This weekend Denver’s RiNo Art District returns for a second year Velorama Festival: a three day experience combining music, art, cycling and craft brewing.
The second-annual festival serves as the finish line for the Colorado Classic, a four-stage pro-bicycle road race. Here you can enjoy brews and bands post bikes, The event boasts flavors from 13 different local brewers of beer and wine and sounds from artists all over the world. Velorama also offers bites from 16 different food trucks, ranging from pizza and burgers to shaved ice and even two trucks dedicated to creating a menu that caters to a vegan diet like mine. *sighs of happiness*
Moving on to the (more) important part, let’s discuss the music lineup: Modest Mouse, The Growlers, Cold War Kids, Matt and Kim, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, The Kills…For a three-day festival with a ticket price under $150, held in a gangster neighborhood of a rad city…we see you, Velorama.
While the festival was set include names like Vince Staples and Glass Animals, recent adjustments were made to remove both names from the lineup. Vince Staples, 25 year-old rapper from Compton, California is said to have backed out due to scheduling conflicts. A fate much more serious was had by Glass Animals following the recent cycling accident that left drummer Jon Seaward with a broken leg and a collapsed skull, rendering brain damage upon being tangled in a truck’s trailer last month. Seaward is said to make a full recovery, but the band has nonetheless understandably pulled themselves from the Velorama lineup.
Friday August 17th holds Modest Mouse, an indie band from Issaquah, WA, members of who have been making music together for 25 years. 2014 brought together another Friday act, the Colorado local band Slow Caves, providing a unique combination of styles resulting in a overarching indie theme intertwined with a subtle surf-y take on notes of the 80’s.
Saturday’s lineup includes Cold War Kids, a band hailing from Long Beach, CA, whose sound mimics that of Grouplove or Velorama’s Sunday artist, Matt and Kim. The band gives us a contemporary take on a blues-y alternative rock production that you won’t want to miss this weekend (or any weekend.) Following CWK, Velorama gives us all a treat with Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Formed in Boone, North Carolina, RKS offers a sound that cannot be limited by the categorization of genre, and delivers an interactive live performance that will leave you with goosebumps from the get-go. Their instruments extend a sense of rawness that perfectly matches bone-chilling lyrics that seem to be speaking directly to you, whether they’re playing “Devil Like Me,” or “Wasted.”
Matt and Kim are set to steal the show as Sunday’s headliners. The duo, a couple both on and off the stage, began making music in Brooklyn back in 2002. 16 years later they still have our hearts every time they play”Daylight,” a truth that will surely not disappoint this weekend.
For a weekend full of bands, bikes, and brews, check out Velorama Festival this weekend in the Mile High City. Full lineup, schedule, and tickets available here: https://www.veloramafestival.com
