Boulder Festival: a smashing success and what comes next

The Boulder Festival kicked off Thursday on February 17 at Fox Theater with electric performances from openers, Jack Moe and Hutty, followed by the headliner, Disco Lines. This festival gave CU students and alumni a chance to showcase their talent. FridayFitz LLC is the creative brand who put on Boulder Festival. CU student and owner of the brand, Jack FitzSimons, had a vision for the music scene in Boulder.

“I was inspired to make a music festival because I could not believe in such a beautiful town of music lovers, there wasn’t one, but the true reason was that I wanted an event to promote the talent this town has to offer,” said FitzSimons.

FitzSimons brainstormed creative ideas and started bringing his idea to life in late October after getting in contact with the Fox Theater and had three artists who were verbally committed.  FitzSimons debuted his first music festival which he organized and marketed to the Boulder community

“I had this feeling that I had a blueprint to not just make it happen, but make it one of the best local concerts of the year. Before talking to Fox, I needed a name, crew of artists and a reason for them to believe in me,” FitzSimons said. “After talking to Fox and negotiating a contract and picking a date, it was time to get a sponsor, hire photographers, videographers, and just use all my resources for advice.”

He curated a unique lineup which had a variety of genres like rap, alternative and electronic music. Jack dove deeper on explaining how he selected the artists.

“Jack Moe is one of my best friends and is one of the most talented up and coming rappers. There was no option of not having him in there. Hutty is such a unique self made artist that has truly taught himself everything from producing, to guitar, to saxophone. My headliner needed to be a strong representation of the Boulder DJ scene and I knew Disco Lines was the man for the job,” Jack said.

The first performer of the festival was Jack Moe. When the former CU student and rapper came running from behind the stage, he came out with passion and energy. The crowd instantly loved him and I could sense familiarity between him and the audience, as many people in the crowd were chanting his name when he arrived on the stage.  

The Minnesota native’s music draws heavily upon inspiration from artists similar to his music genre and explores the difficulties of dealing with mental health. Moe’s favorite song to perform in Boulder is Colorado Party but his favorite song anywhere else would have to be Color Me Red.

“I’ve drawn inspiration from lots of artists but Mac Miller, Kid Cudi, Felly and J. Cole are some of the main ones. I love how they tie mental health and real world issues into their music but are able to tell the stories in melodic, cool ways,“ Moe said. 

Moe had the entire theater elevated and moving to his unique sound. Moe’s raw emotions turned into beautiful music in his performance. 

“The Boulder Festival was amazing, probably my favorite performance of the past six months. The energy from the crowd was incredible and they kept it going all night. FridayFitz put the whole event together and gave myself and a few others the opportunity to perform in front of a sold out crowd so I’m very appreciative to him as well,” Moe said.

Jack Moe has eight scheduled upcoming shows and new tunes dropping in the future.

“I’m in the middle of a college tour so the next two shows are at Penn State and Ohio State. I’ve got new music coming in a few months but recently dropped my sophomore album Music Over Emotions,” he said.  

The next performer, Hutty, came storming the stage strutting a stylish Vlone sweatshirt and his carefree spirit was immediately recognizable. Originally from Minnetonka, Minnesota, he moved to Boulder for college in 2015. He is now pursuing music full time and his performance at the Fox Theater had the crowd jumping.  

Hutty has drawn inspiration from family members of his who are musicians and was greatly influenced by the entertainment industry from a young age. Hutty said he  feels that music and entertainment coincide really well and has a passion for producing videos and acting.  He as well has been inspired by other musical artists.

“I’ve drawn inspiration from many artists, but one that especially stands out is XXXTentacion. At his peak is when I started getting into music production. The way he carried emotion into his tracks was something special. I was inspired to carry my emotion into my own tracks,” Hutty said.

His music is full of a variety of instruments and he made sure to have them at his Boulder Festival Performance.

“The songs I enjoyed performing most were Like She Do Today, Purple Rinse, Toxic Minds and Body Low. Each consist of several live instruments including a saxophone, a piano, multiple guitars and vocalists. I worked tirelessly to make sure we were playing the instruments live and it was awesome to see a successful turnout,” Hutty said.

The crowd noticeably loved Hutty’s performance and he brought such a unique energy to the stage. It was evident that he was not afraid to be himself and sing and dance his heart out in front of a large audience. He commanded all the attention in the venue and the audience really felt his good vibes.  His performance was definitely a success.

“Boulder Festival was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better first performance. The moments I received large amounts of energy from the crowd were spectacular. The moments I didn’t are great moments to learn from. I can’t wait to make the next one even better,” Hutty said.

Hutty has some plans in store for the future including live performances which are soon to be announced.

“I am also currently in the process of working on my debut album, which should be releasing this year. More information on the album and a new single will be released very soon,” Hutty said.

The headliner of the show, Disco Lines, hit the stage last. The Colorado-born artist has been gaining recognition for his talented electronic music that he produces himself. After his remix to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” trended all over TikTok his number of streams quickly racked up.  

He graduated from CU in 2020 and began to pursue his EDM music career full time. Growing up in Colorado inspired him to produce his own music because of venues like Red Rocks amphitheater, where he had seen many EDM concerts.  The first concert he ever went to was an EDM show which piqued his interest in making this style of music. He draws inspiration from artists such as Sofi Tukker, Whethan, Shipwreck and Skrillex.

“I love electronic music because it sounds unique and different and I feel like I try to do that with my stuff. You can’t stand out if you’re gonna be like everyone else. You kind of have to be different and weird and edm is a version of that,” Disco Lines said. 

According to him, the computer is the best instrument. His creativity is exhibited in his self produced music and the crowd absolutely adored him. His performance made the entire theater jump and dance around the entire duration he was on stage.  

“If you’re coming to my show, I have to play Love Story for sure and I love playing Levels by Avicii. I have a new song coming out which is a house remix of 50 cent’s In Da Club and teased it on my social media,” said Disco Lines. “Love Tonight, Dancing Queen and Chris Lake, and Paramore music are songs I love to remix and perform.”

Disco Lines has opened numerous times for artists at the Fox Theater and was excited to headline the festival. He feels that Boulder is filled with inspiring people who motivated him to take this step in his career. 

“Headlining and selling the show was the best feeling in the world. I felt so comfortable and it was good to see familiar faces and people who work at the Fox Theater. The energy from the audience was incredible. It was just a DJ board and a microphone and I think that says a lot about the crowd to make the most out of that environment,” Disco Lines said.

Disco Lines has many upcoming performances ahead of him in college towns for schools such as University of California at Berkeley, University of Arizona, Auburn University, University of Kansas, University of Mississippi and even more over the next few weekends.

He is also coming back to boulder for a surprise performance on St. Patrick’s Day, Thursday, March 17, returning back to the Fox Theater. Tickets will be available for purchase within the next few days.

Boulder Festival was a complete hit and FridayFitz has more ideas in the works. A show on April 20th is going down at Fox Theater. It apparently will be even better than Boulder Festival and will include a special artist coming into town to headline, along with Hutty and Jack Moe.