Tons of Westword Music Showcase (WMS) Photos

The 2016 Westword Music Showcase was another killer day in Denver. A ton of local bands played early in the day and national headliners filled the main stage at night. In my opinion, far too many people only show up later and miss some of the best musicians Colorado has to offer, but sadly this year I did not get around to see as many as I would have liked either.

Greeblehaus hosted a pop-up gallery of my concert photos at WMS, so I split my time between photographing and checking in with all the friends who had graciously volunteered to run the booth. We were next door to KTCL Channel 93.3 and right off the second main stage… so we all made many new friends that day, even though we missed out on some of the local talent.

There were some technical issues for locals too, when the power went out on a whole city block and all but shut down several of the WMS venues for several hours. I was happy to catch the SF1 crew, who soldiered on with no electricity and played a full acoustic hip hop and drum set to a completely packed room at City Hall.

As far as those headliners, two of them stole the whole showcase.

First, New Politics had to contend with a quick moving downpour that forced a delay and drenched the stage. Even with water everywhere, they went on and rocked out in their usual style – including David Boyd’s signature breakdancing.

Then… Matt and Kim. Wow. I have seen them before, but maybe I had been drinking idiotic because I was not expecting the two of them to explode like they did. They were an absolute joy to watch (and photograph) and I can’t wait to see them again. The energy, crowd interaction and downright fun they brought to WMS was incredible.

Not to say the other bands were not amazing too.

I have photos from as many as I could get to below, and each killed it in their own way.

---

Concert Photos from 2016 Westword Music Showcase

Click any individual photo for a larger version. Then press your arrow keys to scroll through photos, or the arrow for a slideshow.

888

[envira-gallery id=”12729″]

Allout Helter

[envira-gallery id=”12741″]

Grizfolk

[envira-gallery id=”12750″]

Black Pistol Fire

[envira-gallery id=”12761″]

SF1

[envira-gallery id=”12774″]

The Epilogues

[envira-gallery id=”12779″]

New Politics

[envira-gallery id=”12786″]

Matt and Kim

[envira-gallery id=”12814″]

Cold War Kids

[envira-gallery id=”12896″]

Dillon Francis

[envira-gallery id=”12873″]

---

I’m already excited for 2017, Denver Westword!

Thanks for such a fantastic music festival year after year.