Larimer Lounge in RiNo has run touring indie rock since 2002 as the kind of small Denver club where The Lumineers and Nathaniel Rateliff played their early sets.
Tip: Doors typically 19:00 for an 20:00 show. The back patio opens through the warm months; sound is best from the centre of the floor.
Address: 2721 Larimer Street, Denver, CO 80205
Globe Hall on Logan Street is the northern RiNo Slavic dance-hall turned live music room and Texas-style BBQ kitchen, with a backyard patio and Americana, country and indie bookings.
Tip: Show nights only, 17:00 onward with the kitchen open until it sells out. The smoked brisket and pulled pork tacos are the food order.
Globe Hall on Logan Street is the northern RiNo Slavic dance-hall turned live music room and Texas-style BBQ kitchen, with a backyard patio and Americana, country and indie bookings.
Tip: Show nights only, 17:00 onward with the kitchen open until it sells out. The smoked brisket and pulled pork tacos are the food order.
Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on Welton Street sits inside the old Casino Cabaret on Five Points' main strip, the room that hosted Duke Ellington and Count Basie in the 1940s.
Tip: The Other Side room runs a second show most nights; combo tickets work the corridor between rooms and run roughly $25 to $45.
Hi-Dive on South Broadway has been the musician-owned Baker rock club since 2003, the small room that gave The War on Drugs, Vampire Weekend and the Lumineers early Denver sets.
Tip: Open daily 16:00 to 02:00 with $2 Rainier and $4 well happy hour 16:00 to 19:00. Doors typically 19:00 for a 20:00 show.
54thirty atop Le Méridien Denver Downtown is the city's highest open-air rooftop bar, 20 floors above California Street with fire-pit booths and a full Front Range view.
Tip: Sunday and Friday-Saturday open earlier at midday; weather closes the deck below freezing. Reserve a fire-pit booth via the website on busy nights.
Rare Bird sits on top of the Halcyon Hotel in Cherry Creek with a heated rooftop pool, cabana seating and a wood-fired kitchen pushing kofta and grilled cheese to a Rockies view.
Tip: Rooftop season runs May through October. Cabana reservations are the move on summer weekends; in-house guests get year-round pool access.
Avanti F&B in LoHi is the two-floor collective eatery with a rooftop bar and seven kitchen stalls above Pecos Street, with a wide patio looking back at the downtown Denver skyline.
Tip: Bar runs late on Thursday through Saturday. The rooftop is heated for shoulder seasons; sunset is the move on summer evenings.