Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest is free and chock full of great touring bands and local musicians alike. And best of all, it’s right outside our door.
While navigating the 250 artisan and food vendor booths at NewWestFest is easy, picking your way through the more than 75 bands scheduled across the festival’s six stages Aug. 11-13 can be a little intimidating. With a great set of national headliners (including Cake and Leftover Salmon!) here are CooperSmith’s picks for local bands to check out this weekend:
- The Holler! (Bluegrass): Michael Kirkpatrick’s guitar licks, if not his name, are known to many fans of Fort Collins Americana. Delivering an idiosyncratic mix of traditional bluegrass, folk and rock, Kirkpatrick leads The Holler! to get Friday happy hour in Old Town Fort Collins off to a rollicking start. (Aug. 11, 6:05, Mountain Avenue Stage)
- Nadalands (Indie): There’s a downer at every festival, and this year it’s Nadalands. Led by singer-songwriter John Lidenbaum, the trio explores songs about death, environmental catastrophe and various forms of apocalypse. It’s not all doom, though, as a jangly 12-string guitar and solid foundation in pop songwriting helps coat the tunes with a shimmer not too far removed from The Smiths. (Aug. 12, 1 p.m., Singer-Songwriter Stage)
- Slim Cessna’s Auto Club (Country): Saying this Denver band is a Colorado legend is, quite simply, not hyperbole. Since 1992, the band’s blend of traditional country, dark overtones and backwoods themes has made it the international standard-bearer for alt-country’s creepiest subgenre, southern gothic. (4:40, Aug. 12, Library Park Stage)
- Mama Lenny & the Remedy (R&B/Rock): Fort Collins’ champion of fun-time concerts, Mamma Lenny and the Remedy chop up soul, funk, R&B and blues for a sound engineered to get crowds dancing. At the heart of the show, Laniece Schleicher’s soul-shouting vocals give just about anyone a reason to dance. (Aug. 12, 3:50, Linden Street Stage)
- The Violet Tides (Rock/Pop): With the sultry high-polish pop sheen that’s helped them earn inroads into Colorado radio, The Violet Tides wrap up everything from mid-’00s radio-emo darkness to a touch of new wave quirkiness. Poised as one of Northern Colorado’s up and comers, it’s a great time to get in on the ground floor. (Aug. 13, 11 a.m., Library Park Stage)
- The Flobots (Hip-Hop): Bursting out of Denver and onto pretty much every radio in the nation with “Handlebars” in 2008 which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, the outfit places as much emphasis on personal accountability and progressive politics as delivering beats. Championing positivity over partisanship, Flobots cultivate a culture of personal activism. (Aug. 13, 3:25, Mountain Avenue Stage)
Listening to all that great music can whip up a heck of a thirst or an appetite. We’ll be open all weekend to help accommodate your appetites!