There’s nothing quite like soaking up live music outdoors in the summer. As if catching a concert in the fresh air, with a fluttering breeze and stars overhead, weren’t alluring enough, Colorado is home to a handful of jaw-droppingly, distractingly scenic venues. Here are the most beautiful places in Colorado (possibly even the world), where the surroundings amp up the concert.
Even the world’s most popular artists have admitted to “dreaming” about their day to play Red Rocks. The venue first hosted musicians in the early 1900s when it only had a makeshift stage. Magazine publisher (and early Cosmopolitan owner) John Brisben Walker recognized the epic acoustics between the rugged landscape’s tallest two formations (Ship Rock and Creation Rock).
He began inviting musicians to perform on a simple platform. He even built a funicular railway to reach the natural amphitheater from the area that is now the lower parking lot. He sold the venue to the City of Denver in 1928, and after constructing an actual amphitheater, Red Rocks opened in 1941.
Among music history’s Hall of Famers, Nat King Cole, The Beatles (whose 1964 Red Rocks show didn’t even sell out), Jimi Hendrix, The Eurythmics, U2 and Bruce Springsteen have all performed here. Sitting at 6,450 feet (more than 1,000 feet above Denver), surrounded by hiking trails, and accessed by hundreds of stairs, getting to a show here is an experience. Once the music starts, especially if it’s a band you adore, the wal.
