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PETER ANSPACH OF GOOSE FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6 PROBCAUSE SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7 BIG RICHARD & DELLA MAE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 12 GHOSTFACE KILLAH FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13 TAIKI NULIGHT SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14 DUMPSTAPHUNK TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17 FOX STEVENSON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 SUNNY RAVE SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21 SWIMMING PAUL WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25 CHAD GOES DEEP THURSDAY & FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26-27 WHETHAN SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28 JKYL & HYDE SATURDAY MARCH 7 ALEXANDER STEWART & NATALIE JANE MONDAY MARCH 9 REDVEIL TUESDAY MARCH 10 ROB ANDERSON FRIDAY MARCH 13 LAZY SYRUP ORCHESTRA SOLD OUT! SOLD OUT! SOLD OUT! away. But King Gizz underscored how its fans are more like family, dedicating a song to him and his family at the end of the festival. Field of Vision will return from August 14-16, 2026. Nightclubs Close, and Another Opens This year saw the closure of several down- town nightclubs. Status Ultra Lounge had opened on New Year’s Eve 2022 at 1822 Blake Street, which previously housed the short- lived gay nightclub Sir. In late November, Den- ver declared the nightclub a “public nuisance,” citing “unlawful use, fi ring, or discharging of any fi rearm”; it has a January 9 hearing with the city to argue why its license should not be suspended or revoked altogether. Riot House shut down in early December, but not because of any order from the city. The nightclub, which was located at 1920 Market Street, where The Real World: Denver was set almost two decades ago, had opened on New Year’s Eve 2023, and was a project of Riot Hos- pitality Group, Monfort Companies and MAR Ventures, the same entities that partnered to open Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row at 1946 Market Street on New Year’s Eve 2021. La Diabla, a Latin nightclub at 1512 Curtis Street, closed last summer. But a new night- club soon entered the scene: XSO Night- club, which opened in Denver Pavilions in October. Co-owner Ventura Morales, whose family is behind 3 Margaritas, put a lot of focus into the club’s sound system and high-end aesthetic. “Our vision is to become Colorado’s best nightclub,” Morales told us, “and to try to make it a place where, if you visit Denver, you have to go to XSO.” The Loss of Colorado Music Legends The state lost some real music icons this year. Jill Sobule, who wrote such successful songs as “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel” (which made it to the Clueless soundtrack), was killed in a house fi re the day before she was slated to play a show at Swallow Hill Music. The event instead turned into an informal memorial for the artist, who was born and raised in Denver, then headed to New York City to pursue her music career. The loss of legendary jazz bassist Charles Burrell on June 17 was also deeply felt. Known as the Jackie Robinson of classical music for breaking the color barrier in the Denver Symphony Orchestra in 1949, he was 104 years old when he passed. As the house bassist at the Rossonian in Five Points decades earlier, he collaborated with such greats as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, as well as and instrumen- talists Charlie Parker, Gene Harris and Ben Webster, among many others. Burrell’s cousin, Purnell Steen, another revered jazz performer, passed away in No- vember. As leader of the Five Points Ambas- sadors, he was a staple of the Denver jazz scene for decades, and spoke with us about Five Points’ rich history in February. He’d also made a mark as a civil-rights activist, meeting with Robert F. Kennedy when he was attorney general and attending Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. They’ll all be missed. Email the author at [email protected]. Music continued from page 19
