This week I’m dropping by the Mile High Music Festival in Denver, Colorado. Headliners include Tool, Widespread Panic, and Ben Harper, but here are the bands that I’m most excited to see at Dicks Sporting Goods Field.
1.Rocco DeLuca and The Burden: This guy has talent. He’s a new find for me, and I dig what I’ve heard so far. Plus, his voice will make you melt in your Chucks. He’s going to gain loads of new fans at Mile High.Deluca uses the Dobro steel guitar, which makes his performances unique — makes me think of a cross between Denali and Dredge mixed with some M. Ward. I haven’t figured out why the band calls themselves The Burden but I will be there to find out.See them on the Rhapsody Tent at 1:15 pm on Saturday July 18th.
2.India.Arie: 3 million albums and the only other solo female artist after Diana Ross to have earned a #1 Billboard 200 album. I was so happy to hear that India.Arie is back touring the country. And even more ecstatic that she’s in the Mile High lineup.Catch her set at the FirstBank Stage at 7:30 on Saturday.
3.Dead Confederate: If I had to pick only one performance, it would be this one, just to see if Dead Confederate lives up to the hype heaped onto them by the music gurus. These guys have been compared to bands like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses.And while those are some of my favorites, Dead Confederate have a sound all their own. Imagine southern rock with a new age grunge twist. Songs range from slow ballads that make the backstage lovelies sway to darker songs that rile up the dirtbag headbangers in the front row.Watch them at the Westword Tent at 1:30 pm on Sunday