Ten minutes before the concert was set to start, there appeared to be only 50 or so people in the backroom concert venue of the Larimer Lounge. The anticipation did not appear to be high as the audience casually chatted with each other and sipped on beer. 

The place was less crowded than a bar on a Monday night, and I worried this might be it for the number of concertgoers. The people in the audience fit the typical earthy, “crunchy” profile, sporting a variety of jean jackets, beanies and nose piercings. 

As Slow Hollows walked in, the crowd tensed in anticipation and I watched from the side. As one of the concert photographers, I watched four awkward young-adult men fiddle with the set. Then, as soon as the band opened up with their song “Dark Comedy” you could feel the excitement being injected into the once placid crowd. The mood instantly changed. 

“[They are] one of the more lively acts that come through here,” said Ezykiel Vigil, a concert photographer who often works with the Larimer Lounge. 

The room had a grungy feel with a faint smell of marijuana and stale beer that lingered. While the concert hall was merely a bar with every inch covered in neon posters and peeling band stickers, the Slow Hollow fans transformed it and invigorated the band. 

The drummer, Jackson Katz, was playing with such intensity, he shattered his drum stick in half, sending small wood chips across the stage. The song then came to a halt as Katz sheepishly asked the audience if any of them had an extra drumstick on them—miraculously, a boy in the front row had an extra and the concert quickly started up again. 

Cassie Wilson, one of the opening acts, known in the music world as Cous, expressed her appreciation for Slow Hollows’ flavor in their live performances. 

“They are the spice masters…keeping it low-fi but also high-fi,” said Wilson. 

Before coming to the concert, I had listened to a few of Slow Hollows’ songs and had not particularly liked any. I am not sure if it was the band’s passion or the energy of the crowd, but I absolutely loved their songs live. 

About halfway through the concert, the band stopped playing and made slightly exasperated banter with the crowd about the altitude. I guess these California boys were not ready to perform above sea level. 

At the end of the concert, the band quickly placed their instruments on the ground and ran offstage, which, in this case, was a door at the back of the stage. Then, as soon as chants of encore started, Slow Hollows quickly reappeared and finished with an aggressive fast song that got the audience jumping. 

As Wilson said, the boy band was definitely the “best of all flavors.”