Lawrence With Colorado Symphony Concert @ Boetscher Hall ~ Great Band And Awesome 7th Row 18Sep26

Traffic & Nickel Dining... Jim and I headed to downtown DEN in hellish traffic all the way (2:20 door to door). We parked close to the music hall at DPAC and dined before the show at The Nickel. It was a short menu but the food was good ~ we did debate what "compressed" watermelon is after enjoying it.

Lawrence With CO Symphony... I'm a fan of Lawrence and have seen them live before but this was a whole new vibe and format. It was awesome having great center up front reserved seats @ Boetscher, as we didn't have to queue early or wait at the gate. There were no opening acts just the entire Lawrence band with Clyde (vocals & keys) & Gracie (vocals) up front, and 2 saxes, a trumpet, drums, lead guitar, and bass guitar behind, plus the entire Colorado Symphony on stage! They opened playing the entire debut album, Breakfast, in track order, backed by the orchestra... it was excellent. Though, I did have to cup my ears to amplify the vocals some - Boetscher's main speakers suspended high above shot right over my head; we were too close. They took an brief intermission after Breakfast, and returned with some more recent stuff. 

Closing & Setlist... They closed with Clyde asking parts of the audience to join singing the melody & harmony of "Don't Lose Sight" with the parts of the symphony ~ eldest siblings went first with melody with the strings; youngest went next with harmony and the horns; middle kids & only kids went with percussion on 2nd harmony. Cool. After the show I asked Gracie to give me her setlist, which was hard-taped to the stage, and she did. I didn't have a Sharpie for the autograph but still, that was cool.

Welles & Ratboys Concert @ Dillon Amp ~ Great Show On A Nice Night 15Aug26

The bands were fabulous on a clear and beautiful evening in Summit. I started well as I was 5th in the queue to enter and met some fine folks while we waited. Very oddly though, once in early after grabbing a center seat in front of the sound man as typical, an older woman came and blasphemously berated me for a couple of minutes ~ she was tired of white guys seemingly. I looked to her team of a half doz who shook heads and shrugged. I moved away back a row and it didn't reoccur. 

The Ratboys appeared on time to open the show. They're an indie rock band from Chicago whom I've followed for a while. Plenty of touring live content from radio studios. They are fronted by Julia Steiner on lead vocals and flying V rhythm, with searing playing at lead from her partner, Dave Sagan. I bought tix to this show mainly to see the Ratboys. The entire band is rock solid and their set was excellent. They played a lot from the latest album, their 6th, 'Singing To An Empty Chair' ~ I especially wanted to hear their recent protest song "Burn It Down" and they played it, with some regular encouragement from me. I'm really glad I came out again to the Dillon Amp ~ sound and performance were great.

Jesse Welles was not known well to me but now I am a fan. The Ozark kid opened solo on acoustic and vocals with 5 great songs. Dylan/Prine-like social observations and protests... his voice is fine but his songwriting is next level. Then the entire Welles band came out and he continued the vein on rock & roll electric arrangements. It was very good.

I made some friends in the crowd... great show with new friends.

Sierra Ferrell Concert @ Dillon Amp ~ Stellar Despite The Rain 11Aug26

Steve, Bob, and I headed to Dillon Amp to queue early for the Sierra Ferrell concert; we wanted position A seats in front of the sound man. 90 min before doors maybe part of the price for GA these days but it's tougher in the rain. Nonetheless, we were 6th in line and nearly assured of great spots for this sold out show.

The VIP doors opened at 5pm and we entered @ 5:30, but our ticket was 1/3 the price of VIP... NP. We got the spot we wanted just in front of the sound man 10 rows above the mosh pit. We mostly prepared for rain and howdy did we get it. Bro Brown had to dispatch to buy a poncho though. We grabbed nosh & brews and settled in for the show.

Aurelia Anne Cohen... First up was Aurelia, a self-taught country and Irish singer/songwriter. She was good/interesting with Irish-derived tunes, despite the country gal outfit. Cool resonator & accordion artist. Not much rain yet, but it was threatening.

Brudi Brothers... Next to stage were the primary current touring partners with Sierra, the Brudi Bros. These guys were fine harmonizers, good instrumentalists, and a fun primarily country/Americana band from Seattle... far from grunge. As their set finished the rains came and rarely let up ~ Steve had to buy a poncho but Bob and I donned my raincoats.

Sierra Ferrell... We came to see Sierra and her band, and everyone else did too... it was SRO the rest of the concert. The crowd was filled with women in unusual garb, and flowers abounded. As always we expected a unique outfit from Sierra and she didn't disappoint in pretty white dress with feathers and sequins, with 6" white heels. The show and Dillon Amp sound was stellar start to finish ~ studio album hits had added transition and sections for the concert that were cool. She played stuff from across her repertoire including recent Grammy offers. For one she was joined for 4 part harmonies by the Brudi Bros. The band, as ever, played tight, and the lead & mandolin dealt nice callback and harmonies many times. Sierra herself was, also as always, a great showman and bandleader, with great songs and a powerful voice (for dB and for good in the world).

 

Great show enjoyed with great friends. Thanks for coming out in the inclement climes.

Mayflower Gulch & Gold Hill Trundle ~ Then Keen 1st Fri Festival In Silverthorne 07Aug26

Gold Hill... Jim, Steve, and I started the day driving past Copper toward Fremont Pass and grabbed a lucky, recently vacated, parking spot at the Mayflower Gulch TH. We hiked straight up the rocky road, oddly closed this season... it was our plan all along but odd. The cirque of the Pacific Crest and surrounding ridgeline is spectacular, and dotted with mining remnants. Yet, we had more in mind and headed up to acquire the Gold Hill ridgeline. We then looped back to the car across the ridge and through a couple of lesser known turns right to get us back to Mayflower Gulch. Yoho found an AirBnB along the route back. The weather and friends offered a great moderate hike. After the hike we hit Thirsty Pika for a second chance... hmmm.

1st Friday... we returned to Eagles Nest and rested in the afternoon some. Then we hit the monthly 1st Friday gathering in Silverthorne in late afternoon - and stayed all night. We wisely rode public transportation, which in Summit Co is excellent. This was the biggest 1st Friday event I'd every seen/heard. We saw 13 bands on 6 stages and drank discounted beers due to Brown bringing us reusable 1st Friday cups from prior outings. There were art booths all around us to boot. It was awesome. We found out what Cody, prior owner of Baker's Brewery, is doing ~ playing bass for Obnoxious Weeds! Our favored band, whom I blind picked to see from their name alone, was the Pinheads, a local SKA band. There were many alternative genres represented and most all the bands were locals ~ I didn't get every artist's pic clean but I did get quite a few. We capped the night at Angry James and had some food from Mountain Melt, along with a night cap. 

Remezcla ~ Latin vibes...

Obnoxious Weeds ~ metal...

Jeff Kingery ~ good voice, presence, and covers...

Chris Bauer Band ~ rock & blues; a bit thumpy in the alcove...

Beau Thomas ~ local prolific artist with sweet voice...

Frisco Funk Collective ~ uh, funk; very fun...

Earl Clairmont & The Pinheads ~ SKA; excellent tunes & good show...

Pluck Norris ~ string band sounds...

Old Herman ~ indeed & we loved his covers...