Earlier this month, The Underground Music Showcase (UMS) announced that over 175 bands would grace the three-day music showcase this July 27 to 29. The South Broadway staple, now in its 18th year, is undergoing some big updates with new owners and now new stages and venues.

READ: UMS Announces 175 Bands, Adds Secret Shows, Pop-Ups, Comedy and More

Indoor Venues

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This year’s venues are a solid mix of new additions and staple favorites for the annual festival. Expect your traditional dive bars in the mix alongside breweries, distilleries, coffee shops and restaurants. As provided by Underground Music Showcase, UMS indoor venues this year include Moe’s Original BBQ, Banded Oak Brewing, Baere Brewing Company, Punch Bowl Social, The Hornet, Blue Ice Lounge, South Broadway Christian Church, Metropolis Coffee, Sputnik, Hi-Dive, The Irish Rover, 3 Kings, Ross-Broadway Branch Library, Skylark Lounge, Gary Lee’s Motor Club & Grub and The Denver Distillery.

New Stages


The location of the Imagination Stage

And while the list of the new indoor venues is great — what we’re really excited about are the several new outdoor stages and the return of the main stage to Goodwill. As some may remember, 2017’s main stage was at the K-Mart parking lot on Alameda — which pushed the festival more south and created distance between the main stage and the traditional hustle and bustle of UMS. This year the festival is still expanding its boundaries but is moving north, while filling in the holes with new indoor venues closer to the additional stages. On one end you’ll find the Imagination Stage — sponsored by none other than 303 Magazine. Here you can expect surprise events, immersive art and music experiences and pop-up parties. If you want to be in on the know about this stage, sign up for The Underground to get alerts on the surprise elements.

Down the street, at Fentress Architects’ satellite lot on 4th and Broadway, beer fans will find a particularly exciting addition. Labeled The Sesh Stage, the area will merge the popular beer festival of the same name into UMS by providing low ABV beers from local craft breweries.

READ: Our Favorite Beers from Sesh Fest 2017

“Sesh Fest is one of our favorite events of the summer, and we’ve always dreamed of going bigger with the festival. When we took over UMS, it was a no-brainer to bring the festival into the fold as Sesh Stage. The beauty of Sesh Fest was that it was about hanging with friends and discovering new breweries — rather than nerding out over super rare beer. We’ll carry this vibe into UMS with an area where guests can chill, imbibe with easily drinkable craft beers and discover incredible music in our summer oasis.” – Casey Berry, founder of Two Parts.

The expansion of UMS continues with another new stage featuring comedy at Illegal Pete’s South Broadway. Capping the boundaries of the event just north of Broadway and Alameda, the location will feature a robust schedule of local and a few national acts at its designated tent. Illegal Pete’s, the stage sponsor, also organizes the annual High Plains Comedy festival — making it a solid fit to run the comedy side of UMS.

“Ever since we started High Plains Comedy Festival six years ago, we have been trying to find a cool way to do comedy at UMS and not have it be an afterthought. This year, we are excited to work with UMS and have a comedy tent where locals and a few nationals will get to bring comedy to one of our favorite music festivals,” said Virgil Dickerson, marketing director at Illegal Pete’s.

In addition to the rollout of new stages and additional venues, UMS is announcing its final lineup with 100+ additional acts this Thursday. Three-day passes are currently only $75. Single-day passes are not yet on sale but will be $40.

Go here for tickets to the 2018 Underground Music Showcase. Go here to sign up for The Underground.