Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Performances

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.

One of the notable performances given at Red Rocks was by the rock group U2 in June 1983. This performance was released as a full concert-length video, Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, segments of which were shown frequently on MTV, and captured the band in its ascendancy to superstardom. U2's performance at Red Rocks later was included in Rolling Stone's list of the "50 Moments that Changed Rock and Roll". Two tracks from the performance were included on U2's 1983 live album, Under a Blood Red Sky.

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 (35 shows as headliner, plus one show opening for Blues Traveler in 1994).

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.