Underground Music Showcase is ready for a new chapter in RiNo

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if the pulse on the Underground Music Showcase (UMS) had stopped — but a quick breath from local partners kept it alive, ensuring the festival’s heart never skipped a beat.

Despite a scary few months regarding the festival’s future after its 25-year run on South Broadway, the three-day event will continue in the RiNo Art District from July 24-26, with organizers attempting to maintain the down-to-Denver style the showcase had (kinda) kept throughout its run.

UMS LLC announced right before the 25th-annual showcase last year that there was not enough funding to continue supporting the festival’s $1.4 million budget. That LLC was created by the nonprofit organization Youth on Record and the for-profit marketing agency Two Parts in 2021, after Two Parts purchased the festival from the Denver Post Community Foundation in 2018.

Youth on Record dropped out as a partner, and Two Parts sat on the concept, waiting for something to shake loose. The RiNo BID Board eventually stepped in and approved a memorandum of understanding in February. The deal is simple: the BID owns a 50% stake in UMS and will serve as the presenting sponsor for at least three years. This all plays to the tune of the BID investing $250,000 annually.

“I think a lot of people assume that we kind of did the sellout thing or the corporate route, but it really is almost anti that,” says Keanan Stoner, CEO of Two Parts and director of the new UMS. “We needed some help. We needed a bit of a lifeline, and, luckily, the BID was a perfect match.”

New digs

UMS’s longstanding Broadway iterations often involved more than 200 bands (both local and national) across four outdoor stages and multiple indoor venues throughout a nearly one-mile stretch in the Baker neighborhood. The new RiNo version will maintain the same archetype, with around 180 bands playing across nine indoor venues and two outdoor stages on Larimer Street between 24th and 32nd streets.

Organizers promise that the new iteration will maintain the same local aesthetic once formulated by then-Denver Post reporters John Moore and Ricardo Baca in 2001, when UMS rose out of a yearly poll for the best Denver bands.

“We knew we wanted it to be fairly recognizable to what it has been in the past,” Stoner says.

The difference is in the BID itself, with the district’s group of restaurants, bars and shops now direct shareholders of the festival.

“The property and business owners, the residents, the apartments that we’ve spoken to, people are thrilled. People here know about UMS’s history,” says Terry Madeksza, executive director of the RiNo BID. “They’re excited to see people on our sidewalks walking in and out of our businesses, seeing energy, seeing vibrancy.”

This collective response includes shows at such Denver staples as Ratio Beerworks, Improper City and Larimer Lounge. Other local businesses will also be putting together shopping and eating promos during the event, all of which can be found on the festival’s official app. Hotels are holding special rates, and non-venues are holding after parties.

Oh, and shows will be held at Two Moons Music Hall, despite it officially closing last month.

RiNo “has this bloodline of live music and creativity and artist expression,” Stoner says. “It’s known as a creative district. It’s known as the home for a lot of artists. It’s home to a lot of some of the oldest original independent venues, some crazy lore of warehouse parties and raves and things that happened in the district way back in the day.”

Of course, business owners are excited about an increase in foot traffic, but what about the artists themselves?

“It feels good to be part of this ‘first year back in a new way’ kind of thing,” says local singer-songwriter Areymá. “It is this new iteration of it, but it is also something that has this long-lasting legacy in the city.”

“It makes sense to shake up things in a new location,” Celesté Martinez, singer of Denver Latin feminist punk tour-de-force Soy Celesté, says of their fifth year playing the festival. “Having a different partner might give Two Parts more agility. It’s been a hard time for music festivals.”

Martinez adds that she has spoken to older artists who said part of the greatness of the old UMS was helping out local businesses.

“I’m just curious of what else I will learn about RiNo Arts District,” she says. “Every neighborhood has changed so drastically since I moved here 15 years ago.”

The bronco in the room

Areymá will be making her UMS debut in 2026, bringing her eclectic mix of bedroom pop and heart-wrenching R&B to Finn’s Manor on July 26. But that’s not her only gig: Areymá will also be playing at The Saint Mary on July 25 as part of Blucifer’s First Rodeo, the scrappy music festival that just happened to choose the last weekend of July in UMS’s old stomping grounds.

It’s impossible to discuss UMS’s evolution into RiNo without pointing out the local-bands-only event attempting to take its place on South Broadway the very same weekend, though the organizers said in a social media post that they are “too busy to worry about being ‘anti’ any other festival.”

UMS, too, started as a collection of local bands handpicked by 25 local-music experts in the aforementioned Denver Post poll. Now, it features artists from around the nation, such as headliners 54 Ultra from New Jersey and Slenderbodies from California, though Stoner says the festival still includes a collection of bands that highlight the state.

“We got to carry the torch,” he says. “This is still really important that most of our lineup is local bands that we intend to create discovery around and we intend to pay fairly.”

But with weekend passes for UMS starting at $120 and Blucifer tickets around $69, concertgoers will likely have to pick and choose where they end up.

Stoner says that he wants all ships to rise, but would like to convene with Blucifer organizers to see how they can come across as unified rather than competing.

“I think there is definitely a little bit of disappointment that it’s the same weekend,” he says. “I just don’t know that that really helps anybody generally. But the fact that live music will exist both in RiNo and on Broadway for the foreseeable future is great and something that we respect and support.”

Artists love it, though. It’s more opportunity for people to see new bands and parts of the city.

“Our music scene is all over the city. It’s not just concentrated once a year on South Broadway,” Martinez says, adding that she loves to see festivals spreading across the city and bringing attention to little-known places. “There are quite a few venues in the northern part of the city.”

“I think that they’re both serving their own purpose,” Areymá says. “I don’t see it as a competition. I see it as living in a city that has this much music that they can do two huge things within the same few days.”

Either way, both the BID and UMS expect the festival to live on in RiNo, especially with more time to plan for next year.

“We want to see all areas of RiNo touched by UMS,” Madeksza says. “We want to see as many businesses that want to participate being able to participate, and we want to see Denver highlighted as a music city. That’s going to take growth.”

Get tickets to UMS, July 24-26, at undergroundmusicshowcase.com.