Slander @ Red Rocks

Slander returned to headline another year at the breathtaking Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 4th, 2024. They sold out the previous year and continuing the trend once again this year. This time the duo brought along four supporting acts; Copycatt, Samplifire, Moody Good and Zomboy. The openers set up the night with headbanging and unmatched energy, all amongst an amazing community of fans.

Copycatt

Starting off the night was Copycatt, who I unfortunately missed. By the time I got into the venue I only caught the last ten minutes of the set. I did, however, hear a bit of it as I walked up to the venue. The heavy bass of the set with a lot of wubs – exactly what I’m into. I can only imagine the amount of bass faces smeared across attendees while Copycatt performed.

Samplifire

Next up was Samplifire, who I will admit was not my vibe. The reason for that is he’s very much a riddim DJ and I’m not at all a fan of Riddim. Samplifire played a ton of samples by Svdden Death (or at least had a lot of similar tracks).

He also dropped a little bit of Subtronics, which may have been about the only time I was vibing with the set as he’s one of literally two riddim artists I can tolerate. Needless to say, since riddim is very much a *no thank you* I took this time to meet up and catch up with a few friends that I knew were at the show. From a riddim lovers perspective, I’m sure they loved his set but for me it’s just not a genre of EDM that I can get down with or really appreciate as much as someone that loves or even likes riddim.

Moody Good

Moody Good was the third set of the night, a nice balance into what would follow for the remainder of the night. I had heard of Moody Good before but had never gone out of my way to listen to him. I really digged his sound and his set. Moody Good started out as a house producer before moving into what he is now, so I was almost expecting a little bit of house thrown into the tracks – which he did not do. His set was also on the heavier side and very much matched Slander’s tone. I would very much like to see Moody Good next time I have the chance.

Zomboy

Zomboy was Slander’s supporting act of the night and I was almost more excited for him than I was for Slander (he’s SO good and ALWAYS goes hard) – which of course he did. I do think he held back a little bit, not to overshadow the headlining act.

I have seen Zomboy a good handful of times before and I felt like in the past he went just a little bit harder than he did at Red Rocks that night – which I can respect but expecting more of what I’d witnessed in the past left a slight sliver of disappointment. Overall his set was amazing as always and the energy he brought with him was just as unmatched as ever (in the best way possible of course) and included lots of middle fingers. At one point he asked the crowd to start a mosh pit, which made me laugh because how do you expect that when the entire venue is made up of stairs. I hoped he was kidding and luckily I don’t think anyone attempted.

Slander

I’d been excited to see Slander again since I saw them at North Coast just back in August and with them performing at Red Rocks I had no idea what to expect. On more occasions than not, any headlining artist I’ve seen at this venue has not only been top tier but is almost always the best set I’ve witnessed compared to anywhere else – and with returning artists typically tops the year before last. I hadn’t seen Slander at Red Rocks before and before North Coast I had only seen them as a supporting act so I really only had North Coast to compare it to.

They brought a heavy hour and a half set, hitting you with melodic and lyrical tracks periodically throughout the night. They played many fan (including my own) favorites, with the exception of totally sleeping on “Potions”. I really wanted to hear that live and really hoped they’d play it. I know the crowd would have lost it, including myself. There were a couple of times throughout the show that I did. Like when they played “Back To U” AND brought out William Black. After “Back To U”, William started exiting the stage when the guys told him they weren’t done yet and asked him to come back, which he did and they played “Keep U Warm”.

Later in the night they brought out a second guest they’ve recently collabed with, Fairlane. They played “Hurts Sometimes” and I really felt the feels. Fairlane’s energy and stage presence complimented Slander’s and it seemed to bring the crowd to a mutual feeling of comfort. It was one of my favorite parts of the night. I almost felt like they might bring out Illenium since he’s not only collabed with the duo on quite a few tracks, but because they had brought out Fairlane and William Black – why not since they’re all Denver locals? They didn’t. But they did play all the songs they would have if they did.

Slander’s lighting was dark and moody during portions that were deep and dubby while complimenting the lighter areas of their set with beautiful visions behind them and reflecting onto the platform beneath them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any artist’s Red Rocks performance that had SO much pyro. Like dang, Slander with the FIRE set – in more ways than just actual fire.

The laser production was definitely second to the fire. Most artists I feel lean toward the lasers over pyro, but Slander’s set was quite the opposite. Lasers were a part of the set, but it was only a small handful of times and when they were it was quite a show. It made the crowd “Ooooo” and cheer as if it was like they were seeing them for the first time. Nonetheless, the production from the stage set up, lighting, pyro and lasers were on point and was a Red Rocks show that was successful and beautiful.

The show ended and it went by so fast. I didn’t want it to end. I even asked someone standing next to me if they were going to play an encore (like they’d know any more than I would) and they said they thought so. *This was their chance to play lotions, wink wink*. But they didn’t. So then I was more sad. All these good Red Rocks shows lately, I’ve been getting lost in them. Slander was the 3rd in a row and unforgettable. I can’t wait for next year.