Liquid Stranger in Morrison, Colorado – October 21, 2023

Liquid Stranger headlined Colorado’s most popular venue, Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the first time on Saturday, October 21st. With this brought the first ever debut of “Wakaan Rocks”. On March 27th the artist proudly and officially announced the show on Instagram, welcoming Drinkurwater, Canabliss, Ravenscoon and Tvboo along for the ride.

Ravenscoon

The lines to each entrance into the venue was at least a mile or more long, by the time I had gotten in (getting there at doors) Canabliss was just finishing her set. I heard maybe two and a half songs before she exited the stage and Ravenscoon came on. I had made it into the VIP area just as he finished his second song, not nearly worth it for me to get the last song in the pit. He opened up with deep, heavy bass – the perfect sound to compliment the Wakaan label. His lighting mixed between blue and purple hues with white or pink thrown in here and there. Midway through his set, the crowd illuminated the stands with their phones as they turned on their flashlights for a tribute to his friend Jake while playing a song from his newly released album, “Falling Up”. Ravenscoon later revealed in an Instagram post recapping his Red Rocks experience, that the 21st had actually been the one year anniversary of Jake’s death. Sharing that, he thanked everyone again as he had at the end of his set for the endless support from the community as well as Liquid Stranger. The artist also mentioned that he will be making a return to Denver for a two night show at the Odgen Theatre in 2024 – as well as two shows in September ’24 in Boulder and Fort Collins.

Tvboo

Next up was Tvboo (actually pronounced Taboo) sporting what looked like a freshly trimmed (or maybe just that wild) mullet and wearing a pair of suspenders held up by one side with a pastie on his nipple – not at all out of the norm for him. His energy was so intense, building up the energy and anticipation for Liquid Stranger’s headlining set. He played a couple of his popular songs such as “Skrawberries” and “Bass Music”. Tvboo brought a lot of fun visuals to the set that included South Park, Beavis and Butthead and an interesting array of American flag designs. The best part was definitely the intro (very nicely done Tvboo and perfect for Colorado). Needless to say, Tvboo threw down – so much to the point that if you didn’t know who the headliner was you would have thought it was him.

Liquid Stranger

Now the moment that everyone was waiting for – of course after a half hour break in between, Liquid takes the set. As the stage turns to black and the bass filled the venue, he runs onto the stage and quickly up the small platform that sat a giant outline of the Wakaan symbol with lights lining the top. As the stage re-illuminates, Liquid Stranger stands on the inside of the symbol in front of the decks with his hand up as if he was saying hello to everyone in front of him in the stands. After playing his first song he told the crowd that the night was about being in the moment, sharing good vibes and having a good time. He followed up his set with a very deep bassy and wubby vibe, mixed in with a handful of collabs and mashups. His visuals matched the tone of his set with rainbows of color and detailed patterns with lasers and pyro thrown in from time to time. Liquid Stranger’s energy meshed perfectly with the vibe that the crowd was giving off, which I believe was his exact intention. The crowd ate up his performance and before you knew it the set and the night came to an end. The artist even said, “time goes by when you’re having fun” and how right he was. It had only felt like an hour, his set was so captivating.

Liquid Stranger successfully sold out his first headlining show at Red Rocks, which is no surprise to myself. He’s grown quite the community within the success of his own growth – including his record label and annual festival. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for him and what he’ll bring to his second year headlining the Amphitheatre.