ATOMGA Drank All the Headliner’s Beer at Cervantes’

Leah Concialdi: “We played Cervantes’ when ATOMGA was just a seedling of a band. We were elated to be invited to open for See-I, a killer reggae band that features members of Thievery Corporation‘s live band. As far as playing a room of this caliber goes, it truly was some members’ proverbial ‘first rodeo.’ ATOMGA committed the excruciating faux pas of drinking all the headliner’s beer, the majority of it before they even got to the venue.

“Needless to say, we pissed some people off. They had requested bottles of Stella prior to the show, and the venue had made a special trip to procure it for them. All liquor stores were closed by the time the discovery was made that we had depleted their booze. Facepalms on facepalms. We made it right and used some of our pay to reimburse the venue for the inconvenience and cost of doubling up on beer, and to this day, we consider Cervantes’ one of our biggest supporters and a ‘home base’ of a Denver venue!”

ATOMGA plays at Animas City Theater in Durango on September 28, at Swallow Hill on October 13, and at Cervantes’ on October 20.

Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work.