Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure near Morrison, Colorado, 10
miles west of Denver, where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre.
There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical
rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards
from stage left and a seating area for up to 9,450 people in between. The
amphitheatre is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver, Colorado
and is located in Red Rocks Park, part of the Denver Mountain Parks system.
History In the early 1900s, John Brisben Walker
had a vision of artists performing on a stage nestled in the perfect acoustic
surroundings of Red Rocks, which likely were used by the Ute tribe in earlier
times. Walker produced a number of concerts between 1906 and 1910 on a
temporary platform; and from his dream, the history of Red Rocks as an
entertainment venue began. Geologically, the rocks surrounding the
Amphitheatre are representative of the Fountain Formation. Originally the place
was known as the "Garden of the Angels", and then as "Garden of the Titans"
during the Walker years. The park, however, had always been known by the
folk name of "Red Rocks", which became its formal name when Denver acquired it
in 1928. The amphitheatre's rocks are named "Creation Rock" on the north,
"Ship Rock" on the south, and "Stage Rock" to the east. Red Rocks
Amphitheatre was designed by Denver architect Burnham Hoyt.
In 1927, George Cranmer, Manager of Denver Parks, convinced the City of
Denver to purchase the area of Red Rocks from Walker for the price of $54,133.
Cranmer convinced Benjamin Franklin Stapleton, the Mayor of Denver,
Colorado, to build on the foundation laid by Walker. By enlisting the help of
the federally sponsored Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works
Progress Administration, labor and materials were provided for the venture.
Construction of the amphitheatre began in 1936 and was completed in 1941.
Performances Public, organizational and private
performances have been held at Red Rocks for more than 100 years. The earliest
documented performance at the amphitheatre was the Grand Opening of
the Garden of the Titans, put on by famed editor John Brisben Walker on May
31, 1906. Featuring Pietro Satriano and his 25-piece brass band, it was the
formal opening of the natural amphitheatre for use by the general
public after Walker purchased it with the proceeds of his sale of Cosmopolitan
Magazine. The amphitheatre's largest-scale
performance to date was the Feast of Lanterns on September 5, 1908.
Commemorating the opening of the scenic road up nearby Mt. Falcon, it was
patterned after the festival of Nagasaki, Japan, and featured four
military bands and fireworks off Mt. Falcon, Mt. Morrison and two
intermediate hills. Renowned opera singer Mary Garden put
Red Rocks on the world musical map with her performance on May 10, 1911. Having
performed at many opera halls around the world, she pronounced Red Rocks the
finest venue at which she had ever performed.
Upon the full construction of the amphitheatre to its present form by the
Civilian Conservation Corps, the venue was formally dedicated on June 15, 1941.
It has held regular concert seasons every year since 1947.
The first performance of each season is the Easter Sunrise Service, a
non-denominational service on Easter Sunday of each year.
The earliest notable rock-and-roll performance at Red Rocks was by The
Beatles on August 26, 1964, the only concert not sold out during their
US-tour. When Ringo Starr returned to Red Rocks with his All-Starr Band on
June 28, 2000, he asked if anyone in the crowd had been at the Beatles concert
thirty-six years earlier. On August 26, 2004, the East-Coast-based
Beatles-tribute band, "1964" was flown to Denver to re-enact the Beatles
concert held at the site exactly forty-years earlier to the date.
An incident during a performance by Jethro Tull on June 10, 1971, led to a
five-year ban of rock concerts at Red Rocks. Approximately 1,000 people
without tickets arrived at the sold-out show. Denver police directed the
overflow, non-paying crowd to an area behind the theater, where they could
hear the music but not see the band. The situation seemed satisfactory until some
of the people without tickets attempted to enter the amphitheatre by charging
at, and breaking through, the police line. Some of those without tickets
began lobbing rocks at the police, and the police responded by discharging tear
gas at the gate-crashers. The wind carried the tear gas over the hill, into
the paying crowd and onto the stage. Following the "Riot at Red Rocks,"
Denver Mayor William H. McNichols, Jr. banned rock concerts from the
amphitheatre. For the next five years, shows at Red Rocks were limited to
softer acts, such as John Denver, Sonny & Cher, The Carpenters, Pat Boone, Seals
& Crofts, and Carole King. The ban on rock and roll was finally lifted through
legal action taken by Denver concert promoter Barry Fey, who tried to book
the band America at the venue in 1975. After being denied a permit by the city,
Fey took the city to court, and the court ruled that the city had acted
"arbitrarily and capricious" in banning rock concerts at Red Rocks. Starting in
the summer of 1976, the rock bands were once again welcomed at the venue. Jethro
Tull played Red Rocks again on August 12, 2008 and on June 8, 2011.
U2 performed at the amphitheatre on June 5, 1983 during their War Tour, in front
of a crowd of 9,000 people. The show was filmed for the group's concert film U2
Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. Part of the show was also recorded
for the group's live album Under a Blood Red Sky.
Depeche Mode performed at the amphitheatre four times: the first time
was 1986-07-01. The second and third were on July 11 and 12, 1990 during
their World Violation Tour. The fourth was on August 27, 2009 during their Tour
of the Universe, in front of a crowd of 8,679 people. The show was recorded for
the group's live albums project Recording the Universe.
Red Rocks was one of the favored venues for The Grateful Dead and the venue has
become a traditional stop for many subsequent jam bands. Widespread Panic
holds the record for the most sold out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
The beautiful and unique setting has led to the venue becoming a favorite for
many performers. Jimi Hendrix played at Red Rocks on September 1, 1968, along
with Vanilla Fudge and Soft Machine. Geddy Lee of rock band Rush said, "It's
an amazing location. One of the most beautiful concert venues in America...or
anywhere. I would hazard a guess that it's one of the most beautiful
anywhere." Rush played Red Rocks on their 30th anniversary tour, and is
depicted in the tour program. Notable recordings
Red Rocks has been a popular venue for live recordings, particularly videos due
to the visual uniqueness of the setting. During the 1970s and 1980s, local
folk-rocker John Denver recorded several world-televised concerts at Red Rocks.
U2's 1983 concert video, Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, became a
best-selling long-form concert video and the performance of "Sunday Bloody
Sunday" was played frequently on MTV. Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks
released a 60-minute long DVD of her 1986 concert at the amphitheatre,
towards the end of her Rock a Little tour. In 1992 The Moody Blues performed
live for the first time with a symphony orchestra for a PBS special "A Night at
Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra". The concert also was
released on CD and DVD along with a companion DVD "The Other Side of Red
Rocks" which documented the rehearsals and preparation for the concert and
excerpts from the concert. Other Red Rocks material on CD and DVD
includes Dave Matthews Band's albums Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 and the CD/DVD
Weekend on the Rocks, which is a compilation of the band's four night run
in 2005 Also recorded are The Samples live album, Live in Colorado, John
Tesh's Live at Red Rocks and Worship at Red Rocks, the Incubus DVD Alive at Red
Rocks, Blues Traveler's Live on the Rocks album, Steve Martin's comedy album
A Wild and Crazy Guy, The Moody Blues's A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra, and Boukman Eksperyans' album "Live At Red Rocks".
Widespread Panic's DVD "The Earth Will Swallow You" features a 15 min segment
on Red Rocks. The live Neil Young album, Road Rock
Vol. 1, and its accompanying DVD Red Rocks Live were filmed and recorded at
Red Rocks in 2000 during the "Silver and Gold" tour. Local Colorado band Big Head
Todd and the Monsters released a DVD and live album of a notable 1995 performance
in 2003, capturing what has become a local annual early season tradition. In
2009, they followed the original recording up with a 2-CD/1DVD set from
their June 2008 performance. A two-volume 2003 album, Carved in
Stone, features live performances by various artists at Red Rocks, including
R.E.M., Ben Harper, Coldplay, The Allman Brothers Band, and Phish, with proceeds
going towards a fund for preservation of the park and amphitheatre.
Phish frontman, Trey Anastasio, included excerpts from his 2005 performance at
Red Rocks on the DVD that accompanied his album "Shine." Country music
superstar Gary Allan filmed the music video for his song "Watching Airplanes"
during a live sell-out concert at Red Rocks in August 2007. A portion of
British rock band Oasis's rockumentary film "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" was
filmed at Red Rocks. A Perfect Circle also included one live video recording
on the CD/DVD AMotion. Insane Clown Posse came back with Twiztid, Blaze Ya
Dead Homie, Boondox, the Axe Murder Boyz, Grave Plott, The ROC, and Motown
Rage in May 2008 to Red Rocks to perform the 'first annual' Hatchet Attacks Super
Show, for which they released a video later that year.
Depeche Mode recorded their show at the amphitheatre on August 29, 2009, for
their live albums project Recording the Universe.
Country superstar Kenny Chesney included a live version of You and Tequila, a
duet with Grace Potter, on his latest album Welcome to the Fishbowl. The
recording has a segment with audience participation singing the chorus "You
and Tequila make me crazy, run like poison in my blood, one more night could
kill me baby, one is one too many, one more is never enough".
A Perfect Circle recorded the DVD portion of their A Perfect Circle Live:
Featuring Stone and Echo box set on August 2, 2011. Also included in the box
set is a CD of the audio from the show. On August 29, 2012 Mumford & Sons
recorded their live performance of their first single "I Will Wait" from their
new CD Babel at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The performance was
released on September 9, 2012 as the band's official video for the song. The
band released a full-length DVD of their show at Red Rocks, recorded on 28 and 29
August 2012, entitled The Road To Red Rocks.
On August 31, 2014 Joe Bonamassa performed a special concert at Red Rocks
featuring the music of blues legends Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf which was
recorded for PBS and Palladia. In film and television
Part of the film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane was filmed at Red Rocks.
Opening sequences feature the fictional rock band "Black Plague" playing at Red
Rocks Amphitheatre where lead singer Bobby Black makes a grand entrance
hanging from the rock face of the landmark red rocks above the crowd
swooping on stage via zipline The amphitheatre was the start and
finish line of the reality show The Amazing Race 9.
The Red Rocks Amphitheatre was featured in an episode of South Park, as the
location of a Jonas Brothers concert. The Red Rocks formations were featured
in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled, "Last Dance", where the
character of Sully, in 1871, determined to work toward convincing the government
to designate the entire area as a protected national park.
Rapper B.o.B. filmed his music video Don't Let Me Fall. The music video was
released on YouTube on November 17, 2010 Zac Brown Band filmed their song Keep Me
In Mind here. The group Train with singer Ashley
Monroe filmed the music video Bruises at Red Rocks in late summer of 2012. The
video was officially released on Train's official Vevo account on November 12,
2012. The American band OneRepublic partially
filmed the music video for their single I Lived at Red Rocks in the summer of
2014 Colorado Music Hall of Fame
In June 2015, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame opened its doors in the Trading
Post at Red Rocks. Honors
After Pollstar magazine awarded Red Rocks the honor of best small outdoor
venue for the 11th time, the leading concert industry magazine decided to
name the nationally coveted honor the Red Rocks Award—and remove Red Rocks
from the running. It is voted on annually by the magazine's membership.
The American Institute of Architects selected Red Rocks to be Colorado's
entry at the National Gallery of Art for the AIA's Centennial Exhibition in 1957.
Gallery See also
List of contemporary amphitheatres Red Rocks Park
Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky – a live video by U2
Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 – a live album by Dave Matthews Band
Weekend on the Rocks – a live album/DVD by Dave Matthews Band
Night Visions Live – a live album/video by Imagine Dragons
References ^ Red Rocks History/Geology
^ Red Rocks Park Timeline of the 1930s and 1940s, from Denvergov.org
^ [Thomas J. Noel, Sacred Stones: Colorado's Red Rocks Park &
Amphitheatre, pages 74–75.] ^ "Jethro Tull Press: Los Angeles Free
Press, 18 June 1971". Tullpress.com. June 18, 1971. Retrieved October 24,
2012. ^ Rush Interview
^ "Mumford & Sons Match Grandeur of Red Rocks on 'I Will Wait' . Rolling Stone.
Retrieved September 24, 2012 ^ IMDB Actor Vince Neil
^ Schiff, Mark. "Colorado Music Hall of Fame moves into its new home at Red
Rocks". AXS. Retrieved 15 June 2015. External links
Official website Red Rocks Amphitheatre Seating Chart