Sunflower Bean Brings a Stacked Bill to Hi-Dive Denver
- Nathan Thompson
- Jun 17, 2025
- 2 min read
If you live in the Denver Metro and you’re into indie punk-rock, synth-pop, and alt-rock, I hope you were at the Hi-Dive on June 14th. This three-act show featured headliner Sunflower Bean, with GIFT and Dry Ice as opening acts.
Local indie-punk band Dry Ice opened the show with an electrifying punk sound that brought enough defiance to make Joan Jett proud. This was somewhat of a homecoming show for the band as it’s their first show back after their “Biblically Accurate Buttrock Tour,” and their local fans showed up and showed out. If you’re a local punk fan, I highly recommend checking this group out. Their 2024 EP Underbelly blew me away, and “Unmasculine” has become a staple of all my punk playlists.
GIFT - a young synth-pop band out of New York - followed with a smokey set of lush synths, ethereal vocals, and echoing guitar that had the entire crowd entranced. The band played cloaked in a back-lit smoke screen, making for a concert photographer’s nightmare, but playing perfectly into GIFT's hypnotic sound. After seeing this band live when they toured with the Black Angels, they quickly became one of my new favorites—their vinyl has practically been glued to my turntable. I can’t get enough of their 2024 album Illumination, but Momentary Presence (2022) offers some delicious tracks like “Gumball Garden.”
Riding the high of the previous two acts, Sunflower Bean came out and absolutely blew the crowd away. While there was enough energy to support the notion that Dry Ice or GIFT could have been headliners, when Sunflower Bean walked on, it was evident who the crowd was there to see. Sunflower Bean’s delectable blend of a smashing rhythm section, punchy guitar, sometimes-angelic sometimes-devilish lyrics was beautifully complemented by the aura that surrounds them on the stage. After 13 years together, this band has covered a range of rock-adjacent genres and made a lot of great music. That being said, I’m a bit of a slut for songs with driving guitar/bass lines, so songs like “Wall Watcher,” “Champagne Taste,” and “Lucky Number” tickle my ears in just the right way.
Browse photos from the show below, and check out the artists' Spotify below that.
Comments