On the evening of Saturday 19.Sep.09, Julie and I made our first trip to Red Rocks Amphitheater to take in the Jason Mraz show. We’ve lived in Colorado for 11 years, yet we’d never been to this world renowned venue. Shame on us… it’s truly one of the coolest, most spectacular gathering places in the world. More on that later.
Julie had bought the tickets off Craiglist for this sold-out show as a wedding anniversary gift for the pair of us. At the time, I wondered: what the hell is she thinking? They were expensive and my perception of Mraz was one of teenie bopper, highly produced, pop schlock (i.e. not really my thing). The guy owns the record for most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 for the single “I’m Yours“. If that isn’t an indictment, what is? I began to wonder if I knew what I was talking about when I offered a Facebook update about my concert plans the morning of the show and promptly received some very positive responses from a number of unexpected sources.
Turns out, I was indeed wrong. Mraz is a true talent. I really enjoyed the show from the introductions by MC Billy “Bushwalla” Galewood through Somali / Canadian opening act K’Naan and on into the main event. Mraz had a horn section, keyboards and a couple different percussionists in addition to a three man guitar section which includes himself. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the set that evening was pretty heavy in tunes from his current CD (I had listened to “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” only once before going to the show). But he mixed in some other stuff including a cool version of the Seals & Croft song “Summer Breeze” (I say cool because the original was pretty… umm… uncool). Mraz kept the chit-chat with the crowd to a minimum and instead he and the band focused on cranking out great music. I was thoroughly impressed and so was Julie. It is supremely unusual for us to like the same sort of music. After all these years together, could it be we’re starting to rub-off on one another to create some sort of bilateral, mutually moderating influence? Or something like that.
Julie sucking down a Starbucks & me grinning painfully
Maybe some of it was the location. Red Rocks is really a special place. From the natural surroundings to the great acoustics and the amazing views looking up at about 9,000 people from our great seats in the 20th row. All of it was memorable and worth the expense and hassle of a live concert. For years, I had been to very few shows and those I had attended were for smaller acts in smaller venues. I’d grown tired of the traffic, the drunk kids and poor sound quality. If I wanted the sound of live music, I’d buy a live recorded CD and skip the rest. Getting old, I suppose, but I feel much the same way about live sports. However, I will absolutely go to another show at Red Rocks and it certainly won’t take a decade for it to happen.
But, as tempting as it may seem, I would not take a kid to Red Rocks for their first (or even 10th) live concert. Not that they wouldn’t enjoy it. No, I’d avoid it because the kid would be ruined for life when it comes to venues. I’d grown up catching shows in sterile, boring places like the Bismarck Civic Center, the Bison Sports Arena on NDSU’s campus and the long departed Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, MN. Red Rocks is spectacular and nothing short of a classic, mega arena (i.e. pro football stadium) could ever eclipse a show at Red Rocks. And even then it might not beat Red Rocks.
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