If you live in Denver, then you can basically expect to have concert fomo every night of week. No matter what part of town you live in, there’s nearly a dozen or more shows going on every night. It makes you wonder why the source of technology hasn’t invented a time machine to be able to be in two, three, four, or ten places at once.
Last night, Fort Collins-based rock band Graham Good & The Painters fired up Denver’s intimate Globe Hall with friends Thomas Harpole and Waker. If you didn’t go, then you should definitely expect those fomo feelings to come in after missing an incredible Thursday night show.
Comprised of Graham Good (guitar/vocals), Cameron Collums (bass), Daniel Thompson (keys/organ), Joey LeClerc (saxophone), Zach Rich (trombone/trumpet), and Matt Brown (drums), the energetic six-piece has been on an extensive summer tour, playing sets at May Play Music Festival, Fest of Ale, Mansface Mountain Music Festival, Colfax ArtFest, and ARISE Music Festival, along with dozens of individual headlining shows throughout the Colorado region.
If you haven’t been to Globe Hall, the intimate venue is located right in the artistic RiNo neighborhood. The venue holds about 200 people maximum, meaning you have easy access to their featured BBQ eats and drinks. Beginning at 8 p.m., the night’s festivities began with acoustic roots singer Thomas Harpole. Native to Colorado, Harpole was joined by fellow musicians Tanner Shafer, Jake Ferndstedt, Jonny Branch, and Briana Harris for some added funky flare. Having played only the second time together, Harps & Company played particularly on-point for their 30-minute set, getting the crowd loosey goosey to set the mood for the rest of the night.
Taking the stage at 8:45 p.m., Graham Good & The Painters kicked off their set with their jam tune “Believe In Me.” LeClerc and Rich took over in leading the group in a low outro melody, taking it down to some smooth jazz listening. Graham and Collums strutted down with their guitars and jumped back up in-line with the last lyrical verse. The group went into “Angels,” Graham acting out the break pause with an on-key whistle blow, before going into “Slumber.” The crowd followed along with some hand clapping and the six-piece led everyone into an energized dance party as LeClerc and Rich relayed horn solos off each other.
The band’s slower “Good Things” followed up next, highlighting Good’s soulful vocals over the band’s smooth light backing. Centering around the theme of bringing joy and believing good things are coming in life, the passion shown through in each members’ playing, allowing the room’s positive and uplifting energy to lead the emotional playing through the tune. Picking things back up, the band went into the fan favorite “Mariah.” The love tune struck through the venue as Thompson shot out high electro keys and the room bounced with the band’s playful vibe onstage. With only three songs left in the set, the band kicked things up a notch into a jam-heavy tune, sandwiching in Lipps Inc.’s “Funky Town.” The song took a ride to a slow breakdown featuring an edgy bass solo by Collums, before Thompson took back his electro key work over Graham’s scratchy guitar riffs to end the sequence. Collums formed the foundation of “Reactivate” with some punchy bass lines, before the guys finished off their set with their feel-good “Grow” to send off the crowd in high spirits.
If you have fomo of missing the show, you can catch Graham Good & The Painters at Boulder’s Bohemian Biergarten next Friday, September 20th and at Denver’s Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom on October 26th with Start Making Sense. For a full list of upcoming show dates, head to the band's website.
After a brief set break, Nashville, TN rockers Waker took the stage to round out Thursday night’s musical outing. Comprised of Chase Bader (vocals, acoustic guitar), Conor Kelly (electric guitar), Ryan Ladd (bass), Alex Mathews (saxophone), Ryan McClanahan (percussion), and Dave Czuba (drums), Waker has also been circulating off of festival season, having played sets at both weekends of Electric Forest, Summerfest, Bonnaroo, ACL, Hangout, and Firefly throughout the years and just getting off of a spring tour with funk-pop band Ripe.
Wake definitely “woke up” the crowd with their soulful rock and jam music throughout the night. The addition of percussionist McClanahan certainly gives these guys a one-up and unique added sound to their already eclectic, danceable music. As the third stop on their Fall tour, Waker pleased fans to a rock-filled hour long set. Set in Denver, the band played their popular Colorado-inspired “Pike” as the crowd clapped along and Mathews and Kelly led the bunch with overlapping horn and electric riff melodies. The band is currently in the process of recording a new album due out in February 2020, and treated fans to an unreleased track “Waiting On You,” highlighting Bader’s voice in never-before-heard lyrics. For the rest of their set, Waker played a mix of old and new tunes for their mix of familiar and new faces in the crowd, including their newly released track, “Already On The Ground”, “False Calls,” “Many Days Ahead,” “Blue Sky,” “Lover,” and “Down To The Water.”
In the midst of their Fall tour, Waker will go on to play Chicago’s Schubas Tavern on October 1st and Atlanta’s Aisle 5 on October 11th. For a full list of upcoming tour dates, head to the band’s website.
You can watch Waker's full set at Globe Hall below:
Waker - Globe Hall - 09/12/19
Below, you can check out a full photo gallery of last night's show courtesy of photographer Arthur Spektor.
