Live music festival coming to downtown Pueblo in April featuring 30-plus musicians, bands

Downtown Pueblo will play host to a two-day live music festival in April that will feature more than 30 musicians, some local and others from out of town.

The festival, called Steel City Music Showcase, will take place April 12-13 between 6 and 11 p.m. on both nights. There will be four stages, three of which will be indoors. Each stage will feature different performers every hour.

There will be a diverse lineup of artists at the festival, some of whom are from Pueblo. Musicians and bands from Denver, Colorado Springs and Albuquerque, New Mexico, will also make their way to Pueblo to perform at the Steel City Music Showcase.

It’s the first year of the festival, which organizers are hoping will turn into an annual event in Pueblo.

Nathan Stern, co-founder of Fuel & Iron Food Hall, is behind the effort to launch the festival in Pueblo. He's been collaborating with Future Garden and Jolly Mule Productions, music-centered agencies, to bring it to life.

Stern told the Chieftain it's his hope the festival becomes another flagship event on Union Avenue. The inspiration for it comes from the Underground Music Showcase, an annual multi-day live music festival in Denver that features hundreds of artists.

"(We thought), why can't we have that here in Pueblo to showcase the talent that we have locally and statewide?" said Dynelle Abeyta-Maestas, director of marketing and events for Fuel & Iron. "It's just really about showcasing the talent that we have and bringing people to the downtown area in Pueblo and showing off what an amazing city we have."

The festival is expected to feature several music genres, such as rock, folk, country, hip hop and indie, among others.

The Fuel & Iron Food Hall, Future Garden and Jolly Mule Productions helped create the lineup. Steel City Studios, Visit Pueblo, SOCO Student Media and Colorado State University Pueblo’s media and entertainment department are event sponsors.

The Fuel & Iron Loading Dock Gallery, La Bella Union Plaza, Gold Dust Saloon and The Sacred Bean will each have a stage. All are located on Union Avenue and will have food and beverages available for festivalgoers.

There are several ticket options for people who want to attend the event. The day passes are $20 and a weekend pass is $35. A VIP package for either day costs $50, while a weekend VIP pass is $100. The VIP passes include a free meal and two drinks at Fuel & Iron Food Hall.

For more information, visit steelcitymusicshowcase.com.

Here’s who is set to perform at Steel City Music Showcase

Pueblo artists such as Ashlynn Young, Christian Jaquez, Jeremy Kitchen, Morgan J. Cox and Rick G. Morphica are part of the festival’s lineup. The Hardly Nevers, The Marietta Dolls, The Ragetones and The Undercover Heart are some Pueblo bands that are slated to perform.

The duos Phat Quarter and Naomi Zia and Kayla Slaughter round out the Pueblo-based musicians who will appear at the festival.

The Pueblo-based lineup will cover several musical genres, such as pop, Americana, acoustic covers, indie, hip hop alternative rock and electronic dance music.

Berkley, a Pueblo native who wrote an album about his life growing up in the Steel City, will also be at the event. He is based in Portland and returned to Pueblo in September to perform some songs from the album.

Here's what to know about the rest of the festival's lineup, including where each act is from and their genre.

• Blairé, Colorado Springs, singer-songwriter

• Cabin, Colorado Springs, indie

• The Canary Initiative, Colorado Springs, soul folk

• Clark Andrew Libbey and Kristen Rad, Albuquerque, Americana

• Co-Stanza, Denver, alternative

• Dog Tags, Denver, soul jazz

• Dream Cast, Denver, final boss music

• Estenphanyart, Colorado Springs, indie alternative

• Heavy Diamond Ring, Denver, indie rock

• Ipecac, Denver, Americana

• Krew, Colorado Springs, indie rock

• Los Mocochetes, Denver, xicano funk

• Lucky Overton Duo, Alamosa, americana

• The Mañanas, Denver, rock

• Mayor Grey, Colorado Springs, indie pop

• Neoma, Denver, pop

• Ovira, Colorado Springs, metal

• Tensas and the Mourners, Colorado Springs, roots rock

Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo to host live music festival, the Steel City Music Showcase