Colorado’s mountain cities are locations for mountaineering, biking, scorching springs and extra, however select the fitting one and also you’ll additionally faucet into music scenes which might be locations in their very own proper.
Listed below are 5 locations price including to any music fan’s bucket record. Don’t overlook to pack your dancing footwear.
Aspen
Aspen is a small city with huge metropolis vitality in terms of reside music, due to its mixture of venues, festivals and sporting occasions that draw bands from across the nation. Stomach Up Aspen is the premiere membership to catch a live performance whether or not you’re a fan of EDM, nation music, blues, indie rock or reggae. The historic Wheeler Opera Home caters to followers of classical music and opera. And the competition season runs year-round with winter points of interest like Palm Tree Music Competition and summer time occasions like Up within the Sky Competition. In June, the Jazz Aspen Snowmass competition takes over the city with a plethora of occasions at indoor and out of doors venues, earlier than its sister competition, JAS Labor Day Expertise, pops up with a extra conventional essential stage competition expertise within the fall. All that, plus free reveals throughout ski season and summer time make Aspen a must-visit for music lovers.
Buena Vista
Whether or not you’re an off-the-cuff music fan or a hardcore festivarian, Buena Vista has the tunes to sonically fulfill. The city’s most high-profile venue is Meadow Creek, a sprawling 277-acre plot of land used as a competition grounds full with the complete vacation spot tenting expertise. Beforehand the positioning of Billy Strings’ Renewal competition, in 2025, Meadow Creek hosts Fairly Lights for the two-day Yahn Daybreak competition (June 27-28) and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for a three-day occasion referred to as Area of Imaginative and prescient (Aug. 15-17).
Downtown Buena Vista boasts a number of indoor venues, such because the Ivy Ballroom on the Surf Lodge and The Lariat, that host native and nationally touring bands throughout a wide range of genres. When the climate is good, followers can soak up a live performance at out of doors areas like The Garden (additionally on the Surf Lodge) and The Seashore, situated 6 miles south of city on the banks of the Arkansas River.
Dillon
First opened within the Nineteen Nineties, the Dillon Amphitheater received a serious improve in 2018 and has turn out to be the hallmark of the city’s summer time music scene. It commonly attracts artists you would possibly in any other case see on the lineup at Pink Rocks Amphitheatre, together with Alison Krauss & Union Station, Tash Sultana and Rainbow Kitten Shock within the 2025 season. However with a roughly 3,600-person capability – lower than half that of Pink Rocks – seeing these acts in Dillon guarantees to be a extra intimate expertise. And since it’s situated on the shore of Lake Dillion, which is surrounded by peaks, the view isn’t dangerous both. Reveals often require a ticket, however not at all times, as bands play totally free as a part of the venue’s Monday music collection.
Telluride
Although it’s one among Colorado’s far-out enclaves, Telluride is a cease on nationally touring bands’ calendars due to the myriad festivals it hosts every summer time. The field canyon comes alive with the sound of music for occasions just like the Telluride Bluegrass Competition in June, which has turn out to be a time-honored custom for locals and artists alike over its 50-plus yr historical past, and Telluride Jazz Competition in August, which features a second line parade down Colorado Avenue yearly. Free concert events on Wednesdays and Fridays in Mountain Village, which is only a brief gondola journey away, maintain the vibes rolling by the summer time earlier than the season concludes with the incomparable Telluride Blues & Brews Competition in September.
Even within the winter, although, followers are prone to catch an act they like on the historic Sheridan Opera Home or native bars like The Alibi and O’Bannon’s Irish Pub. The ski resort additionally books native DJs to play at eating places on the mountain, as a result of dancing is one of the simplest ways to remain heat – belief us.
Vail
Equally to Dillon, the city of Vail boasts a state-of-the-art amphitheater that bands forgo radius clauses to carry out at. The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater opened in 1987, and in July of that yr, Willie Nelson was the primary artist to christen the stage. The out of doors venue has grown from internet hosting six concert events in its first yr to dozens, together with acclaimed acts like O.A.R. and Melissa Etheridge, each of whom shall be stopping by this summer time after performances at Pink Rocks. The amphitheater can also be recognized for internet hosting dance performances and classical music, just like the annual Bravo! Vail Music Competition.
Elsewhere in Vail, Shakedown Bar is a mainstay for reside music with performers virtually each evening of the week, and Chasing Rabbits is the place to bop the evening away to the tune of DJs. All of the aforementioned venues ebook their calendars within the winter months, too, from après hour to late evening.
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