RAYLAND BAXTER
Rayland Baxter at the Gothic Theater Englewood, CO. 3/22/23.
Rayland Baxter is always a life changing show so getting to shoot him at a cool venue like the Gothic in Denver was sure to be a treat. The first opener was Friko a band that comes from Chicago. With an absolutely full crowd by the time they started they brought a punk rock sound and look and had some amazing guitar solos. Continuing on the topic of incredible guitar solos was the next opener Liz Cooper (and band) who is a Brooklyn based artist that can rip on guitar. The crowd was super into her set and you could tell she had a lot of people in the crowd that had come to see her. When it was finally time Rayland came out to “If I Were a Butterfly” and the energy from both the band and the crowd were instant. Rayland played all of his hits from over the years both old and knew playing “Hey Larocco”, “Olivia” and even played some of his Mac Miller covers saying it was some of his favorite work he’s ever done. Late in the set he played “Yellow Eyes” which you could tell the crowd was waiting for and instantly began singing along and taking out their phones. Rayland really connected with the crowd at this show and talked about a dream he had about his father and explained all about his father Bucky a legendary musician in his own right. He closed out the night with “Let It All Go Man” and then thanked the crowd and ran off the stage.
Shot and Written by Jonah van Bemmelen.
