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Lake Street Dive back at Belly Up Aspen on Friday

Lake Street Dive plays Belly Up on Saturday.
Courtesy photo

IF YOU GO …

Who: Lake Street Dive

Where: Belly Up Aspen

When: Friday, Sept. 7, 9 p.m.

How much: $45-$75

Tickets: Sold out

More info: bellyupaspen.com

When Lake Street Dive opened the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience in 2017, this dependably astounding live band put on the magnificent kind of show that its growing fan base has come to expect.

Singer Rachael Price’s timeless vocals were soaring. Their throwback soul and ’60s-styled rock was swinging. They nailed their biggest hits like “Bad Self-Portraits” and “You Go Down Smooth.” They did a playful cover song — a bare-bones spin on George Michael’s “Faith” driven by a stand-up bass groove.

But the highlight and the crowd favorite was a song that pretty much nobody had heard before: “Good Kisser.” That’s the kind of rare charm and talent this band has — they can get a festival crowd nearing 10,000 on board with a brand new song and have everyone singing along by the end.



A year later, just about everybody knows “Good Kisser.” The song — a witty, tongue-in-cheek soul number with the swaggering chorus “Tell ’em I’m a good kisser” — landed on the band’s third album, “Free Yourself Up,” released in May and filled with confident old-school pop and soul songs about heartache and empowerment.

The tour supporting the record brings Lake Street Dive back to Aspen to play Belly Up today. The Denver-based Elephant Revival spin-off We Dream Dawn opens.




Formed in 2004 by Price and three classically trained classmates from the New England Conservatory of Music, Lake Street Dive was no overnight sensation.

After eight years and hundreds of shows, this quartet of musicians with serious chops and traditional training got its big break, unexpectedly, through YouTube.

Their take on the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” recorded in a whimsical impromptu session on the street in Brighton, Massachusetts, became a must-watch for music fans and quickly drew millions of views.

“After that we saw a lot more people at our shows, more people interested in hearing about the band,” Price said during one of several swings through Aspen. “That was the gateway to people discovering our music.”

They were ready for the opportunity that their viral moment provided.

Lake Street Dive built on that buzz with the 2014 album “Bad Self Portraits,” which made them an it-band with sold-out tours, a gig playing for the Obamas at the White House and on “A Prairie Home Companion,” TV spots and radio play and frequently stealing the show at festivals.

“It was great because we’d been a band for 10 years,” Price said. “So we felt really ready for it.”

atravers@aspentimes.com

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