Itchy-O (image from ItchyO.com)
On Friday, I got to experience the local Denver band Itchy-O at the 3 Kings Tavern. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. Liv had heard they were a fun show and wanted to go for my birthday. I’m glad we did because it was absolutely amazing!
Although the doors opened at 7pm, Itchy-O wasn’t likely to go on before 11. We wandered around Broadway. At about 11, we went in to the 3 Kings. We placed ourselves at about the center of the standing room only venue while Itchy-O started to setup and the DJ played some music while teaching the kids how to play congas.
The crowd was getting pretty thick when we started hearing drums and synthesizers blaring from behind us. I thought, “Wow, this is cool, they are going to make their way to the stage from the back!” I also worried that we’d be pushed aside during the chaos.
Little did I know how Itchy-O liked to perform. They planted themselves right smack dab in the middle of the crowd. The hypnotic drumming feeding the frenzy of the crowd while other performers walked and danced through the crowd with synthesizers and other instruments.
All of the performers were clad in dark costumes that also concealed their faces. Some wore sombreros and some wore helmets. They were also adorned with blinking and flashing LED lights. A couple of dancers were wearing burka like costumes. But the best had to be the black Chinese lion that danced through the crowd and up on the pool tables.
For about 2 hours straight, Itchy-O played song after song. The entire time they blurred the line between performers and audience. I felt surrounded by music, lights, and dance. It was a sensory overload. They involved the crowd in ways I have never seen before. You could be facing the drummers and rocking to the music when a performer with a synthesizer would bump into you from behind. Or you feel someone jumping and dancing to your side and turn to find out it was an Itchy-O dancer.
At the end of their set, they left the same way they entered. The performers made there way through the crowd and out of the 3 Kings. The crowd dispersed just as rapidly but talking about the amazing performance they just saw. I, for one, had a new band that was added to “my must see again” list.
