For all its noise and fury, The Underground Music Showcase has at all times been a pleasant place.
Colorado’s largest impartial music competition, which returns Friday, July 28, by Sunday, July 30, is a feast for live-music followers, with 200 or so bands enjoying at a dozen indoor and outside South Broadway venues over three days and a whole lot of reveals.
Nevertheless it’s additionally a neighborhood grasp and summer season reunion that previously has hosted acts starting from Denver’s Nathaniel Rateliff and Tennis to indie rock royalty (Actual Property, Blonde Redhead) and trailblazers comparable to N3PTUNE — a wildly magnetic singer, dancer and rapper who is that this yr’s buzziest native artist.
No different Colorado competition provides a platform to so many honest-to-God locals, eschewing dear headliners for numerous pop, indie rock, hip hop, people, salsa and metallic. The idea of neighborhood — so usually touted by most occasions — is evident to see as 10,000 or so individuals line up every day to bop, snigger, occasion and commune below tents and inside native golf equipment and eating places.
“Except for one-off Taylor Swift reveals, we’ve bought the biggest live performance footprint within the state,” mentioned Jami Duffy, government director of the Denver nonprofit Youth on Document, which co-owns The UMS. “However I don’t assume The UMS has cornered the market in a manner that no person else can compete. I believe it’s that it’s costly to do that, there’s quite a lot of unseen infrastructure, and issues now value as a lot as 3 times what they did (pre-pandemic).”
The UMS debuted as a single-day occasion in 2001 from former Denver Put up music author John Moore, celebrating marquee Denver bands comparable to DeVotchKa, Dressy Bessy and Slim Cessna’s Auto Membership. It shortly accelerated right into a national-quality, South by Southwest-style competition due to rebranding and years of labor by previous Denver Put up music critic Ricardo Baca and others who adopted in his footsteps.
Because it developed from a shoestring, nonprofit fest into a significant, annual cultural gathering, it has confronted lots of the similar points through the years as different music festivals — together with the Westword Music Showcase, which this yr went on hiatus for less than the second time since 1995 (the primary being in 2020, resulting from to the pandemic). Westword editor Patty Calhoun mentioned the hiatus was the results of a parking zone scarcity; developments have swallowed up each lot and vacant subject the place the alt-weekly may host an enormous music competition.
Luckily, Youth on Document has each a claw-hold on South Broadway and entry to nonprofit funding — grants, foundations, particular person donations — that enables it to fill gaps and provide an formidable program of young-artist growth and trade conferences (Impression Days) that aligns with YOR’s personal, parallel mission. The UMS, which is co-owned by event-producer Two Elements, final yr paid out $200 per artist, and $400 per band, for a complete of $100,000 pumped into the native music scene.
Roughly half of final yr’s attendees have been first-timers, in accordance with a YOR survey, drawn to the new pavement and sweaty bars by strong sober choices and all-ages insurance policies, knowledgeable seminars and workshops, newly free programming, and overt help for BIPOC, queer and disabled individuals. Eighty p.c of its artists recognized as coming from marginalized communities, in accordance with a YOR Impression Report.
“It’s a competition that’s nonetheless all about discovery,” mentioned Duffy, whose YOR employees booked the competition themselves this yr. “You’re not going to see the identical rotation of bands as at different festivals or any large, out-of-state headliners. However you’ll see essentially the most thrilling native artists on the identical invoice as (acclaimed nationwide acts) Jamila Woods, Emnit Fenn, Crumb, AVIV and Seratones. We’ve hit a candy spot.”
With ticket gross sales up 35% final yr over the earlier one, The UMS has doubled down on its accessibility plans. Parking and public transportation might be difficult for anybody, however a go to to its accessibility information (bit.ly/3qb8wSP) reveals all of the methods individuals can safely get there, how venues have been rated by its accessibility crew, get assist from staffers whenever you want it, and plenty of different detailed, safety-minded data.
The competition and the hip, bustling tradition alongside its South Broadway hall — this yr spanning West fifth Avenue to Alameda Avenue — have grown as one through the years, permitting The UMS to develop a personality of semi-permanence. However with a view to retain its youthful vigor and pleasure of discovery, Duffy has a suggestion: for each band you mark right down to see in your schedule, discover two extra that you just’ve by no means heard of.
“Go see your finest buddy’s band, however go away some room for others,” she mentioned. “As a result of those you’ve by no means heard earlier than will develop into your new favorites.”
Should you go
The 2023 Underground Music Showcase takes place at a number of venues alongside South Broadway in Denver; 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday, July 28, and 1 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, July 29, and Sunday, July 30. Tickets: $50 per day or $120 for weekend passes through tickets.undergroundmusicshowcase.com.
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