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, Kamasi Washington and Flying Lotus. His own music is equally distinguished for its surreal creativity.
What: Harry Tuft and Brad Corrigan (of Dispatch)
When: Thursday, 3.12, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Swallow Hill Quinlan Cafe
Why: Harry Tuft was instrumental in cultivating and fostering the folk music scene in Denver through first the Denver Folklore Center and then through Swallow Hill. He is also one of the great interpreters of that music and a talented artist in his own right and this intimate show will be a good setting to catch him in action.
What: Dwight Yoakam w/Tennessee Jet
When: Thursday, 3.12, 7 p.m.
Where: Mission Ballroom
What: Joe Sampson w/Ben Kronberg and Adam Baumeister
When: Thursday, 3.12, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Friday | March 13
What: Cancelled The Decibel Magazine Tour: Mayhem and Abbath w/Gatecreeper and Idle Hands
When: Friday, 3.13, 6 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: Mayhem is the legendary/notorious black metal band from Norway whose early history was the subject of the 2019 biopic Lords of Chaos. But the current band is equal parts occult rock theater and crushing black metal of devastating power.
What: Robyn Hitchcock
When: Friday, 3.13, 7 p.m.
Where: Daniels Hall at Swallow Hill
Why: Robyn Hitchcock first came to public attention as a member of post-punk band Soft Boys in the early 80s but later in the decade through to today he has established himself as one of the most consistently creative, thoughtful and wryly humorous songwriters of the modern era. With an eclectic songwriting style that weaves in elements of jangle rock (which he helped to pioneer) and psychedelia, Hitchcock’s observational story songs articulate vividly snapshots of the core human zeitgeist of the moment through his lens of an Englishman who has remained open to the world.
Why: Concert for Indigent Defense/Death Penalty Repeal Party: Tokyo Rodeo, Cyclo Sonic and The Slacks
When: Friday, 3.13, 9 p.m.
Where: Skylark Lounge
Why: Tokyo Rodeo is a rock band that by not tying its songwriting to a trendy aesthetic or some classic style has been able to cultivate its own voice in writing songs that delve into the personally meaningful in the musical language of a rock and roll universality. Cyclo-Sonic is a Denver punk super group with former members of Rok Tots, The Fluid, Frantix and The Choosey Mothers. But pedigree is not enough. Fortunately Cyclo-Sonic’s unvarnished rock theater and strong songwriting recommends itself.
What: Snakes w/Colfax Speed Queen and No Gossip in Braille
When: Friday, 3.13, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Snakes is a band that includes George Cessna as well as Brian Buck of High Plains Honky and Kim Baxter of several bands including Gun Street Ghost. Sharing the stage for this inaugural show is psychedelic garage rock powerhouse Colfax Speed Queen and the radically vulnerable post-punk stylings of No Gossip in Braille.
Saturday | March 14
What: Ladies Night, Ned Garthe Explosion, Slugger, Despair Jordan
When: Saturday, 3.14, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Ned Garthe Explosion could have a career as a comedy band but its songwriting is too strong and clever for being a mere novelty act. Its nearly unhinged psychedelic rock is always surprisingly compelling. Slugger somehow managed to emerge over the last few years influenced by 70s rock and psychedelic garage rock without sounding like a rehash of a rehash, instead, vital and visceral.
Sunday | March 15
What: Bolonium, Damn Selene and Gort Vs. Goom
When: Sunday, 3.15, 7 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Bolonium is part weirdo pop band and game show including a section involving audience participation. Damn Selene’s mixes underground hip-hop, darkwave, noise and industrial music. Gort Vs. Goom is like if the Minutemen fully embraced prog rock and Blue Oyster Cult.
What: POSTPONED Ásgeir
When: Sunday, 3.15, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Ásgeir is an Icelandic songwriter whose blend of folk with electronic production has garnered him a bit of an audience in his home country and abroad. His falsetto combines a sense of intimacy and transcendence couched in transporting tones and grounding musical textures. Currently the artist is touring in support of his latest album Bury the Moon.
Monday | March 16
What: Cancelled Wax Lead, Vio\ator, Voices Under the Mirror and Voight
When: Monday, 3.16, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective
Why: Minneapolis-based post-punk band Wax Lead brews its catharsis from lushly brooding female vocals and bass-driven minimalism and a willingness to pointedly tackle social and political issues. Also on the bill is the great, Denver-based industrial post-punk band Voight and one of the few good local EBM acts Voices Under the Mirror and its emotionally rich vocals and songwriting.
What: CANCELLED Destroyer w/Nap Eyes
When: Monday, 3.16, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Tuesday | March 17
What: CANCELLED or POSTPONED Kronos Quartet
When: Tuesday, 3.17, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Newman Center
Why: Kronos Quartet has helped to make classical music cool and relevant since its founding in Seattle in 1973 through creative interpretation of foundational works and the contemporary avant-garde. The Quartet has also been known to indulge in fascinating covers of music in genres beyond its presumed wheelhouse as well as working with noted artists like Laurie Anderson and Pat Metheny.
What: POSTPONED Elohim
When: Tuesday, 3.17, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
What: Bear Hands and Irontom
When: Tuesday, 3.17, 7 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall
Wednesday | March 18
What: CANCELLED Jonathan Wilson w/Other Worlds
When: Wednesday, 3.18, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jonathan Wilson (Erykah Badu, Father John Misty, Laura Marling etc.) brings a lot of skill, experience and talent to bear on his new album Dixie Blur which he didn’t record at his studio in Los Angeles, where he has produced plenty of high quality material, but in Nashville to be closer to his Southern roots as a musician who grew up in North Carolina. Whether setting matters much in an ultimate sense, the record and lead single “Oh Girl” is informed by a warmth and sensitivity that elevates songs that are already noteworthy for their diverse dynamics and broad palette of emotional coloring.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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