Day 24: Denver, CO
Nau mai
Yesterday we played in Denver, Colorado.
I began my day with a breakfast of dinner leftovers from the bus fridge. The leftovers in question had travelled with us from Salt Lake City and were from a Mexican restaurant called Red Iguana that was just a couple of extremely large blocks away from the Metro Music Hall. Puntas De Filete A La Norteña was the name of the dish, sirloin tips sautéed with bacon, jalapeño strips, onions and fresh tomatoes, served atop an almond mole with corn tortillas. I negotiated with the bus microwave and managed to bring this meal to a reasonable heat before consuming.
We were parked on Colfax Avenue, the main street that runs in a perfectly straight line east to west, bisecting the Denver metropolitan area. The dome of the Capitol was peeking above the low-rise buildings a few blocks to our west, and if we headed east for about 12 kilometres, we would find ourselves in the city of Aurora. For a change our venue was outside of the downtown and this was a new area to explore that felt distinctly different to the Denver I was used to. After breakfast I set out for a walk through streets that were suburban, two story bungalows still holding on to their Halloween decorations and berms covered in a thick leaf-fall that you could almost wade through.
I spent some time in Cheesman Park and thoroughly enjoyed this wide open green space with a nice outlook back across the city and on to the distant Rockies. Winter was still yet to set in and it was blissfully warm in the sunshine and refreshingly cool in the shade.
I bumped into Tristan at a vintage store where he was being thoroughly pampered by the staff. Not only had he met somebody else called Tristan (the co-owner of the store) but he had found the shirt of his dreams, a slightly oversized crystal-teal work shirt that they were preparing to alter so he could take it home with him. The fine folks at the Common Collective not only completed their services within the timespan of an afternoon but they came along to the show to deliver the garment in person.
We spent our afternoon and evening in the Ogden Theatre, a building dating back to 1917 that spent the first seventy years of its life as a movie theatre. This was a beautiful old room, the sloping ground floor now converted to standing room and upstairs a wraparound mezzanine with great views down onto the stage. It sounded great too, for a room of this size and stature. The stage felt tight and easily controlled. When I watched Phoebe Rings later on that evening the mix was incredibly clear and detailed in a way that shows just how terrifyingly good that band is.
Our expectation going into a Denver show is that it will be exceptional. We’ve always had great nights in this city and our time in the Ogden Theatre completely lived up to this hype. Feeling slightly hampered by the altitude it felt like we were somewhat more restrained than usual but the music felt great and this crowd brought the energy that makes a great show.
Having a nightcap at the nearby arcade bar.