Musings on an Underground Venue

The music industry is a fascinating entity that manifests itself in almost every way imaginable. Musicians are constantly making new art and seeking out ways to present that art to the public. Depending on your standing within the industry at large, (your level of experience, fame and any number of other factors) you will find yourself playing gigs at all kinds of different places and events. A few nights ago I found myself experiencing music in a type of venue I really hadn't experienced before as either an audience member or a performer. I took my first trip to an underground venue.

In my life, I've had my fair share of incredible musical experiences in a wide variety of venues. I've seen noise rock shows at art galleries, funk shows in outdoor amphitheaters, opera at the finest concert halls and intimate acoustic shows in living rooms of all sizes. I've had all kinds of musical experiences, but this underground venue was certainly one of the more exciting places I've seen a show, and for a variety of reasons.

For one, the sheer amount of reckless lawlessness was almost unfathomable. I was easily one of the oldest people there. I saw more high school kids in various states of inebriation than I've seen anywhere. (and I've been to plenty of high school theater parties) No one was making any attempt to hide anything from authorities or keep cautious, discrete, and quiet. Any cop passing buy could have made a months worth of arrests in the parking lot alone. If the place had a maximum occupancy rating I'm sure it was exceeded by at least 3 times. There was absolutely no escape in case of an emergency, the floor was buckling under the weight of dancers and people were climbing in and out of windows instead of fighting their way to the single door.

It was amazing!

The music was also quite good. I had been invited by a young guitarist friend of mine who is always fun to see. It was also my chance to see a Denver band I've been hoping to see for several months. Padding out the insanely packed bill was a wide assortment of hip acts from Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins. Hardly the sort of line up you'd expect from a venue of this stature.

This underground venues seemed to break all the rules it possibly could. No venue in it's right mind would pack in that many spectators and bands, especially not on a weeknight. No normal venue would encourage so much underage drinking and drug use. They shouldn't be able to have a "suggested donation" jar actually bring in a fair amount of cash. No where else have I seen an audience actually shut up and watch artists so intently. Denver and Boulder folks *never* seem to come up to Fort Collins for shows, but these band brought plenty of fans with them. By all rights, some sort of law enforcement should have showed up and shut the place down, but they didn't. Somehow by doing everything wrong, the place couldn't have had more go right.

This post is a bit convoluted. I wish I could come to some sort of conclusion that sums everything up in a neat little package, but I can't. The night was incredible, and I can't really say why. I'm still processing everything that happened and probably will be for some time. In any case, it was certainly a singular experience in my life and one that I will remember forever.