About 15 miles west of Denver, near the small town of Morrison, two giant red rocks stand on a hillside. Their names are Ship Rock and Creation Rock. Between them sits one of the most famous concert places in the world: Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It’s 6,450 feet above sea level, so the air is thin, and the view of Denver and the plains is wide.
The rocks are millions of years old. When the Rocky Mountains formed, the ground pushed up and tilted these layers of rock, the same way it made the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs. The red color comes from iron in the rock. The Ute people probably used the area long ago. In 1820, Major Stephen Long’s expedition, the same group that included Edwin James, passed through. Early settlers called the place the Garden of the Angels.
In 1906, a businessman named John Brisben Walker bought the land and renamed it the Garden of the Titans. He held concerts there. In 1911, a famous opera singer named Mary Garden sang between the rocks. She said that in all the opera houses of the world, she had never found better acoustics. Visitors still ask themselves how simple rocks can make music sound so clear.
In 1927, the city of Denver bought the park for $54,133. George Cranmer, the manager of Denver’s parks, had a big dream: a real outdoor theater between the rocks. An architect named Burnham Hoyt designed it. During the Great Depression, young men from a government jobs program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, carried out the hard work. Construction began in 1936, and the amphitheatre opened on June 15, 1941. The rocks themselves became the walls of the theater.
On August 26, 1964, the Beatles played at Red Rocks. Surprisingly, it was the only show on their American tour that didn’t sell out. Ringo Starr later remembered that the place was very high and the air was thin. A year later, Johnny Cash put on the first country music show there.
Not every night was happy. In June 1971, during a Jethro Tull concert, people without tickets tried to break in. The police used tear gas, and a riot broke out. After that, the mayor of Denver banned rock concerts at Red Rocks for about five years. Many fans wondered if rock music would ever return. In 1976, it finally came back.
In June 1983, the Irish band U2 played at Red Rocks on a cold, rainy night for about 4,400 people. The show was filmed for a concert movie called Under a Blood Red Sky, and people around the world saw Red Rocks on their TV screens.
Today, Red Rocks is one of the best places in the world for live music. Each season begins with an Easter sunrise service, and in the summer you can watch movies there at “Film on the Rocks.” The Colorado Music Hall of Fame is there, too. If you go to a concert, take a jacket. It’s warm in the afternoon, but it gets cold at night. You’ll also climb a lot of stairs, so don’t wear uncomfortable shoes!
Fans who live in Denver go to many shows every summer, and many visitors say a night at Red Rocks was one of the best nights of their lives. If you could see any singer or band at Red Rocks, who would you choose?