Denver, Boulder weekend highlights

Boris and Torche, Marquis Theatre

Japan’s Boris and Florida’s Torche have made careers proving that huge, heavy music doesn’t have to be big dumb metal; both bands combine artistry and creativity to inject color into the often dull palette of heavy music. Japan’s Boris are strident students of even the most obscure stoner metal, but they take their psychedelia seriously as well. Their latest, “Smile,” leans heavily in favor of psyched-out fuzztones of the era, filtered through an antic Japanese sensibility to throw it all out there on stage. And female guitarist Wata might be the shreddingest axe-woman in history. Meanwhile, Miami, Florida’s Torche bring spacey melodies and thick, airy atmosphere to their dinosaur stomp; low-tuned guitars are the order of the day, but so are soaring melodies courtesy of singer-guitarist Steve Brooks. Imagine a world where spacey sludge-rock existed side-by-side with pop-rock, and you’re getting close to the bizarrely beautiful landscape Torche inhabits. Then again, this is also fantastic music if you just want to turn your mind off, go wild and break stuff.

• What: Torche and Boris perform.

• Where: Marquis Theatre, Denver.

• When: Fri. 7:30 p.m.

• Cost: $12-15.

• Info: (303) 292-0805 or www.sodajerkpresents.com.

Summer Brew Fest, Coors Field

Is there anything better than beer? I don’t think so, unless the answer gets more specific and touts the virtues of microbrews over the regular suds. Lucky for beer lovers statewide, Colorado is practically Beertown USA, with the Front Range area often being called the “Napa Valley” of beer. You can celebrate this happy fact at Summer Brew Fest, wherein over 70 varieties of microbrew beer will invade Coors field from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday. The first several beer fans through the gate get a commemorative cup, and music from Angie Stevens and the Beautiful Wreck will pep up the proceedings. Basking in the sun with 70 types of beer and listening to sweet music with kindred spirits ought to have already sold you, but if you still have doubts, consider this: Proceeds benefit the Colorado Environmental Coalition. You’ll be drinking beer and helping to protect our mountains, forests, and wildlands at the same time. Now you have to go.

• What: Summer Brew Fest microbrewery festival.

• Where: Coors Field Main Parking Lot A.

• When: Sat. 4-7 p.m.

• Cost: $25-35.

• Info: www.denverbrewfest.com.

Urban Assault, Denver

OK, One more item and we’ll stop with the beer thing (can you tell we’ve been jonesing for a cold one?). Ft. Colins’ New Belgium Brewery remembers our adventure-fueled days of youth and wants to help recreate them — albeit with the added benefit of being able to drink beer. Their Urban Assault scavenger hunt takes over eight cities on Sunday, including Denver. Participants will have to maneuver their bikes through several checkpoints across the city, where they’ll complete obstacles that may include but are not limited to: big-wheel races, slip-n-slides and BMX jousting. Competitors have to ride in pairs — that’s how tough this thing might get. The after-party gets even better: Free all-you-can-drink New Belgium beer, fajitas from Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, and goodie bags including things like bike bottles and bells. Families are encouraged to participate as a team but the kids must be at least 7 years of age (he or she can wait 12 years for the beer). The race starts and ends at Mile High Station, which also hosts the beer-a-licious afterparty.

• What: New Belgium’s Urban Assault bike scavenger hunt and afterparty.

• Where: All over Denver; begins and ends at Mile High Station.

• When: Sun. 9 a.m.

• Cost: $60.

• Info: www.urbanassaultride.com <http://www.urbanassaultride.com/>; .

Eddie Izzard, Paramount Theatre

Though he’s made a splash in American movies and television (like FX’s “The Riches”), British comedian Eddie Izzard first gained a cult audience stateside by dressing in drag and going off on hilarious, British-humor rants about everything from genocide to Robin Hood. He may have gone legit, but that hasn’t toned down his scabrous stand-up comedy one bit. Weird situations are the norm here: Izzard reimagines a key Bible character played by Sean Connery, and John F. Kennedy as the voice of God. In his latest show, “Stripped,” Izzard uses Wikipedia to mock itself and spares the rod for no pop culture item, making fun of everything from Harry Potter to “Star Wars.” His absurd, stream-of-consciousness comic routines (in a dress, remember) play something like the Monty Python version of stand-up comedy. It’s veddy, veddy British, but also veddy, veddy funny.

• What: Eddie Izzard performs stand-up comedy.

• Where: Paramount Theatre, Denver.

• When: Tue. and Wed. 8 p.m.

• Cost: $39-59.

• Info: (303) 623-0106 or www.paramountdenver.com.

Crue Fest, Denver

Motley Crue should be dead by now. I’m not talking about the music: They’ve been through enough overdoses to fill seven hair bands, and they’ve all survived. The Crue keeps on truckin’, and they take their barely changed, grinding hair metal with them wherever they go. They’ve lasted long enough to become something of a hair-metal emeritus band — hair-metal Nobel laureates, if you will (do they give out Nobels for hair metal? They should.) As such, Crue Fest has arisen, sprouting from the dyed and teased roots of their hair-metal ... hair. Crue Fest celebrates both the band and other like-minded purveyors of loud party music with an all-night concert sure to be full of lighters and Jaegermeister. Oddly, most of the other featured bands (Buckcherry, Papa Roach, SIXX:AM and Trapt) are modern acts, but they all carry something of the original crew spirit. Hopefully they’ve learned from that band’s failures as well as its successes: Otherwise, they have a lot of overdoses and Pam Anderson ahead of them.

• What: Crue Fest music festival, featuring Motley Crue, Buckcherry, Papa Roach, and more.

• Where: Fiddler’s Green, Denver.

• When: Sun. 4:30 p.m.

• Cost: $29.50-95.

• Info: (303) 830-8497 http://www.livenation.com.