The first performers, posed upon a primitive platform at the base of Stage Rock, were the Signor Ferrulo band in August 1910. Many others would follow.
By Cathleen Norman
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is our own backyard treasure – a stunning scarlet setting for local, national and international music and events, as well as a classic destination to take your out-of-town summer visitors. A musical night at Red Rocks is a cherished memory for the audience and a desired aspiration for performers.
The mesmerizing, mysterious collection of red rock formations 15 miles west of Denver was christened “Garden of the Angels” by the first settlers who founded the nearby town of Morrison. In the late 1800s, entrepreneur-investor John Brisben Walker purchased the property, developed a small amusement park known as “Garden of the Titans” and installed a tourist incline railway up the east face of Mount Falcon.
The now-legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre seats nearly 10,000 people for a variety of entertainment all summer long. Photos courtesy of Denver Public Library - Western History Collection, by Harry Rhoads
Walker also discovered the acoustic properties of the trio of towering sandstone structures called Ship Rock, Creation Rock and Stage Rock. He installed a performing platform at their base. Walker organized several summer concerts on this temporary stage, one of them a 25-piece brass band for the May 31 opening of his Garden of the Titans amusement park in 1906.
The first solo performer in the natural amphitheat-re was world-famous Scottish soprano Mary Garden who sang Annie Laurie and Schubert’s Ave Maria on May 10, 1911. Mary declared “never in any opera house the world over have I found more perfect acoustic properties than those under Creation Rock in the natural auditorium at Mount Morrison.”
Thus began the century of tradition of music at Red Rocks.
The City and County of Denver acquired the 640-acre property from Walker in 1927 for a price of $54,133. George Cranmer, the vivacious and visionary manager of Denver Parks, convinced Mayor Ben Stapleton to develop the natural performing space into a large-scale venue. Denver’s premier architect Burnham Hoyt designed the open-air auditorium based on an ancient outdoor theater he had seen in Sicily.
Cradled by Ship Rock, Creation Rock and Stage Rock, the site had natural acoustics recognized by its first owner, John Brisben Walker, and transformed in the late 1930s into the spectacular performance venue known as Red Rocks.
“The rocks are intensely red in color and of fantastic shapes…,” Hoyt observed. “Aside from the spectacular scenery, its acoustic properties are amazing – a whisper carries to the top of the seating area.”
Two Depression-era federal programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Work Projects Administration, provided labor for the massive, six-year-long project. With picks and shovels, wheelbarrows and rock sleds, the dollar-a-day CCC workers removed 50,000 cubic feet of dirt and rock to create the steeply slanted area. Using 800 tons of quarried stone and 30,000 pounds of reinforced steel, workers erected the stage and the amphitheatre seating that accommodates 9,400 people. The youthful CCC workforce is commemorated by the bronze sculpture installed in 1988 at the top of the amphitheatre.
Dedicated on June 15, 1941, Red Rocks Amphitheater has hosted regular concert seasons every year since 1947. The first performance of each year is the Easter Sunrise Service.
Opera, ballet, musicals, jazz, square dancing, the Koshare Indian Dancers and the Mormon Tabernacle choir entertained summer audiences. The Denver Symphony Orchestra performed at Red Rocks from the late 1940s through 1962. The summer of 1964 was the first for popular groups. That year the venue hosted the Limeliters, The Brothers Four, Joan Baez, Al Hirt Sextet, Peter, Paul & Mary and a notorious performance by The Beatles on Aug. 26.
The “Red Rocks Riot” in summer 1971 – a skirmish at a Jethro Tull concert between tear-gas wielding police and 1,000 rock-tossing gatecrashers – led to rock ‘n’ roll being banished from the venue. For the next five years, softer acoustic acts played there: John Denver, Sonny & Cher, The Carpenters, Pat Boone, Seals & Crofts, Judy Collins and Carole King. Finally, concert promoter Barry Fey sued the City and County of Denver when he was denied a permit for the band America. The court ruled that the city had acted “arbitrarily and capricious” in banning rock concerts and starting in the summer of 1976, Red Rocks again welcomed rock bands.
During the past 50 years, the venue has achieved legendary status for national and international music stars. The Hall of Fame, located in the Red Rocks Visitor Center, salutes a score of performers from Dan Fogelberg and Carlos Santa to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, U2 and Sting.
Constructing Red Rocks Amphitheatre was a massive, six-year project. The outdoor venue opened, June 15, 1941.
The venue has been the setting for numerous music albums, CDs, DVDs and films, including Dave Matthews Band, Blues Travelers, Steve Martin, The Moody Blues, Neil Young, John Tesh and Colorado’s own Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Perhaps Red Rocks’ best-known performance was U2’s full concert-length video, Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, filmed in June 1983 and shown all over the planet via MTV. A two-volume album recorded in 2003, Carved in Stone, features live performances by various artists at Red Rocks with sales profits going towards preservation of the park and amphitheatre.
Red Rocks was, of course, a favorite venue for The Grateful Dead and the horde of band followers known as Dead Heads descended upon Red Rocks and the Town of Morrison each year. The venue continues as multi-day stop for subsequent jam bands, like Phish and Yonder Mountain String Band. Widespread Panic holds the record for the most performances at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
The 868-acre Red Rocks Park (Denver Mayor Wellington Webb expanded the original 640 acres in 1999) is threaded with trails, scattered with parking lots and anchored by the 1931 Mission- and Pueblo Revival-style Indian Trading Post. In 2003, the $15 million subterranean Red Rocks Visitor Center opened at the top of the amphitheater; it houses a restaurant and bar, displays of music memorabilia and the Performers Hall of Fame.
This summer’s concert season features something for everyone, including: Willie Nelson, Chicago with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Steve Miller Band, ABBA, Yes, Styx, Kenny Chesney, Soundgarden, Sara MacLachlan with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Allison Kraus, Peter Gabriel, a three-day stint by Widespread Panic, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, the Global Dance Festival and yes, Jethro Tull. Tickets start at $60. Film on the Rocks has also been popular the past few years.
The colorful venue thoroughly satisfies as a tourist destination. The amphitheatre becomes a camera target and the Visitor Center fills with international visitors, summer tourists and Denver metro day-trippers. And visitors stop by the picturesque Trading Post bristling with “Red Rocks” T-shirts, ball caps and shot glass, snacks and toys, as well as candles and crystals and crocheted, rainbow-hued beanie caps awaiting concertgoers.
For information on upcoming events and concerts, visit www.redrocksonline.com.
Even empty, the amphitheatre is a camera target; note the youthful trumpeter playing on the stage. Photo by Cathleen Norman
