With a host of horns, percussion and a stage featuring stilt walkers and dancers, MarchFourth will bring its genre-free blend of brass, funk, rock and joy to Steamboat Springs on Independence Day.

The performance, part of the Stranahan’s Summer Concert Series, will take place 6-9 p.m. Thursday in Steamboat Square.

Admission is free and open to all ages.

MarchFourth, often known by the shortened name M4, was born at a one-night performance more than two decades ago in Portland, Oregon. That night, March 4, featured bass player and bandleader John Averill and a group of collaborators. The group put together a Mardi Gras-themed event. That night’s carnival-style band, built from brass instruments and a heavy amount of creative impulsivity, wound up defining the rest of Averill’s career.

“I started putting events together, like these theme-based parties, and I would create a band just for one night,” Averill said. “The band’s name would change every time. But for that Mardi Gras show, it just made sense to call it MarchFourth.”

Two decades later, MarchFourth has grown into a world-renowned group that fuses Afrobeat, jazz, Latin, samba and rock with vibrant visual performances. Averill plays bass and leads a group that typically features a rhythm section, electric guitar, three saxophones, two trombones, two trumpets and an evolving cast of dancers and circus performers.

“We don’t really have a genre,” Averill said. “But if it has a groove and it gets people moving, it fits. The main criteria is that we want people to dance.”

That commitment to live energy has shaped the band’s philosophy and its performances.

“We prefer to play shows where the audience is standing,” he said. “We’re trying to build energy. It’s not the kind of thing you watch sitting down.”

The group started out playing mostly instrumental covers and evolved over time to incorporate original songs and more vocals.

“Ten years ago, maybe a third of our set had vocals,” Averill said. “Now it’s over half. We just keep writing and mixing things up and that’s where we are today.”

MarchFourth’s evolution also includes a wide web of musicians who have passed through its ranks. Over 200 artists have performed with the band since its inception, and on this summer’s tour, a few alumni are returning for the ride.

“We’ve got our original guitar player and bari sax player with us for the first time in 10 years,” Averill said. “And one of our circus performers, who hasn’t toured with us in eight years, is back too. It’s really special having that energy return.”

Steamboat Springs has welcomed MarchFourth several times before, though this show will be a departure from the norm as they have always performed during the winter. Averill is especially glad to avoid the technical challenges that come with playing brass instruments in freezing temperatures.

“Brass can only tune down so far when it gets cold,” he explained. “A couple times in Steamboat, I had to micro-adjust my bass just so the horns could match. It’s not something you want to be dealing with during a show.”

This time, he said, “we won’t be stressing about tuning. We’ll just be able to do our thing.”

MarchFourth’s Steamboat stop is part of a two-week tour through Colorado and the Southwest, with additional shows in Fort Collins, Basalt and Santa Fe. Averill keeps track of past setlists and tries not to repeat the same performance in a given town.

“There’ll be some fan favorites for sure,” he said of Friday’s show in Steamboat. “But we’ll mix in new stuff too. I try to make it fresh for people who’ve seen us before.”

Averill noted that the band has consistently drawn enthusiastic crowds in the area.

“I don’t know where they come from, but people come out and they pack that plaza,” he said. “We love playing Steamboat.”

He also said that he loved the fact that so many fans travel from surrounding communities to hear them play at the mountain, noting that “that’s one of the things I love about Colorado.”

“In my experience, Colorado is just an anomaly,” Averill said. “There are more small markets with passionate music lovers than anywhere else in the country. We’ve probably played 30 different cities and towns here.”

MarchFourth’s July 4 show is free and open to the public. For more information about the concert series, visit Steamboat.com/Things-To-Do/Events/Stranahans-Free-Summer-Concert-Series-July-4.