Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers Concert @ Gothic Denver ~ Awesome Setlist But Weak Sound 02Oct26

Arrive & Dine... Matt, Jim, & I headed to dinner at The Barn South Broadway on our way to the Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers concert at the Gothic Theater in that 'hood. It was fine for pre-game beers and some bar food. We rolled the Porsches on a clear night and parked close to everything for walking. The queue wasn't too big at 7:15pm but was full of fans. Roger Clyne again provided a great show of southwest tunes to an educated and appreciative crowd. We found our way to a good rail spot near center above the mosh pit (or was it good?).

Chris Day Band... Chris Day opened the show with a 45 min set of stuff I'd not heard; he was not dissimilar from Clyne but the sound sucked from the Gothic floor frankly. Boomy and devoid of mid-range, we couldn't understand his songs. We agreed we'd give Roger two songs and move up to the balconies if the situation continued... it did.

Gothic Sound Issues... The Gothic sound has never been my favorite in town and tonight again produced concern. Sure it was loud, my watch said it was a "loud environment" and I was in danger of hearing loss with 10 minutes of exposure. I used my keen  titanium ear plugs (supposedly just reduces dBs but are flat across the spectrum) for much of the Chris Day set. The issue is that the mids are just not sufficient in the mix and the bass and the low-end dominates and make it boomy and unintelligible. I might be resonances as well. Whatever, we moved the the 3rd balcony and stood behind and between the balcony rail folks. They knew something as I could withstand the errors more readily up there. I cuffed my ears to hear the vocals but it was passable and didn't require too much attenuation. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous and pretty intimate place for music ~ but it needs work.

Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers... This band and its predecessors with Roger (The Refreshments) are and have been for 30 years a favorite of mine. Jim has now absorbed some of that enthusiasm and Matt is a flat out fan. Matt & I sang a ton of songs ~ he was 2 yrs old when "Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Bouncy" dropped, but he knew them all; good exposure from dad I suppose, but he did need to adopt it for his own. The show tonight was bookends with some splash. They played a number of cuts from the "original album" FFB&B along with cuts from the latest album "Hell For Breakfast." Roger Clyne is a fine vocalist and decent guitar player, but we come for the decades of southwestern-inspired irreverent song-writing and some searing guitar licks from his lead. The crowd was amazing tonight; at least ~50% of the folks knew most of Clyne's songs and sang and bounced and drove fists in the air with enthusiasm. This was good and our new spot in the balcony was serviceable for audio. So ultimately the setlist was great, and the band's playing was likely excellent, but the sound left us wanting for clarity. Fine night with fam and friends though.