Denver Bars and Clubs - Denver Blues Clubs


Where would American music and rock and roll be without the blues’ plaintive and sensual soul? The blues is a pervasive American art form that nearly every urban center in the country has a nightclub devoted to blues. In Denver, that club is Manny’s Smokehouse. With live blues nearly every night of the week, not to mention great barbeque and cheap drinks, Denver’s blues scene at Manny’s is smoking. Pouring drinks since before Denver’s LoDo district became Denver’s LoDo district, Herb’s Hideout serves cheap drinks and hosts a healthy calendar of live blues music. To be part of the action onstage, head over to Denver’s other blues institution, Ziggie’s Saloon, where every Sunday the floodgates of Ziggie’s stage open to blues hopefuls.

Herb's Hideout

2057 Larimer St., Denver, Colorado; Tel. 303.299.9555
An authentic dive bar in Denver's trendy club mecca of LoDo, Herb's Hideout is aptly named because it's a bar where you can escape the nightclub masses with their high nightclub prices, belly up to the bar and partake in the seemingly bygone activity for which bars were created: getting sauced. Herb's Hideout does get some of the club set who're tired of standing in line mixing with their booze hound regulars and that fact alone is what makes this a great Denver bar institution. Well, that and the pricing scheme that hasn't changed since the bar opened. Also, Herb's Hideout has brought back Denver grown jazz and blues live music for their eclectically heterogeneous crowds.

Manny's Smokehouse

2233 Larimer St., Denver, Colorado; Tel. 303.292.6622
Live blues and kickin' barbecue just go together and Manny's Smokehouse in Denver does that hot combo better than most. The live blues on tap at this Denver bar hit the small stage almost nightly and fill Manny's Smokehouse with a soulful vibe that's almost as seductive as the aroma of smoking meats emanating from the kitchen. The classic barbecue fare ranges from pulled pork to beef brisket to the best St. Louis style ribs you're gonna find in Denver. The drinks at Manny's Smokehouse are well poured because the other thing that goes extremely well with live blues is liberal amounts of booze.

Ziggie's Saloon

4923 W. 38th Ave., Denver, Colorado; Tel. 303.455.9930
Denver's venerable dive and blues bar, Ziggie's Saloon is a drinking and live music institution featuring gritty roadhouse blues and cheap beer. This well-worn hole in the wall caters to the working class crowds and blues rockers that relish in the juke joint atmosphere at Ziggie's Saloon. Nearly every night at this Denver bar you can catch local and traveling blues bands ripping through their three cord tributes to life, booze and women while on Sundays, Ziggie's Saloon opens the stage for sit ins.
—Denver bar and club reviews by Ryan Osterbeck