Will Wood preforming at the Paramount Theatre
About a month ago, the Managing Editor went to three concerts within the span of a week and a half. This was not intentional, albeit not unwelcome. Below, a series of three brief reviews, considering the highlights of each concert and each venue.
August 20th: Will Wood’s Ten-Year Anniversary Tour, The Paramount Theatre, Denver
Will Wood has an electric way about everything he does. His piano playing, lyrical diction, and overall musical prowess is impressive enough on its own, not to mention stage presence. At times, the concert felt more like a stand-up comedy show—the performance was broken up by several spoken interludes, in which he would recount a unique story from his life in the hopes that, by the end of the tour, he might finally have the whole story figured out.
Fish in a Birdcage complemented Will Wood as the opener. He started his career as a street musician, which was made evidently clear with the way he was able to so seamlessly perform with guitar, percussion and voice simultaneously.
The Paramount was wonderful; great seats, beautiful theatre, and good sound inside. It’s a larger venue than the other two concerts, but it never felt too crowded—just get to the merch line early, or the concert might end before you make it to the front.
August 29th: Sound Tribe Sector 9 – Boulder Theatre, Boulder
Sound Tribe Sector 9 was an all-around fascinating experience. The author, prior to this point, has had little to no experience in live EDM music, so they weren’t entirely sure what to expect. In the end, the most memorable part of the concert was the insanely choreographed light show in sync with the music. The lights acted almost as an additional instrument, changing tempo, pattern and hue perfectly in time with the three hours of unbroken playing from the musicians.
A personal note: the Managing Editor’s mother convinced them to come with her after discovering that the percussionist of the band was in her high school band class.
Boulder Theatre has a seated mezzanine level and a standing-room only main floor, although there was not much room to stand at the completely sold-out concert. This was music to drink, dance, and party to, and Boulder seems to be the perfect host for that kind of behavior. The writer left after about an hour and a half, but had a good time overall.
August 30th: Bug Hunter and the Narcissist Cookbook, The O Theatre, Denver
The tickets for this show were impulse purchased about a day beforehand for less than forty dollars. It was absolutely worth it. The Narcissist Cookbook and Bug Hunter currently have a podcast together named “Jam Mechanics,” in which they each make a song demo based off a prompt in the span of three hours.
Denver was the final stop in their US tour, and the largest venue they’ve played at. At the concert, the two bands acted as each other’s opening acts – they alternated sets, then sang a final small set together featuring music from the Jam Mechanics podcast. They were both incredible. Narcissist Cookbook started the night strong with his spoken word, clever wordplay and insanely talented guitar riffs, and Bug Hunter followed suit with his consistently endearing lyrics and compelling story. Bug Hunter’s father (Papa Bug) accompanied them on their tour as well, acting as an emcee, entertainer, and teller of cheesy dad jokes from one act to the next.
The night ended in chaos, with a seven-minute-long rant from the Narcissist Cookbook to convince the entire audience to put their entire heart into yelling “SWALLOW MY BALLS” in reference to his song about Cthulhu. It was amazing.
The O Theatre is only about fifteen minutes away from campus, and it is a beautiful venue. Standing room only, but a larger space with a bar and a small upper balcony. Like the other two concert venues, the O is a historic building with intricate paintings and carvings from floor to ceiling. The sound quality was perfect (and not too loud, even when standing right in front of the speakers).
It’s inspiring to see so many talented bands in Denver or otherwise within driving distance. Whether standing room only or a larger, seated venue, EDM, psychedelic folk-rock, or angry pop ballads about Cthulhu, experiencing live music with friends and family is an unforgettable experience.