Milo Greene at the Larimer Lounge

photos by Thomas Peipert

A night before opening for Civil Wars, Milo Greene visited the Larimer Lounge on Tuesday to play their first-ever show in Denver.

The band's album won't be available til July, but they brought along 2-song EPs, posters and T-shirts to sell. The beauty of Milo Greene is in the (mostly) acoustic instruments, banjo picking, and tight harmonies.

 

The small room was a great place to see these multi-instrumentalists up close and hear everything with clarity.






In a rare appearance, Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth (with Hayley from Snake Rattle Rattle Snake and others) was the moody mellow opener. (We hear they're playing again July 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art)

Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth, photo by Thomas Peipert

Then Milo Greene came on, with these wacky vertical plastic light sticks with little bulbs strung through them positioned around the stage like trees. It was a full room back by the stage, and the crowd sang along to songs like "1957" and "Don't You Give Up on Me." The quintet lent their four-part harmonies to a cover of Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago." They've performed the Sufjan cover live before, but the Denver version featured Robbie with the most death-metal shaking of jingle bells on a Sufjan song ever. Here's video of "Silent Way."



They also did a Wilco cover ("A Shot in the Arm") with Marlana on lead vocals. At the end, the band's merch guy emerged from the back room where he'd been accidentally locked for the whole show. Good times! The band members stuck around to talk with fans, drink with fans, sign stuff for fans and generally be interesting people.

 

And Milo Greene will be back in Denver Aug. 10 to play at the Hi-Dive! For cheaps! $10/$12