Bohemian Nights Showcases The Best of Colorado Music

By: Our friends at Bohemian Nights

Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest is a Fort Collins staple; a celebration of the city’s Historic Downtown, the waning days of sum­mer and, of course, Colorado’s best music tal­ent. This year, the free community music festival will run the weekend of August 10-12, featuring a wide variety of bands and genres. Since the Bohemian Nights music program began collaborating with the NewWestFest festival in 2005, Bohemian Nights has become recognized as a high-quality music pro­duction venue, showcasing the best of Colorado’s unique and original music talent.
“This is a not only a great op­portunity for music fans to catch live performances by the bands they know and like, but to discover new bands, sample different types of music and find music they never knew they loved,” said Merry Hummell, Director of Music Events for Bohemian Nights. “The highlight of my weekend is walking through the festival, hearing something new, seeing something dif­ferent and watching how the audience responds to a great new band and their original sound and music.”
There will be lots of opportunities to sample and discover. Bohemian Nights will feature its largest lineup ever with more than 90 new, emerg­ing and established Colorado bands performing on six, continuously playing stages. The growing reputation of Fort Collins’ vibrant, live music scene and the opportunity to perform at Northern Colorado’s largest Colorado musician focused music festival is luring bands to Bohemian Nights and to Fort Collins.
It’s also drawing attention outside of Colorado, enabling the festival to lure Internationally re­nowned headliners in 2012, who anchor each day’s Colorado centered lineup. This year’s headliners are Michael Franti & Spearhead on Friday at 8:30 p.m., Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas on Saturday at 8:30 p.m., and the Gipsy Kings on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. All headliner perfor­mances will be live on the Mountain Stage.
In addition to the record-breaking number of Colorado bands taking the stages throughout the weekend, festivalgoers will have a special opportu­nity to enjoy their own local talent at “Fort Collins Friday”. On August 10^th all nine bands playing that night consider the Fort Collins area home. The Friday performances start at 5:00 p.m. and stretch across three stages: Mountain, Library Park and Linden Street. “Fort Collins Friday is a great way to experience the repertoire of music that has been nurtured by the community and the artists who live and work here. If you love music, it’s a home­grown night of talent you don’t want to miss,” said Hummell.
Fort Collins Friday is a way to highlight the music talent and showcases the artistic talent Fort Collins has to offer.
With the emergence of Fort Collins as a strong music city, many young artists have had the chance to get involved in live music and cultivate their tal­ent and professionalism at an early age. Bohemian Nights is proud to have such a large array of young talent this year with 10 different groups made up of members under the age of 21. These young artists include: Shatterproof, Party Boys of the Century, Jimi Harrington, Syke 96 and Bella Betts, Bladeyarder, Austin Young and NO Difference, The Jaden Carlson Band, Taylor Scott and Another Kind of Magick.
Music enthusiasts come in all ages and Bohemian Nights is always thinking of ways to provide family-oriented musical options. Produced in collabora­tion with the Downtown Fort Collins Business Association as part of the 24^th annual NewWestFest celebration, Bohemian Nights brings the world of music to Fort Collins and showcases Colorado music to the world.
For more information, schedules and other fun stuff visit BohemianNights.org and  download their new, customizable mobile app.