Temples performs at the Bluebird Theater on April 22, 2014. (Michael McGrath, heyreverb.com)

Temples’ James Bagshaw would prefer weed-free Boulder show

About five months ago, Temples’ singer James Bagshaw asked his Denver audience to stop smoking weed. A calm, reasonable request, he told the Bluebird Theater during his band’s headlining set that the fumes made it hard for him to sing. It was the psych-rock band’s first show in Denver.

With that mid-show request in mind, I call him up a few weeks before his band returns to Colorado — a show Wednesday, Oct. 1 at the Fox Theatre in Boulder — and ask:

“Did you realize your comment got so many people talking in Denver?”

Bagshaw’s response: “I had no idea. What were people saying?”

I tell him that there were people on both sides: Some had his back and thought people smoke too much in Denver venues and it can be bothersome to fans and artists. Others thought that as a musician he should be used to it and deal with the smoke.

“I was just talking because I’m being honest,” he says.

Temples formed in Kettering, England in 2012. They’ve gotten praise from the likes of Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher and the U.K. press. In 2014 they released their debut album to solid reviews and kicked off their first U.S. tour. Until getting to Denver, they’d never played in a venue that smoky, Bagshaw said.

“A lot of shows you smell it in the crowd, but that day (in Denver) there must have been someone smoking right up front,” Bagshaw said. “It went down my throat and dried my throat out.”

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