This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Chipotle Cultivate Festival! It was wicked fun and had great food, a great purpose, and of course GREAT MUSIC!
The Chipotle Cultivate Festival is basically a food, ideas, and music festival put on by the restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill (which started in Denver by the way), to promote sustainable and responsible farming practices. Chipotle as a company buys almost all of their ingredients for their restaurants from their local farms across the country. They never use meats treated with antibiotics and always use vegetables without chemicals. They believe (and I can agree) that their food is not only better for you because of these practices but also tastes more fresh and more flavorful.
As a part of this free event, they offered several 45 minute concerts throughout the day! The lineup was as follows:
Air Dubai
Good Old War
Allen Stone
Blitzen Trapper
Chris Golub
Cold War Kids
Talk about a fun day, right??
Air Dubai
For those of you who do not know, each year Channel 93.3 - Denver's top station for alternative rock - puts on a contest each year called Hometown for the Holidays where local bands from the Denver area can compete for the public's votes to win which earns them a chance to be played on the radio and potentially to be signed with a label! In 2010, Air Dubai earned this honor with their pop-rap style and popping beats. Naturally, they were the opener for the festival celebrating one of Denver's hometown restaurants - Chipotle.
Following Air Dubai, was the folk band Good Old War. Now, I had heard of Good Old War before hand and I was fan, but I didn't really realize how musical this group was until I saw them live. Literally, this band is made up of a single guitar and the vocal chords of three guys. That's it! And yet their sound is so full. They definitely played a solid set. Check out some footage below.
Up next was Allen Stone, a self-proclaimed hippy singer-songwriter with a fun voice and just enough sass and jazz to really uplift a crowd. Unfortunately, I didn't get any footage of his performance but to make up for it, here's his Spotify page.
I'll be honest, I didn't stay to listen to Blitzen Trapper, so I cannot say anything about them other than direct you to their Spotify page, too. And, if you're wondering who Chris Golub is, he is the master behind the curation of the soundtrack you hear at Chipotle's everywhere. I guess you could say that he is Chipotle's own personal DJ. He spun tracks between sets.
Cold War Kids
But the day was not over yet! The headlining band was yet to perform.... COLD WAR KIDS!! All you indie fans out there, try to contain your excitement. They also played a fresh set. Cold War Kids really is that type of music that has just enough sass and edge to make you throw your hands up, close your eyes, and throw a smolder on your face and just move to the beat of the music with edge and a tinge of grit.
Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids
This was somewhat of a short review, but serisouly, if you are in the Denver area, come check out the Chipotle Cultivate Festival next year. They always have great bands (Grouplove played last year....) and I'm sure they won't disappoint next year. The next city the Festival is heading to is Chicago! Check out the lineup here. And man, oh man, it's a good one!
My fellow Coloradans!!! Let's just take a moment to comment on the bipolar patterns of the state in which we live. For those of you who do not know me, I just spent the last month abroad in Taiwan and Hong Kong where typhoon season was in session. Essentially what this means is that it rains all the time.... not necessarily something the average Coloradan is exactly used to seeing on a daily basis. But, upon my return to the 303, you know what I was met with?? That's right!! Daily rain! What is this witchcraft???? Leave for a month and the state suddenly decides to pull a 180 on you and goes from being insanely dry to very wet. But, I can't really complain. I actually love the rain and the perception is good for the state.
By this point you are probably thinking, "Kristina, I came here to read about the Phoenix concert, not get the retro-active weather report." Keep calm. This is why I am telling you: So originally, the illustrious and very French band, Phoenix, was booked to play at Red Rocks Amphitheater, but due to "inclement weather predictions" (emphasis on those quotation marks, please) they moved the venue to the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield. Turns out that the weather would have been just fine, but the show ended up at 1st Bank nonetheless. So much for "Rain or Shine," am I right?
BUT! I must admit that this venue was probably perfect for this show! And, if you keep up with my concert shenanigans, you know that that's a pretty big deal for me to say as I am a mega-Red Rocks fan. But in truth, the 1st Bank Center provided a more intimate and danceable environment for the show. The effects and sound was impeccable and seriously, that party could have gone on all night and no one would complain. More about that in just a moment.
As a fan of indie, up-and-coming, not-so-popular bands, I like to mention the openers on my blog from each show I go to as a form of free promotion and support. However, this opener was flat out terrible. I will venture to write a brief review, but only 4 sentences and nothing more... they were that bad: Usually, I have a fairly open mind about bands that I hear, but Dinosaur Jr. disappointed me. Dinosaur Jr. sounded like a nineties grunge band mixed with the guitar solos of classic rock and the drum riffs of nasty heavy metal.... not a good combo. The wall of sound coming from the stage warranted the action of plugging one's ears accompanied by a cringing facial expression. To complete your mental and auditory sample of their performance, I feel that my friend Parker said it best, "If you have to re-tune your guitar after every song," (and they did), "you are doing something wrong." You can watch some footage I took of their set here if you would like to submit yourself to that kind of discomfort...
Bleh! Just thinking about those 45-60 minutes of my life is enough to make me miserable. Moving on!! The torturous wait was well worth it when Phoenix took the stage around 9pm.
Picture this:
Six men took the stage in two rows on the main platform. Nothing is happening and the only sound is a powerful, building tone. Behind them a wall of LED lights depicts a gradient of color in hues of pink and orange. A giant sunrise is emerging behind them as their silhouettes become more distinct. The sound is rising and the sun has become blindingly bright and....... BAM! The iconic pop of Phoenix's unique sound hits you in the face with the perfect balance and energy you would expect from the French artists and more.
Phoenix was formed in the mid-nineties as a sort of "garage-band" in Versailles, France. The original members of Phoenix include vocalist, Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d'Arcy and guitarist Chris Mazzalai. In 1995, Laurent Brancowitz hopped on board playing guitar, as well. Today, the band consists of the afore mentioned members along with Thomas Hedlund on drums and Jonathan Chavez on percussion.
In 1999, the group was officially dubbed Phoenix and began producing music under their own label, Ghettoblaster, until they were picked up by Source Records (Paris) and began expanding their name and sharing their music through British television appearances and such.
You may remember that I mentioned that this show had to be moved to an indoor venue. You may also remember that I uncharacteristically preferred the 1st Bank Center over Red Rocks for this particular show. And here is why. Phoenix is not a band to really, what I would call, "traditionally work a crowd." I think that the throughout the whole show, they actually spoke to the audience maybe twice. But, here is the great thing about Phoenix! They let their music speak for itself and really engage their audience through intimate guitar solos/duets between sets, not wasting time between songs, and really just knowing how to keep a party going with dance-worthy beats and electronic energy! The atmosphere and standing-room admission that the 1st Bank Center provide really made for a fantastic dance scene and level of intimacy that the distance and amphitheater-style seating that Red Rocks has just wouldn't have been able to compete with, especially considering the nature of their show.
Phoenix performed a number of highlights from their new album, Bankrupt! as well as many of their popular hits from their past albums. Phoenix has somewhat of a "cult following" and a fan base that has loved them from the very beginning. Non-Phoenix fans may claim that all of their songs sound the same, but I think that that is the very thing that makes Phoenix Phoenix. You can count on the solid sythpop/indie rock style to set you up with a funky bass line and a melody that is high, exciting, and energizing. Each song sounds somewhat similar, yet each is highly unique and can pump up a crowd within a few bars of the intro. In addition, I really appreciated Phoenix's solid musicianship and ability to really be able to perform live and sound like what they record on their albums. To me, that speaks volumes to their skill and tells me that they place little reliance on today's sound-altering technology because it is unnecessary.
As I also mentioned before, this concert truly was the party that could have gone on all night. After the show, the band performed a multi-song encore, bringing in a medley of tracks including a slower, solo guitar and vocal number and a freakin' incredible remix of their hit single "If I Ever Feel Better."
To top it off, the show ended with Thomas Mars (vocalist) walking around the arena and through the standing crowd (I was 6 inches away from touching him!) and crowd-surfing back to the stage!
If there was ever a band that still kickin' it and knows how to give a crowd a good show. It's gotta be Phoenix - hands down.
Air Dubai
