Photos by Tim Van Schmidt
Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest has become the signature community event of the summer in Fort Collins since getting into gear as a festival in 2005.
While these last ten years have featured many great headlining acts- including War, Bruce Hornsby, The B52s, The Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Earth, Wind and Fire, Leon Russell, Los Lobos and many more- it isn’t the star power that makes Bohemian Nights great. What makes it great is the hundreds and hundreds of Colorado bands that have been featured over the years on all of the stages.
A lot of thanks is due to organizers for putting regional music first, but thanks is also due to the music fans in Northern Colorado. The fans here love their live music whether it comes from an international hitmaker or from the next door neighbor’s son- and they embrace anyone who does a good job.
The good news is that Colorado bands do more than just a good job. The stages at Bohemian Nights are always crowded with talent, passion, brightness and depth. And this isn’t genre-specific either- bands of all flavors and stripes have made the Bohemian Nights stages sizzle.
So put them together- an organization that sees value in the music of our friends and neighbors, bands that take center stage and fully deliver and music fans who almost always cheer for more- and you have Bohemian Nights.
The photo gallery below represents “only” 150 of the bands who have played Bohemian Nights from 2005-2014. The first ten years have been a rich and powerful journey and year number eleven is just around the corner. It’s summertime again and Fort Collins knows just what to do thanks to Bohemian Nights- rock on!