Live at Red Rocks

Day 15 – Denver, CO

When we planned out this trip, today was the centerpoint everything else was built around.  One of the main reasons we wanted to come out west was to see at show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  We weren’t too picky; we just knew we wanted to see something at such an historic, amazing venue.  Shows were announced and nothing either jumped out at us or didn’t fall into the necessary time period.  Finally, it was announced that O.A.R. (Of A Revolution) would be playing on July 15^th.  That fit perfectly into the time line and, while O.A.R. is not a favorite of ours, it is still a band we both enjoy.  So we bought the tickets and built the rest of the trip around that.  

The enterance to Red Rocks.

In order to get to Morrison (where red Rocks is located) in time to check in to our hotel and get ready for the show, we needed to leave Salt Lake City.  It was an uneventful 8 hour drive that mostly went through southern Wyoming, before cutting south through Colorado.  The only hiccup came when we tried to check into our hotel and we did not have a reservation.  Not sure how I messed that one up; I’m thinking I forgot to click “confirm”.  Since that hotel had no vacancies, we had to scramble.  Luckily the Holiday Inn across the street had decent rates and vacancies so we were able to get a room without much of a problem.

Waiting for O.A.R., ignoring Rebolution.

We made it to the show with plenty of time to look around and take pictures before the show started.  Red Rocks is an amazing venue; it’s hard to remember that the rocks are not man-made.  The amphitheatre fits perfectly into the rocks and you can see all of Denver behind the stage.  I think I spent as much time looking at the surroundings as I did at the show.

The monolith "Ship Rock" on the left side of the amphitheatre.

As for the music, well, it was so-so.  The opening group was a faux-reggae pop band from Santa Barbara, CA called Rebolution.  We had never heard of them before the show, so before we left for our trip, I checked them out on iTunes.  The music seemed almost unlistenable, it was so bad.  They pretty much confirmed that with their live show.  They played somewhere between 7 and 13 songs during their hour set.  Not quite sure how many because every song sounded exactly the same.  They seemed to have a lot of fans there based on the number of people singing and dancing along, but I have a sneaking suspicion that other substances may have been helping along.

The sun setting as O.A.R. starts their set.

The main act was the group O.A.R (Of A Revolution).  Amy and I both enjoy their music and Amy has actually seen them before at Summerfest.  However, they are not one of our favorites; again, we picked this more for the venue than the band.  OAR’s music can be broken into three categories: the old stuff which is great, the middle stuff which is good, and the new stuff which is terrible.  IN past concerts, they always played a lot of old stuff because that is what made them popular and what everyone knows.  However, last night was being filmed for TV and was in support of their new album, so they focused on the new stuff.  They did play my favorite song (Crazy Game of Poker) and Amy’s favorite (Hey Girl), as well as some other favorites like Black Rock, A Delicate Few, and Shattered.  But they also played a lot of stuff we didn’t know or particularly like.  But since the whole point of this adventure was to see Red Rocks, we left very happy.

Tomorrow we get back to camping and start Part II of the trip as we head up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Now time for bed so I can rest my ringing ears.