It’s not just the people who are different. It’s the venues, too. Opera houses and concert halls, with their controlled acoustics and expensive architecture, are switched out for sheds, shells, tents and open-air amphitheaters. Parking garages are replaced with parking lots. There is less traffic.

For sure, the classical set is not as uptight as it used to be during regular performances at urban concert halls. Events now are less formal and more welcoming to newcomers who do not already know the fare. But there are still rules about how one should behave, as in, be on time, clap when appropriate, and expect to get shushes if you are talking during the show.

That can be a good thing — classical concerts offer one of the last remaining places to dress up and they are excellent ways to teach kids the varieties of social etiquette — but they can also appear a bit stuffy for many people, and that is rarely a part of warm-season events.

Of course, it’s not all upsides on the outside. The sound can be terrible. Planes fly over. Bugs float around. Rain is the enemy. And those babies can still be trouble; they just don’t understand the rules of the game.

But it feels different for audiences in the summer, relaxed and adventurous at the same time. Because concerts are held in parks and open spaces, and often in remote, resort cities, the whole excursion can seem closer to nature, which happens to be a common theme in the many symphonies that drive the programming for the art form.

So, what is it like on the other side of the stage, for the musicians who are working while the rest of the room is chilling out?

In some ways, very different. They often have to travel a bit for their job. The main summer classical presenters in this region tend to be far-flung, and that includes the Aspen Music Festival (which continues through Aug. 24), the Bravo! Vail Music Festival (which finished up June 22), the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder (through Aug. 3), the Santa Fe Opera (through Aug. 23), and the Central City Opera (through Aug. 3).

Those round out offerings closer to the urban center. The Arvada Center presents a classical music series “under the stars.” There are performances at fairs and festivals, and the Colorado Symphony always makes a few special appearances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. For example, the orchestra will pair up with pop star Beck on July 25.

For the musicians, conditions vary at each venue. For example, when they arrive, there might not be dressing rooms or spaces designated for the woodwinds or the strings to warm up, amenities that are often built-in at formal concert halls. They play for audiences who tend to be less familiar with the music and more distracted by their surroundings, sometimes munching on grapes or clinking together wine glasses.

Does that impact their performance?

That is the perfect question for Peter Oundjian, who exists in both the winter and summer classical worlds. Oundjian — an industry star who spent years as a violinist touring the globe before turning to conducting — is the music director for the Colorado Symphony, which regularly performs at the elegant Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver from September to June.

But then in July and August, he moves his show north and works as the music director for the Colorado Music Festival, which has a separate orchestra of its own. The fest takes place at the Chautauqua Auditorium, located among open spaces in Boulder. The hall is a historic, wooden building with a rustic edge and natural lighting.

“I find it refreshing,” Oundjian said about the change of scenery that comes about in summer, and he is particularly fond of the venue in Boulder. “Obviously, we feel very fortunate to have Chautauqua because it’s such a beautiful experience just to walk in there.”

Oundjian has played at numerous outdoor venues, including one festival where he remembers sharing the bill with horse shows. He will also conduct at Bravo! Vail this summer, which performs in the large Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, where many people sit on the lawn.

Every venue has its benefits and its quirks. Sometimes the acoustics are surprisingly good. Other times, you get mosquito bites. Those unpredictable elements can impact all those violinists and tuba players in different ways as they prepare for a show.

“It’s a very different thing turning up already dressed,” Oundjian said. “Basically, you don’t have anywhere really to warm up, except on stage.”

But the performers gradually feel the vibe of the setting, and the audience, and chill out on their own terms.

“I’m not saying they don’t come with their A-game, because they absolutely do,” he said. “But it’s a much more casual thing.”

Ray Mark Rinaldi is a Denver-based freelance writer specializing in fine arts.

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“Adam Clayton on bass guitar!”

Turning to the rear of the stage: “Larry Mullen Jr. on the drums!”

“And,” he said just as the skull-capped guitarist to his right punctuated a groove-ridden “Mysterious Ways” with a pealing solo, “this is the Edge!”

But the man on the mic wasn’t Bono — and the four-piece band onstage that languid June weeknight at Four Mile Historic Park wasn’t the stadium-filling U2.

Instead, Nikki Zamora commanded a small stage in the tree-shaded park along Cherry Creek, fronting Denver’s Bullet the Blue Sky, which promises “the ultimate U2 experience.”

“We’re going to do one more, and then a short intermission,” Zamora told the cheering crowd arrayed in lawn chairs and on blankets, before briefly slipping out of rock-star character, “so you can get some fresh churros over there.”

Cover bands and, increasingly, artist-specific tribute acts like Bullet the Blue Sky are a popular fixture in Colorado’s expansive live-music constellation, offering concertgoers a chance to more easily experience some of their favorite songs, old and new.

Traditional cover bands, with deep and varied repertoires, and often encountered by chance in bars or at weekend civic festivals, can be great entrées to the live-music experience for the novice concertgoer or casual fan. And tribute acts make the music of iconic artists — including bands that can no longer play — more accessible and more affordable.

For Denver’s long-running That Eighties Band, it’s all about creating a party and bringing people together for a great time, said singer and bassist Travis LeRoy.

“The range of people that come see us is really big,” he said, “but our core is people that grew up in the ’80s and love that music. For them, the nostalgia is the big draw, and that’s the feedback we get. They say, ‘It was just like when I was back in high school.’ ”

Jill Preston, marketing director at Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, which stages an annual battle of the tribute bands called Leftapalooza, described the appeal even more succinctly: “People just love to sing along to songs they know from different eras.”

Denver, like any healthy music scene, is home to myriad cover bands and solo artists performing well-loved material. But there are a number of higher-profile acts on the circuit that have become mainstays at outdoor music series, special events and summer festivals, or through their own headlining shows.

They include That Eighties Band and another decade-themed act, Nothing But Nineties, plus others that mix originals with their covers, such as long-running funk showband Funkiphino, country singer Buckstein and Hazel Miller & The Collective, the multi-genre group led by the famed local singer and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee.

Some take it a step further. The Denver-based Cecelia Band, for example, mixes hard-rock covers with new songs in the style of ’80s hair metal. “I’ve written my music to emulate the genre because I love it so much,” bandleader Cecelia Casso said in an email.

LeRoy started That Eighties Band more than 20 years ago, after he said he found some modest success as an original artist, but eventually tired of fighting industry headwinds. “I just wanted to start a band that performs some of my favorite songs,” he said.

The result has grown into a five-piece, eclectic combo that celebrates the music of the 1980s with a 200-song repertoire that includes classics by chart mainstays Journey, Prince, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, plus a variety of well-worn one-hit wonders.

“If we play ‘Jessie’s Girl’ by Rick Springfield anywhere in the country in front of any audience, it’s going to get a great reaction,” LeRoy said.

Business has never been better for That Eighties Band, he said: The band’s crowds are bigger than ever and the group has never had more offers to play.

“We’re just kind of trying to enjoy this, because this business can be really tough and there’s no guarantees, and talent doesn’t necessarily mean success,” LeRoy said. “So if you have something that’s working, you’re just really fortunate.”

Broadening musical tastes

The rising popularity of cover bands and tribute acts in Colorado, and elsewhere, can perhaps be credited to a broadening of younger people’s tastes — and a corresponding expansion in audience reach for some of these acts rooted in the music of decades past.

TikTok and streaming services have firmly supplanted radio as the prime avenue for music discovery, and algorithms help make older artists and even entire genres new again, slotting retro sounds alongside current hitmakers.

David Weingarden, vice president of concerts and events at Boulder’s Z2 Entertainment, which books the Fox and Boulder theaters, as well as the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, said he finds younger people today to have a good breadth of musical knowledge.

“A few years ago, maybe five or 10 years ago, young folks in college and high school were just EDM, EDM, EDM,” he said of the ubiquity of electronic dance music. “But now we’re starting to see college kids form bands again and indie rock and psych rock and shoegazey stuff… is coming back, and they’re probably listening to what their parents were listening to, or thinking about what they were listening to when they were growing up in the early 2000s.”

Seth Brink, who performs as the late Adam Yauch — aka MCA — in the Colorado-based Beastie Boys tribute act Sabotage, said his seven-piece live band draws fans looking to relive the experience of seeing the now-defunct group in concert back in the 1990s or early 2000s, as well as younger listeners who never had the chance.

Local tribute acts run the gamut, performing the music of bands that are long out of commission to those that still sporadically reunite or simply never left — but now are so big that tickets can cost hundreds of dollars to see them in a cavernous stadium.

At Leftapalooza last month, Sabotage played alongside Colorado-based acts Live Wire, a tribute to AC/DC (still occasionally touring); Guerilla Radio, which performs as Rage Against the Machine (that band’s last reunion fell apart in 2022); and ColdReplay, which paid homage to Coldplay four days after the real deal played Empower Field at Mile High.

Other popular locally based tribute acts include Jagged: The Music of Alanis, performing the songs of Alanis Morissette; Just a Girl, a No Doubt tribute; American Idiot, a Green Day cover band; and Chili Powder, a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute.

“Since MCA is dead, they’re never going to tour again, they can never play again,” Brink said of channeling the Beasties onstage. “So to me that makes sense, to do a tribute when you can never see the band again, to keep that alive… (but) even some of the tributes to bands that are still touring seem to get pretty good turnouts.”

When the original’s still out there

Nowhere is that more evident than in the universe surrounding the Grateful Dead, which spawned tribute acts — including Colorado’s own Shakedown Street — even before Jerry Garcia’s death ended the original band’s run in 1995.

Since then, tributes have proliferated across the country, including hard-touring standouts like Dark Star Orchestra, which recreates specific Dead performances. These bands have continued even as the surviving members of the Dead regrouped in a series of different incarnations, most recently as Dead & Company, now down to two original members — Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — alongside guitarist John Mayer and other musicians.

“These bands like Dark Star and Shakedown Street are a really awesome representation of what the Grateful Dead did, and the fans still want to listen to that music and, I think, not necessarily have to pay the prices that are at the Sphere,” said Z2’s Weingarden, referring to the Las Vegas venue where Dead & Company recently played a residency.

The Fox Theatre, which has long hosted bigger names like Neil Diamond homage Super Diamond, booked Colorado’s Magic Beans, performing a Ween tribute, and Denver-based Steely Dead, which plays — you guessed it — the music of Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead, to headline after-shows during Phish’s Folsom Field dates earlier this month. (Meanwhile, the nearby Boulder Theater hosted locals The Motet performing Jamiroquai and Pink Talking Fish mashing up the catalogs of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish.)

Seeing such acts at a smaller venue like the Fox “is just a way of listening to that music on a really great sound system and having a really great time with your friends,” Weingarden said.

For Amanda Vonholtum, who performs as Madonna in the musical tribute Amanda V’s Material Girl, ensuring a great time isn’t just about what’s happening onstage.

She and her dancers put on a fully choreographed show, and help get the audience involved, too — teaching them to vogue during the song named after the highly stylized dance.

“It’s really interactive,” she said, “and that’s kind of what some of the tribute scene and cover band scene was missing, I thought.”

Vonholtum is a lifelong fan of Madonna, experiencing, as a preteen, the singer’s world-conquering ’80s and, following her stylistic and musical swerves through subsequent decades. The Colorado singer, who serves in the Air Force when she’s not on stage, first took on the Material Girl persona in 2018 and worked on and expanded her show even as the pandemic disrupted live entertainment.

“She’s just one of those artists that never goes out of style,” Vonholtum said of the fans who come to her shows. “It’s generationally handed down from parents to their children.”

And like those Dead tributes that play even as a version of the original still exists, Vonholtum’s Material Girl show exists in a world still inhabited by its inspiration. In fact, Madonna played Denver last year, and Vonholtum finally got to see her idol live.

“I thought, man, I wouldn’t be a true tribute artist if I didn’t go see my person,” she said.

Nothing but a good time

At Four Mile Historic Park last month, Blake Denney stood in the back, behind the picnicking crowd, surveying the scene before the faux U2 took the stage.

He’d never seen Bullet the Blue Sky before, and hadn’t been to a proper U2 show since the Vertigo Tour. For the band’s Colorado fans, a number of whom were at this creekside park, it’s been a long drought — U2 last performed here a decade ago.

“For 20 years, U2 was my favorite band,” Denney said. “I haven’t really been into them for the last couple decades, but I checked these guys out online and they sounded really good.”

Denney found a spot at a picnic table on the periphery of the crowd, and the band soon took the stage to “Elevation” before running through “Beautiful Day” and “I Will Follow,” sounding impressively like the Irish foursome — thanks, in particular, to Zamora’s arching vocals and Ted Gravlin’s guitar mimickry.

By the time the band turned to the soulful “Angel of Harlem,” Denney was visibly tapping his foot to the beat. Surely nobody here expected this to be even better than the real thing, but fans are singing along, shouting out obscure requests (“Play ‘Wire!’ “) and happily dancing in front of the covered stage.

Denney walked past a short while later. His verdict? “It’s a good time, yeah.”

Where to see them

Here’s where you can next see some of the Colorado-based cover bands and tribute acts that are mentioned in this story:

Amanda V’s Material Girl: Madonna tribute act, Aug. 15, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. amandavsmaterialgirl.com.

Buckstein: Country cover artist, with some originals, Aug. 2, Orchard Summer Concert Series, 14697 Delaware St., Westminster. bucksteinmusic.com.

Bullet the Blue Sky: U2 tribute act, Aug. 2, Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, 17999 W. Colfax Ave., Golden. bulletthebluesky.com.

Guerllia Radio: Rage Against the Machine tribute act, Aug. 1, Booyah ’90s with Pearl Jam tribute act Ten and Cranberries tribute act Linger, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. facebook.com/GuerrillaRadioBand.

Hazel Miller & The Collective: R&B and blues covers, with some originals, Aug. 1, Friday Night Jazz, Spangalang Brewery,  2736 Welton St., Denver. hazelmiller.biz.

Nothing But Nineties: ’90s-themed cover band, Aug. 2, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. nothingbutninetiesband.com.

Steely Dead: Steely Dan and Grateful Dead tribute act, Aug. 16, Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. steelydead.com.

That Eighties Band: ’80s-themed cover band, Aug. 1, Pindustry, 7939 E. Arapahoe Road, Englewood. eightiesband.net.

Source: Bands’ websites and social media

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Today, Dazzle, 1080 14th St., and Nocturne, 1330 27th St., carry the torch as modern wellsprings for improvisation, swing, and so much soul. These beloved clubs “are dedicated to the craft on a very impressive level,” said KBCO DJ and Denver Post’s jazz writer Bret Saunders.

But what about a jazz scene outside of downtown Denver? Does that exist?

“Kind of yes,” Saunders said, explaining that, “There are other jazz havens in Colorado, but you’d have to go at the right time.” That “right time” is now, as a slew of jazz-themed festivals and events ascend on the Rockies, including Jazz Aspen Snowmass, a multi-part, summerlong series; and the Telluride Jazz Festival, held the weekend of Aug. 8-10.

Summer jazz fests, Saunders said, are a longstanding tradition stretching back to the 60s, when mountain towns like Vail and Aspen would “bring in instrumental artists for these jazz parties, and they’d play music for days at a time.” That spirit carries over into modern, organized festivals such as the Evergreen Jazz Festival, which is held July 25-27 this year, in four intimate venues nestled in the foothills just 40 minutes southwest of Denver. Listeners can expect a personal experience with low-key vibes, and mainly Colorado acts playing traditional Dixieland sets.

“It’s like a cozy gathering of friends,” said Wendy Potthoff, president of the Evergreen Jazz Festival board. “There’s no huge sound system or crowds. You can be dancing right in front of the band or chatting with the musicians after a set. That’s what makes this festival special.”

Small town, big talent

This year’s festival will feature more than 65 musicians and 15 unique band combinations. That includes perennial Colorado favorites like Queen City Jazz Band — performing for 67 years and counting — and the Benny Goodman-esque collective After Midnight.

Eighteen musicians are flying in from out of town to jam, and the festival’s collaborative spirit will really shine in a special Friday night “Footwarmers” ensemble with musicians plucked from multiple bands. “That’s one of my favorite sets,” Potthoff said. There will also be three dueling pianos sessions, a crowd-pleaser with band members from various groups riffing off one another.

Evergreen’s festival isn’t about flashy lineups. It’s about interplay, spontaneity, and a shared love of early jazz styles. “We’re really only playing music from the early 1900s to the 1940s,” explained Potthoff. “And the venues,” she added, “reflect that history.”

A venue for every mood

Historic venues are part of the draw, and each setting has its own charm and acoustic character. There’s the Evergreen Lake House, with iconic views that deserve their own social media account. It’s the perfect place to kick things off with a Friday night dance party ($35 stand-alone tickets available for this event only, but purchase tickets in advance because it’ll likely sell out).

If you’re planning to cut a rug, you should know that the Evergreen Elks Lodge is the primary dance venue, complete with a disco ball, roomy dance floor, and comfortable outdoor patio.

For pure listening pleasure, Evergreen Christian Church offers remarkable acoustics and will host a free gospel service Sunday morning led by Queen City vocalist Wende Harston. “She belts out these amazing gospels starting at 9:30 a.m.,” Potthoff said, noting that the Sunday service is free and “standing-room only.”

Immediately after the gospel service, the Colorado Jazz Ambassadors, a small youth program, play at Center Stage, and this set is also complimentary. At Center Stage, built in 1924, patrons can enjoy comfortable theater seating, with food and drinks served every set.

The idea is that you can spend the day moving between venues, catching different acts, dancing or just soaking it all in. An up-to-date schedule is available at evergreenjazz.org/schedule.

More than a party

Beyond the live music, Evergreen Jazz Festival places a strong emphasis on education. On Friday and Saturday, attendees can join free educational clinics, including a special Friday set led by Doug Tidaback, founder of the Colorado Jazz Ambassadors (among other groups). He’ll guide listeners through jazz’s evolution from ragtime to the Big Band Era, with live musical illustrations from professional players. (How cool is that?)

The festival also hosts three student bands, including local middle and high school groups, and dance lessons and showcases are offered throughout the weekend–open to anyone eager to refine their swing.

“The people who put it together are so dedicated,” Saunders said about the festival. It’s a great reminder of what makes this music timeless.

IF YOU GO

Dates: Friday, July 25, noon to 11 p.m.; Saturday, July 26, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, July 27, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tickets: Three-day passes are currently $130; day passes range from $75 to $110, and all prices increase after June 30. Dance-only tickets for Friday night at the Evergreen Lake House are $35 and expected to sell out.

Parking: Free parking is available for all sessions at the Evergreen Elks Lodge and Evergreen Christian Church. If these lots are full, you’ll be directed to overflow parking at Hiwan Heritage Park. Once you park, you won’t need your car. Free shuttle service runs every half-hour to/from all venues. Full schedule: evergreenjazz.org/schedule

Jamie Siebrase is a Denver-based freelance writer. 

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But 2025 has been a strange year for music festivals. Early on, it seemed like Colorado might be suffering from some festival fatigue as the increasing number of single-night shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and other venues vied for people’s money and attention.

But then came the announcement of several new festivals, including the Sky Festival Aug. 8-9 at Buttermilk Ski Resort in Aspen and the Fancy Spider Music Festival in Trinidad in October, along with the Indiewood Street Festival, which took place in Englewood in June, and Unhinged, a heavy metal festival that had been scheduled for July in Denver — before being canceled.

And finally, The Underground Music Showcase announced that this year’s run, July 25-27, will be its last, as the 25-year-old Denver mainstay is closing down.

So if you are looking to try something new this year, here are two dramatically different weekend experiences worth checking out: one in Boulder showcases the vibrant musical traditions of Brazil, the other is a uniquely Colorado tradition with a whimsical mix of activities and nearly non-stop local band performances in downtown Carbondale. (And both feature drumming. Intriguing, right?)

Mountain Fair

As a lifelong suburbanite, the thought of heading to the high country to party with locals at the Carbondale Mountain Fair is enchanting. How have I never attended this eclectic gathering that sprouted like a wildflower back in 1971 and blooms again every last weekend of July? The fair was created by the people for the small town once populated by a mix of coal miners, ranchers, ski bums and hippies, and all are welcome — which has been the vibe from the start.

The small town near Aspen has grown exponentially since the 1970s, but retains a spirit of harmony through Mountain Fair with what its artfully designed website describes as a “music, art, pie-bakin’, wood-splittin’, fly-castin’, belly-dancin’, fun-lovin’ festival.” This year, 25 acts with names like “The Nude Party,” “Diggin Dirt” and “La Luz” are scheduled to entertain fair-goers. There’s also a limbo competition, a relay pottery challenge, horseshoe-throwing competitions, plus local food vendors who all abide by a zero-waste policy.

Most impressively, Mountain Fair is put on by roughly 500 volunteers each year, part and parcel of the original vision of collaboration and inclusivity. A few years back, community radio station KDNK interviewed Carbondale’s legendary Laurie Loeb, aka “Mother of the Fair,” about the special alchemy that has persisted despite countless worldly waves of discord.

“The essence of the fair has not changed,” Loeb told the station. “There’s that magnetic quality of the mountain and the confluence of the rivers and the lifestyle here that everybody is here for, and that is what we celebrate. We also celebrate the coming together and the working together to create what this incredible community is.”

Mountain Fair’s beloved opening drum circle began on impulse 30 years ago when a flaming ball of electricity traveled the power lines surrounding Sopris Park, knocking out power to the town. Loeb, a percussionist, ran home and returned with armloads of drums, starting an impromptu drum circle that now kicks off the event each year, setting the tone for crowd participation and a break from division. What more could you want?

Colorado Mountain Fair is July 25-27 in Sopris Park and downtown Carbondale. For the schedule of events and hours, go to carbondalearts.com/mountain-fair.

Freelance writer Kristen Kidd is the marketing and development director at Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison.

Brazil Fest

Fifty-seven years ago, Sérgio Mendes and his band Brasil ‘66 introduced Colorado music lovers to the rhythm of samba and bossa nova in two high-energy performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The genre’s popularity has only amplified since those 1968 concerts.

Colorado is now home to a small but thriving ex-pat community of Brazilians, according to organizer Márcio De Sousa. Boulder is the scene of a growing reunion every summer since 2013 to celebrate the music and introduce more people to Brazilian arts.

The pulsing sounds of Rio and Salvador will fill the streets of Boulder Aug. 7-10 as the annual Colorado Brazil Fest returns, one of the largest such festivals in the United States. Boulder Samba School hosts the four-day festa of live musical performances by local and international artists, dance and drum classes, martial arts demonstrations, and a selection of Brazilian food and drink.

Festivities kick off the evening of Aug. 7 at Roots Music Project with a set from the Gabriel Santiago Project. The Brazil-born Santiago is deft with the seven-string guitar. He posts performances and lessons on his YouTube channel. Gisele Duquè, the group’s singer, offers newcomers an exciting introduction to Brazilian music.

On Aug. 8, Brazil Fest moves to the Pearl Street Mall, where a lineup of artists led by master dancer and Bahia native Dandha da Hora will perform. Boulder Samba School’s drum ensemble, Bateria Alegria, will perform alongside dancers from Escola de Samba Denver and Samba Colorado, and a martial arts show from the United Capoeira Association of Colorado.

Capoeira (pronounced ”kap-oo-WAY-da”) is a playful mix of combat, music, and dance with roots in the traditions of the African people who were enslaved for three centuries in Brazil — the same communities that created samba with drumming and singing in the late 19th century.

Da Hora will entertain again that night, with the Dexter Paine Quintet in a Choro and Forró Dance Night hosted at Junkyard Social Club.

The Boulder Bandshell will be the focal point of the festival on Saturday with a ticketed concert lineup that includes Bateria Alegria and the samba school dancers, the Michele Castro Band, and Colorado Brazil Fest mainstay Ginga. Be on the lookout for Brazilian barbecue and bean stews, sodas made with guaraná, and Caipirinha rum and lime cocktails.

The festival wraps up on Sunday, Aug. 10, with a series of workshops at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

Colorado Brazil Fest is Aug. 7-10 in locations around Boulder. For tickets and the full schedule, go to coloradobrazilfest.org. Junkyard Social Club is at 2525 Frontier Ave.; the Dairy Arts Center is at 2590 Walnut Street.

Freelance writer Ryan Tubbs is a music aficionado and former alt-music DJ at KCSU-FM in Fort Collins.

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Instead of taking place at the National Western Stockyards on Saturday, July 26, and Sunday, July 27, the outdoor music-and-tattoo event has been replaced with a pair of shows featuring some of the fest’s biggest names.

That includes The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Sanguisugabogg, Khemmis and Suicide Cages at Mission Ballroom on July 26, and Power Trip, Gatecreeper, 200 Stab Wounds, Castle Rat and Nailed Shut MA at the Ogden Theatre July 27.

In an Instagram post, organizers blamed the cancelation on “unforeseen events” and specified that the festival was being scuttled “in its current form.” The “extreme music experience” was originally sold with now-absent headliners Lamb of God, Knocked Loose, In This Moment, The Garden, Body Count and others.

It was announced in March with perks such as a craft-beer tasting ticket, and in April added a tattoo experience presented by Ink’d and Amp’d. Tickets started at $75 per day or $125 for the weekend, with VIP weekend passes starting at $390 before fees.

Envisioned as a destination festival, Unhinged was also booked up against the final Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway, which will feature dozens of diverse, local and national indie acts playing multiple stages, July 25-27. While the audiences are largely different for each event, they no doubt overlapped as notable local bands such as Khemmis were also scheduled to play Unhinged.

All festival tickets will be automatically refunded at the original point of purchase, said California-based organizer Brew Ha Ha Productions and promoters AEG Presents Rocky Mountains.

Still happening, at least at the moment: Brew Ha Ha’s also-massive Punk in the Park outdoor festival Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20, at the National Western Stockyards, with headliners Bad Religion, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Streetlight Manifesto and more.

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But which song best represents Colorado? We’ve got our favorites, ranging from local bands like The String Cheese Incident, The Railbenders, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters — who praise the state’s natural beauty and its laidback culture — to folk-rock and country legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Townes Van Zandt.

Newer artists continue to praise the state too, with tracks from Colorado Springs pop-rock juggernaut OneRepublic, and country’s Florida Georgia Line.

Even though Colorado has two official songs, there are more to consider in advance of the state’s sesquisemiquincentennial (or 150th birthday) next year — which coincides with the United States’ own 250th birthday.

Maybe it’s time to add a third?

‘Rocky Mountain High’ by John Denver

The reigning champ of Colorado’s pop-music heritage is this acoustic anthem from late Aspen resident John Denver. Released in 1972, it was first criticized (and in a few cases, embraced) for its ostensibly sly reference to marijuana in the line, “Friends around the campfire, everybody’s high.” Denver denied that was the case.

When it was approved by Colorado lawmakers in 2007 — they even listened to a live performance of the song in the statehouse chamber — Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, tried and failed to amend the resolution to “make it clear that the song refers to Colorado’s altitude and doesn’t encourage drug use.”

“If we don’t like ‘Where the Columbines Grow,’ the legislature should remove it and replace it,” said Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who added at the time that he didn’t think the state should have two songs. (He also admitted he didn’t know the words to the original state song.)

Nevertheless, “Rocky Mountain High” soars on Denver’s silky voice and melodies, and has outlasted its folky, soft-rock trappings to be embraced by a majority of Coloradans, at least according to the legislature.

‘Where the Columbines Grow,’ Arthur J. Fynn

The composer of Colorado’s first state song was a New York-born author and academic who worked his way up from poverty before moving to Central City in 1889 to teach. But “Columbines” wasn’t his only creation, thanks to his poetry and nonfiction books. He was an early expert on Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest, and not exactly a musician, according to University of Colorado’s American Music Research Center.

The Colorado General Assembly adopted “Columbines” as the official state song in 1915, about four years after Fynn composed the melody on a ship returning from Europe, according to Denver Post report. “Like the lyrics of Colorado’s other state anthem … the second verse of Columbines contains an environmental lament,” wrote Rob Natelson, a retired law professor who penned an Independence Institute paper on the song.

The slowly cascading piano melody, and lyrics that include “where the snow peaks gleam in the moonlight,” recall gorgeous vistas and high-country air — “the pioneer land that we love.” Like “Rocky Mountain High,” it’s a stripped-down number that stands on its own thanks to sturdy melody and earnest sentiment.

More iconic songs about Colorado

‘A Mile High in Denver,’ Jimmy Buffett
One of the best-known songs about Colorado’s capital is this 1970 entry from an artist more closely associated with beach culture. “A Mile High in Denver” bounces on folkie acoustic strumming and Buffett’s talk-singing as he shares, “I’m about a mile high in Denver / Where the rock meets timberline / I’ve walked this ground from town to town / Tonight I’ll call it mine.”

‘Boulder to Birmingham,’ Emmylou Harris
How much did country heroine Harris love country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, her one-time partner? “I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham / If I thought I could see your face,” she sings. The tune is from her 1975 album, “Pieces of the Sky,” which came out about a year after Parsons died, but it’s outlived the context to become a mellow heartbreak classic.

‘Get Out of Denver,’ Bob Seger
Predating Hank Williams Jr.’s rambling and cheeky “O.D.’ed in Denver,” which was released in 1979, is this rip-roaring track about evading police in the Mile High City. “Made it to Loveland Pass in under less than half an hour / Lord, it started drizzling and it turned into a thundershower,” sings Seger on this lead-off track from his 1974 album “Seven.” The guitar-ripper bears striking, if entirely self-aware, resemblance to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” which is certainly not a bad thing.

‘Goodbye in Telluride,’ Dierks Bentley
A relatively new entry on this list, Bentley’s 2018 pop-country song joins a long queue of artists praising this gorgeous, tony mountain town known for its film and music events. “No, don’t take me that low when we’re up this high / Don’t you tell me goodbye in Telluride,” sings Bentley, a Telluride resident, over sunny guitar chords and clap-along beats. Tim McGraw, Neil Young, String Cheese Incident, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, and others have also lauded the town in song.

‘San Luis,’ Gregory Alan Isakov
More in the vein of Willie Nelson’s bittersweet “Denver” (from 1975’s “Red Headed Stranger”) than a dust-kicking country-folk banger, “San Luis” —  from the Boulder-based songwriter’s Grammy-nominated 2018 album “Evening Machines” — finds Isakov on a solo road trip through the state’s oldest continually occupied town. It’s hushed, melancholy and rending in all the best ways. “I’m a ghost of you, you’re a ghost of me / A bird’s-eye view of San Luis.”

‘Colorado Girl,’ Townes Van Zandt
Like John Prine and other singer-songwriters who shot out of the late 1960s and early ’70s, folk legend Van Zandt could turn on an emotional dime, with devastating melodies and lyrics that could also be strangely uplifting. The 1969 track “Colorado Girl,” off his self-titled third album, is as plain as can be — just Van Zandt’s vulnerable voice and light, finger-picked guitar — but he covers lots of ground as he fêtes his Colorado girl and laments her absence. “The promise in her smile shames the mountains tall / She can bring the sun to shining / Tell the rain to fall.”

‘Colorado,’ by The Flying Burrito Brothers
These country-rock pioneers wrote this 1971 stunner that “doesn’t just mention Colorado but has some real feeling about Colorado,” as a reader said in an email. He was right: the pedal steel, low-key rhythm section and high, plaintive vocals assert the band as its own entity — minus the towering Gram Parsons. It speaks of heartache and homesickness that reaches a natural conclusion with “Colorado, I wanna come home.”

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“From The Beatles to Wings to solo hits — experience the music that defined decades, live on stage,” tour promoter AEG Presents wrote in a statement about the show.

To make the official announcement, AEG will light up Union Station Friday, July 11, through Sunday, July 13, from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m., “turning the historic façade … into a larger-than-life tribute that celebrates McCartney’s legendary career,” the promoter said.

McCartney last played in Denver in 2010 at Ball Arena (then called the Pepsi Center).

Presale and VIP packages (which include reserved seats, access to McCartney’s soundcheck, “preshow hospitality” and custom merchandise) go on sale Tuesday, July 15, at 10 a.m.; the general sale begins Friday, July 18, at 10 a.m. Get information at paulmccartneygotback.com.

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The band previously performed 42 concert at Dick’s Sports Goods Park in Commerce City over Labor Day weekend before switching this year to the larger Boulder stadium during Independence Day weekend. Phish has two more shows Friday, July 4, and Saturday, July 5.

Even with sold-out tickets and capacity crowds, the math just doesn’t make sense, said nonprofit producer Youth on Record, which has run the festival since 2022 with co-owner Two Parts.

“When you have a cultural legacy like The UMS, people deserve a ceremony of goodbye,” said Jami Duffy, executive director of Youth on Record, which owns a 30% stake in The UMS — as the South Broadway event has long been called.

“We didn’t want to rip something away from people, and then send a sheepish email in September about it,” she said. “We wanted to give them time to celebrate and remember.”

The 25th UMS, scheduled for Friday, July 25 though Sunday, July 27, at venues, clubs and shops along South Broadway in the Baker neighborhood, will feature more than 200 local and national independent acts from diverse backgrounds and genres. That includes All Them Witches, Flyna Boss, DeVotchKa, La Luz, El Ten Eleven, The Velveteers and dozens more.

The event has hosted more than 10,000 performances over the years and had millions of dollars of economic impact along its business corridor, Duffy said, while introducing countless thousands to local and national bands.

She noted the event is ending only “in its current form,” meaning she’s open to another organization restarting some version of it. However, The UMS’s $1.4 million budget is still too much for Youth on Record to sustain, given that the entire organization only has a $2.2 million budget for next year, Duffy said.

“We’re a small independent business, just like any of the ones on South Broadway,” Duffy said. “But the larger question is: how much of economic development in a neighborhood should be on the shoulders of a cultural festival? What’s the role of city and state subsidies? We don’t want to skimp on our mission of supporting up-and-coming artists. Mission costs money.”

With rising costs for security and public safety; artist fees (The UMS prides itself on its high artist pay, Duffy said); pricey permits and weather insurance due to climate change; and other newly urgent issues, it’s just not sustainable, she said. She pointed to a sharp drop in music festivals in the U.S. last year — NPR called 2024 “the year the music festival died” — and noted that 40 or so festivals have been canceled just since the start of 2025.

Event organizers cited similar reasons as Duffy, such as newly high production costs, as well as safety and security concerns. But competition from single concerts, declining ticket sales, and other logistical challenges are weighing on events ranging from Bonnaroo, which was partly canceled this year, to Coachella and Burning Man, which both failed to sell out.

“We’ve poured our love, sweat, and tears into this festival. Year after year, giving it everything we’ve got,” said Casey Berry, co-owner of The UMS, in a statement. “The 25th Anniversary will be no different. No regrets, no pity parties — just a celebration for the ages!”

Duffy hopes that important conversations about music, sustainability and cultural support will continue at this year’s UMS, both during the festival and its Get Loud Music Summit, an industry- and artist-focused event taking place July 25-26. Denver’s music scene has always evolved alongside The UMS, she said, and she doesn’t want to slow anything down.

World-touring, Grammy-nominated act DeVotchKa, one of this year’s UMS headliners, played the second-ever UMS and benefited from Denver’s DIY, underground scene of the early 21st century — of which The UMS was exemplary, said singer Nick Urata.

“I love the full-circle feeling and symmetry of playing the early ones and now this final one,” he said. “We did a lot of slogging and dragging and got a lot of rejections in the early days, and I remember that feeling of playing The UMS and being super excited and super nervous at the same time. Like, ‘This is it! This is our make or break moment!’ ”

Former Denver Post reporter and critic John Moore founded The UMS in 2001 with a quartet of bands at a one-day showcase at the Bluebird Theater. Denver Post pop-music critic and editor Ricardo Baca in 2006 grew it into a South by Southwest-style festival, where one wristband granted entry into multiple venues. (Full disclosure: I helped out that first year on South Broadway.)

“I sympathize because I can’t really know the full weight of economic issues it takes to pull off a fest of this size,” Moore said. “But I do know that we set up a domino and tipped it purely to raise the profile of local bands in Denver. When you think about all of the beautiful memories and performances that happened as a result of that one domino, it’s really overwhelming. I’m grateful to everybody who had anything to do with it.”

Over the years, The UMS evolved under different managers, with the event turning from a shoestring Denver Post production to a nonprofit event of the Denver Post Community Foundation, then a sole production of Two Parts (starting in 2018), and lately, a Youth on Record/Two Parts event.

Executive festival directors and managers such as Moore, Baca, Kendall Smith, Will Dupree and Two Parts have all left their stamp on The UMS, with Youth on Record in emphasizing artist care, sober and all-ages options, an accessibility guide, and other progressive features that are rare at most music events.

Like South by Southwest, The UMS also spun off unofficial day parties that helped birth major Denver acts such as Nathaniel Ratliff and the Night Sweats (Rateliff was a regular solo artist at the fest), while lending credibility to new faces and voices.

“I do think it’s been a perfect evolution, which leads you to go, ‘Well, then why isn’t it working?’ ” Duffy said. “But I also think that’s a sign of the times. The UMS had been able to outrun this tidal wave of music festivals closing everywhere else, until this year. But I 100% am proud of and stand by what we did with it.”

Visit undergroundmusicshowcase.com for this year’s full lineup, venue list and tickets.

Not this year. After 42 concerts at Dick’s, Phish has moved its Colorado visit to this Thursday through Saturday, July 3-5, and, for the first time, switched to Folsom Field at the University of Colorado Boulder. The concerts are now taking place at a much larger venue in a much denser residential and commercial area, something that will present new challenges and opportunities that will only be clear when it’s over, the show’s promoter said.

“There’s always risk involved because we don’t know how it’s going to go,” said Don Strasburg, president of AEG Presents’ Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest regions. “But especially with Phish, they’re a band that takes intentional risks. … It’s akin to going to a sporting event with an amazing quarterback, who might throw the most amazing touchdown of all time.”

Strasburg said the band, its team, and AEG will wait until the first Folsom run has ended to make decisions about a repeat. He declined to comment on a specific reason for the change, saying only that Phish still loves Dick’s, but that the band thought a Folsom run was “worth trying.”

Strasburg has spent decades boosting Phish, which he first booked at the Boulder Theater on April 19, 1990, and has followed closely as a fan and promoter since. Now a worldwide phenomenon that has sold more than 13 million concert tickets, according to Pollstar, and cemented its place among live music’s greatest acts, Phish brings scores of fans and their money with it wherever it tours — for better or worse.

Its annual shows at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park have made that venue its second most-played of all time, trailing only Madison Square Garden, according to phish.net. But Phish hasn’t played Boulder since 1993, despite performing some of its earliest shows in Colorado in 1988 and 1990.

It’s also worth remembering that Phish was unofficially banned from Red Rocks Amphitheatre after a 1996 concert that ended poorly for its host town.

“By the time police donned riot gear and started arresting the band’s fervent fans for overpartying in nearby Morrison, the damage was done,” The Denver Post wrote at the time. “In the midst of what one business owner called ‘an invasion,’ 10 people went to jail, the town was turned upside down and the band was unofficially banned from Red Rocks for a decade.”

Phish returned to Red Rocks in 2009 for a much smoother ride, but has not played the venue since then. The question now is whether Phish can actually pack three nights at Folsom, a much bigger venue with a potential capacity of roughly 50,0000 people per show — compared with Dick’s 24,000 per show.

If Phish doesn’t sell more than 125,000 total tickets in Boulder (compared to 96,000 across four shows at Dick’s), the upgrade may not be worth it, even if fans play nice and infuse Boulder with food, drink and hotel spending while respecting property and public spaces.

“Any time they play a new venue like Folsom, it’s a special occasion for a lot of the phans,” wrote New York City resident Drew Wellin in an email to The Denver Post. He attended Colorado College from 1998 to 2002 and has been watching Phish play live since his first Madison Square Garden show in 1995. That includes “legendary” Colorado sets at McNichols Arena and at Dick’s.

“Nobody knows what to expect — how is the band going to fill this new space? What tricks do they have up their sleeves for us?” he added. “And what is going to happen with the lights?”

Despite the optimism, the University of Colorado’s Athletics Department has in the past been hostile to concerts at Folsom, as have Boulder residents who said they could hear the shows more than three miles away. An “outraged” CU Board of Regents effectively banned rock shows there starting in 1986, after a booming Van Halen concert drew numerous residential complaints.

After only a handful of concerts since then — including a 2001 Dave Matthews Band run that incurred $15,000 in fines for breaking curfew (a common fine for Folsom acts) — Dead and Company helped restart regular shows there in 2016, drawing a relatively older, calmer fan base.

Folsom is well-positioned to monitor and move fans into and out of the venue with ease, given its tested history as CU’s football arena, and as a sporadic venue for big acts. Dead & Company’s July 1-3, 2023, shows nabbed positive reviews from fans after years of consecutive visits. The DJ and producer John Summit is also slated to play there on Oct. 18, although no other shows are currently on the 2025 calendar.

AEG Presents and university officials said they hope to see more concerts at Folsom in 2026.

“Shows of this caliber are monumental for our campus, our community, and our state in that they attract fans from literally all over the world to Boulder,” said Ryan Gottlieb, senior associate athletic director at the University of Colorado. “We’re looking forward to three incredible nights of music under the stars and the majestic Flatirons.”

Folsom has been hosting concerts for more than five decades, including from The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen, Dave Matthews Band, and Odesza. A Phish run will further cement its place as one of Colorado’s top live-music venues, AEG’s Strasburg said. And he predicts many more years of shows there — country artist Tyler Childers performed the first-ever country concert there last year, and there will be more “firsts” around the corner.

Strasburg declined to say how much it cost AEG to rent Folsom over Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, but in 2016 the promoter spent at least $250,000 to rent Folsom for a pair of Dead and Company shows, according to a CU campus spokesman at the time. The CU Athletic Department made $695,373.52 after expenses for the shows on July 2 and 3 that year, including from the stadium rental.

“It’s a very expensive undertaking to put on concerts at this level, whether it’s Red Rocks or Dick’s or Folsom,” Strasburg said. ” … I don’t take anything for granted, but hopefully there will be more next year.”

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