Thursday | 10.01
What: Carín León
When: 7
Where: Ball Arena
Why: Carín León is a bonafide international star who built his career on performing various styles of regional Mexican music like Banda, mariachi, norteño and combined that more traditional and folk music with R&B, rock and country into a highly accessible form that is essentially modern pop music. He may not be so well known in English playlist formats but he’s playing at Ball Arena in Denver and at The Sphere in Las Vegas and other large venues throughout North America a testament to his status as a commercially popular artist who has garnered Latin Grammy Awards as well as an appearance at Austin City Limits. His energy as a performer on both recordings and live has an immediacy and authenticity with an instant appeal. In 2026 he collaborated with Jelly Roll on the single “Lighter” for the official album of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. His new album Muda released May 7, 2026.
Thursday | 10.01
What: Plastic Mystic, Church Fire, Watch Yourself Die and Clay K & The Vertebrates
When: 7/7:30
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Four of the front range’s best bands on one bill on a Thursday night beginning with art rock/prog/post-punk band Clay K & The Vertebrates from Fort Collins. Watch Yourself Die is like if a noise rock prog band put the focus on confrontational performance art that is so committed it crosses over into a psychedelic experience. Church Fire is the premier political industrial dance pop band from Denver. Plastic Mystic is a spirited fusion of garage rock, post-punk, hardcore and grunge.
Saturday | 10/03
What: Candy Chic album release w/The CDs and Lu Lagoon
When: 7 ($10)
Where: Matchbox
Why: Candy Chic is celebrating the release of its new album B-Side Movies. The quartet is in the realm of indie rock but with clear inspiration drawn from 1980s synth pop and the new album as the title suggests has a cinematic aspect in its production and songwriting but also with the kind of earnest emotional expression that seems like more something from another era, not the performative earnestness that plagued a certain segment of indie rock in the 2000s. Throughout one gets the sense that the songs were written as the soundtrack to a coming of age movie or a film about navigating early adulthood perhaps written by Brian K. Vaughan. Live the band performs with the appropriate enthusiasm appropriate to such possible inspirations.
Saturday | 10.03
What: Denver Porchfest
When: 12-7PM
Where: Baker District Porches
Why: This inaugural edition of the one day, short form festival runs throughout the Baker Neighborhood and features 193 local bands with donations to benefit East 7th Arts which provides art and music therapy for children with autism. There will be some of the best local acts across various porches and please consult the website linked for more details and possibly check the social media of bands listed for when and where they will be performing.
Monday | 10.05
What: Automatic w/Donzii
When: 7
Where: Meow Wolf Convergence Station Perplexiplex
Why: Automatic is a post-punk duo from Los Angeles comprised of Izzy Glaudini on synths and vocals and Halle Saxon on bass and vocals. Lola Dompé, daughter of Bauhaus/Love and Rockets drummer Kevin Haskins, is the group’s former drummer and vocalist. The 2025 album Is It Now? demonstrated the band was capable of creating evocative, atmospheric music with minimal elements. Opening the show is Donzii, an electro post-punk performance art No Wave-adjacent band originally from Miami. Jenna Balfe is a commanding and ritualistic singer whose dance moves are like something out of avant-garde dance theater, fun and pure rock and roll and bassist Dennis Fuller sounds like he studied heavily listening to John Taylor and Larry Graham before developing his own powerful style.
Monday | 10.05
What: Love Spells w/Orca
When: 7
Where: Globe Hall
Why: Love Spells aka Sir Taegen Harris released his debut full length album Love Is the Law on July 24, 2026 via RCA. The artist grew up in and around Houston (now based in Los Angeles) and found solace in fantasy fiction as a youth but eventually discovered poetry as a vehicle to crafting lyrics for his early musical endeavors as a rap artist. Later in his teens he switched musical gears some and fused hip-hop production and more dream pop and indie rock style songwriting and the new album with his impressive use of falsetto vocals is a bit like if Prince came up on later R&B and dream pop and wrote emotionally vibrant songs about, frankly, similar subject matter like love, soul searing heartbreak and struggles with mental health. Isn’t that what “Let’s Go Crazy” is about?
Monday | 10.05
What: Shiner w/Criteria and Replica City
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Shiner is one of the secretly influential rock bands out of the 90s from Kansas City, Missouri. Its evolving sound is in the realm of post-hardcore and math rock but with deep atmospheric elements that crosses over into what was called space rock before everything in that realm of sonics got lumped in with shoegaze. Originally running from 1992-2003 the band reconvened in 2012 and has been putting out fascinating records since including its latest epic The Y Section (2026) that has more than a passing resonance with what Failure has been up to of late. Opening is Denver’s great post-hardcore/post-punk trip Replica City and Criteria from Omaha, the noisy post-punk band including former Cursive member Steve Pedersen and A.J. Mogis who runs Presto! Recording Studios with his brother Mike Mogis, a musician whose studio engineering credits are a not insignificant portion of modern indie rock.
Tuesday | 10.06
What: Big Thief w/Iris DeMent
When: 6:30
Where: Red Rocks Amphitheater
Why: Big Thief has become one of the biggest and most influential indie rock bands since its 2015 inception with both Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek having noteworthy solo careers parallel with the band. Though its music is associated with Americana and indie folk there has been an ambitious songwriting instinct obvious from its early releases but all serving music that is brimming with raw emotions channeled into vulnerable, poetic expressiveness. With the release of Double Infinity (2025), Big Thief showed that it could work with many songs and hone a new kind of sound for the band that seemed to incorporate more of its electronic elements and a more edgy noisiness than was more obvious on earlier records. It also included extensive contributions from ambient/avant-garde legend Laraaji.
Tuesday | 10.06
What: Buzzcocks w/Minds Eye and The Pitch Invasion
When: 7
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: Foundational post-punk band Buzzcocks is celebrating its 50 years of existence with this tour. After it started in Manchester, UK in 1976 Buzzcocks were the first punk band with an independently released EP, Spiral Scratch (1977). Even that initial release was the sound for what was coming after punk with an knack for pop hooks and a different kind of sensibility that was solidified in subsequent albums so that it innovated one branch of post-punk and really early pop punk. Early singles like “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get?” and “Every Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” are still staples of punk and post-punk playlists and sound just as exciting as when they were first released because Buzzcocks were seemingly not writing just for the late 70s. These days only Steve Diggle from the classic lineup is still in the band but it’s one that has released music since the tragic death of former lead singer and guitarist Pete Shelley in 2018 including 2026 album Attitude Adjustment.
Friday | 10.09
What: MVTANT w/Pink Stiletto, babybaby4ever, Velocity Garden and Kill You Club DJs
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: MVTANT is an industrial darkwave artist from San Antonio whose version of EBM is more steeped in the realm of techno and earlier progenitors of the style like Front Line Assembly and Fad Gadget. But in the dystopian dance music of the artist’s output you can hear the impact of electronic Krautrock and horror cinema soundtracks thus perhaps the title and themes of the 2024 album Electronic Body Horror. Pink Stiletto’s own darkwave flavor is more in line with a fusion of disco and synthpop. And babybaby4ever is the best modern synthpop artist most people outside of Denver haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing and Lily Conrad’s command of rich synth tone and playful stage performance is top tier.
Friday | 10.09
What: The Jungle Giants w/Morning Silk
When: 7
Where: Globe Hall
Why: The Jungle Giants are an indie rock quartet from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia who garnered a bit of international attention with the release of its 2013 album Learn to Exist noted for its irrepressible energy and creative hooks. In May 2026 the group released its first album in five years with Experiencing Feelings of Joy. The lead singles from the album showcased how The Jungle Giants aren’t just influenced by rock music and its vocal cadences have the hallmarks of hip-hop and R&B. All evident on previous releases but on the new album the songs have a richly developed atmospheric and production element that sounds geared for more mainstream appeal.
Saturday | 10.10
What: Pink Fuzz w/The Well and Tart
When: 7
Where: The Federal Theatre
Why: Pink Fuzz released its most recent single this week with “Don’t You Wanna Go To Heaven?” b/w “Manipulator” for digital download and streaming but also as a flexi disc. As usual the band lives up to its name with deeply hooky and melodic stoner rock. One of the opening acts The Well is from Austin and released its fourth full-length studio album …And Flames Ran Like Living Animals via Spaceflight Records on September 14, 2026. The trio’s burning, granular distortion puts into focus its heavy melodies and a knack for injecting pop hooks into metallic psychedelic rock. Fans of White Hills and the more urgent end of Black Mountain will appreciate the edge The Well brings to what feels like uplifting music. The band’s music video for “New Hallelujah for the Damned” was recorded at the SST warehouse and includes a cameo by Greg Ginn the founder of SST and, you know, Black Flag, Gone and several other bands over the years.
Saturday | 10.10
What: 49 Winchester w/Landon Smith
When: 7
Where: The Gothic Theatre
Why: 49 Winchester from Castlewood, Virginia has been growing its cachet as a country rock band since 2013. The sextet released its first three albums independently before being signed to New West Records in 2022. From its 2014 self-titled debut the band has show signs of the influence of music well beyond what one might assume like harder edged rock but the aesthetic and themes of the music is rooted in their background in Appalachia and the region’s genre eclectic musical traditions. The group’s new record Change of Plans is brimming with songs about transitional periods of life and how life events can drastically shift one’s outlook and give one perspective on priorities and the course of how you’re going through the world. The album includes a soulful rendition of one of the most bluesy of Black Sabbath song with “Changes.” It’s a song that seems totemic for where 49 Winchester is today and perhaps its own audience.
Saturday | 10.10
What: Die Spitz w/Farmer’s Wife
When: 7
Where: Boulder Theater
Why: Before its 2025 debut album Something to Consume even dropped, Die Spitz had major underground buzz for its spirited live show. Is Die Spitz punk or metal or just some hybrid of the two that isn’t beholden to either. The vocals on the song have the kind of thrillingly feral quality one heard in early Hole and any point in the Babes in Toyland catalog. They haven’t steered clear of guitar solos but use them creatively with a fiery flair that coupled with the urgent rhythms and the dual vocals bypasses expectations. Die Spitz also has wonderfully pointed yet thoughtful and heartfelt social commentary that fits well with how the music sears through any static of what the band is supposed to sound like and how some of the most exciting and edgy music now is supposed to be delivered other than with conviction and passion.
Monday | 10.12
What: Castle Rat w/Unto Others and Wrath Knight
When: 6:30
Where: The Ogden Theatre
Why: Castle Rat wisely leaned into the fantasy imagery on stage and its lyrics from the beginning. The musicianship and well-crafted songs speak for themselves. The outfits, aesthetic and subject matter of the songs just make it more fun for people that show up to witness the spectacle. Many bands have tried a similar thing and found lacking because it is just cheesy or inept. Castle Rat’s debut full length The Bestiary (2025) offered tales of adventure and peril set to music that isn’t just trapped in doom or retro metal or heavy psychedelic rock but a fusion of all of that into its own flavor. Just look at press photos of the band and live footage on the internet and if that doesn’t seem appealing for some reason maybe don’t go but you might be missing out on one of the best live acts in the realm of metal going now.
Tuesday | 10.13
What: Sawyer Hill
When: 6:30
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: Sawyer Hill got started playing in bars in Northwest Arkansas with a band of older kids before going solo and promoting his songs in social media where he garnered a wide fanbase. His song “Look At The Time” went viral and charted well with Spotify leading to signing to AWAL. His rich and charismatic baritone voice and passionate live performance can be heard fully utilized on Hill’s debut album Everybody’s Home, Nobody’s Happy (2026) where he somehow fuses some of his background in blues rock and perhaps gospel music and early Beck. But really Hill comes off like a singer from another era like a lost artist from the 60s or 70s who would have been sharing bills with honky tonk bands.
Wednesday | 10.14
What: zzzahara w/Faerybabyy and Bruha
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: zzzahara returns to Denver for a headlining show. They put out their album Distant Lands in June 2026 and its layered, bedroom pop style truly sounds like a dream-journey of self-discovery and healing. Inspired by a dream in which the songwriter spoke to their departed brother the record is steeped in embracing authentic feelings that we often keep buried as we hurtle through our lives. It is an album about reconnecting and perhaps growing from that process. It could be described as dream pop, shoegaze, psych and all the other atmospheric guitar genre tags you want but it also sounds like it’s informed by the possibilities of production and in some ways is like a pop cognate of They Are Gutting a Body of Water.
To Be Continued…
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