Font ResizeThere are two big questions locals are asking this week: What costume are you wearing for Halloween and what concerts are you going to be checking out?
The Boulder and Denver venues booked well-known local and national acts to spice up their Halloween shows, and DeVotchKa, Bassnectar and The Motet have brewed up some extra fun for their Colorado fans.
DeVotchKa
DeVotchKa always provides an aura of mystery within its songs, and the Colorado band uses that ambience to put on eerily good Halloween shows.
This year, DeVotchKa's playing concerts tonight and Saturday at the Boulder Theater. No doubt, the band has a few Halloween tricks and treats up its sleeve.
The group's had a very busy 2009. DeVotchKa opened a summer tour for David Byrne, and band leader Nick Urata composed the score for Jim Carrey's new movie, "I Love You Phillip Morris."
DeVotchka's now ready to play Colorado.
"We've had an interesting summer," Urata said. "We traveled all over Europe and played many festivals. We also got to tour with David Byrne, and that was an honor. He was really easy to talk to and we got along great with his band.
"We were also asked to do 'Everything's Got 'Em' for the Songs From the Point CD. It was Harry Nilsson's music and it was a challenge for us. We were going through our Bollywood phase, so we just went with that style for the song."
DeVotchKa's travels to Spain really influenced the band, so the local outfit is incorporating a bullfighting theme into this year's
"Halloween is my favorite holiday," Urata said. "We are a dark bunch, so we wanted to do a Spanish bullfight, but one where the bull wins!
"I always thought of Halloween as the one night where you could really face your own mortality -- and that makes you want to suck in as much life as possible. I love that everyone loses their earthly inhibitions and that makes us want to play great music."
Saturday's concert is sold out, but tickets remain available for tonight's show.
Bassnectar
Halloween lends itself to strangely experimental music, and Bassnectar is definitely the mad scientist of the electro music world.
Saturday, the mixmaster will show off tunes from his new CD, Cozza Frenzy, at Denver's Fillmore Auditorium.
"The new CD is for fans of my music," Bassnectar said. "It's something that can be referenced, revisited, re-mixed, re-explored and remembered at the ever-developing live shows.
"After three years of nonstop touring, I had amassed an indecent amount of material, so I chose 15 distinct pieces that were all well-rounded for this CD. I didn't want to make something all dubstep, glitch-hop, dirty, pretty serious or playful -- so this is absurdly kaleidoscopic."
Bassnectar's planning to show off his new experimentations on Halloween.
"I don't give a damn about the holiday, but Halloween seems to be a pinnacle for when people freak out -- and I love when people freak out," Bassnectar said. "I love studying how people interact with themselves and each other, when they're being hit by an onslaught of sound waves.
"You'll have to wait and see what special effects I have planned for Halloween. There will be 4,000 completely unique creatures in that building -- and we're all going to 'drink the same punch' sonically."
Fox Theatre
The Fox Theatre decided to throw a full week of Halloween parties.
The club hosts reggae star Julian Marley for tonight's pre-Halloween party, and Saturday the venue presents rapper Ghostface Killah for its official Halloween concert.
"We decide to run the gamut and pull off a variety of different shows this year," Fox publicist
"With everything going on outside, the Fox will also be a nice, safe place to celebrate Halloween this year."
More Halloween shows
The University of Colorado Program Council's hosting a free Homecoming/Halloween show with Tapes 'n Tapes at the Glenn Miller Ballroom tonight.
The b.side lounge is hosting a DJ Halloween party with the Black Bridge Crew on Saturday.
And in Denver on Saturday, Meese rocks the Gothic Theatre, Nashville Pussy plays the Bluebird Theater, The Sounds visit the Ogden Theatre and Jason Isbell headlines the Larimer Lounge.
