By Kyle Harris, Denverite | The Underground Music Showcase’s 25th anniversary edition could be its last as a summertime, weekend-long festival on South Broadway. Continuing with the event as it exists is not sustainable, said Jami Duffy, head of Youth on Record, the nonprofit that co-owns UMS with the event production company Two Parts.
“What’s happening in the future remains to be seen,” Duffy said. “We don’t know exactly what the future of UMS is, but we do know that it will look different.”
It likely won’t be a weekend-long music festival — and maybe not a music festival at all.
The Underground Music Showcase’s 25th anniversary edition could be its last as a summertime, weekend-long festival on South Broadway.
Continuing with the event as it exists is not sustainable, said Jami Duffy, head of Youth on Record, the nonprofit that co-owns UMS with the event production company Two Parts.
“What’s happening in the future remains to be seen,” Duffy said. “We don’t know exactly what the future of UMS is, but we do know that it will look different.”
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UMS is not alone
NPR described 2024 as “the year music festivals died.”
Westword Music Showcase, the Five Points Jazz Festival and the Juneteenth Fest have all been scaled back or outright canceled.
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Read more of the demise here:
https://denverite.com/2025/07/01/underground-music-showcase-future-uncertain/
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
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Fans, Businesses Call Underground Music Showcase Shutdown ‘a huge blow’ to Denver Music Scene
KMGH Denver
Video story: Denver7 spoke with the festival’s co-manager, co-founder, and a Broadway business owner about how the decision will reverberate across Denver’s indie music scene and business community.
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Colorado’s Largest Independent Music Festival to End After 25 Years
By Brooke Williams, KDVR Denver
The largest and longest-running independent music festival in Colorado announced Tuesday that this year’s event will be its last.
One last time, the Underground Music Showcase will give talented artists a chance to take the stage in front of the Denver community for the 25th year this July 25-27.
What started as a handful of bands and a few dozen fans in a dive bar basement has pressed on over the last quarter of a century with its mission of making space for Colorado’s music scene to grow.
UMS said in a press release that this year’s showcase will be the last, “at least in its current form.”
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Read the full story here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/colorado-s-largest-independent-music-festival-to-end-after-25-years/