Editor’s note: Welcome to the eighth installment of our 15-week series Colorado 150, marking 150 years of statehood with our favorite Colorado things.
One of the best parts of any concert, play or comedy act, at least for me, is the last few minutes before showtime. There is a hush that settles over the crowd, a buzzy anticipation hanging in the air, sometimes followed by a rumble of applause as the lights dim and the artists take their places.
In Colorado, that flicker of excitement lasts more than just those final moments before the stage comes alive. That’s because of the bounty of performing arts venues across the state, some of them almost too spectacular to describe. The places we go to shake off the rest of the world and connect to artists and acts that stir something deeper within us are unlike venues anywhere else. And they’re a big part of what makes a night spent in a sea of concertgoers or theater enthusiasts so memorable.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, perhaps the centerpiece of the arts and music scene, is as Colorado as it gets. No matter the hour, it’s the kind of destination that will give you something to marvel at in every direction — a towering peak carved by the hands of time, a distant view of Denver’s skyline and a web of nearby hiking trails.
But there are plenty of other spots in the state where musicians and performers captivate and elate their audiences — less famous but no less stunning. Take, for example, Mountaineer Theatre in Lake City, which will transport you back in time to the golden age of cinema. Or Rangely’s Tank Center for Sonic Arts, an old water tank where the most ordinary sounds and songs are made otherworldly by all kinds of notes and octaves spilling from instruments and sound engineers.
Where do you escape into the arts? Let us know and we’ll keep growing our list.
Erica Breunlin | Education Reporter
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Since July 1941, Red Rocks has consistently awed audiences with its setting and the big acts it attracts. The natural amphitheatre was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, who recognized the remarkable acoustics of the site and blasted out a slope full of built-in seats. Audiences in the outdoor venue face east, and summertime shows often feature the double spectacle of live musical performances backed by scattered lightning across the Eastern Plains. Of course, those storms don’t always stay at bay, so check the weather before you head to a show (or a sunrise).
Creede Rep
The curtain first lifted on the Creede Repertory Theatre in 1966, the idea of a theater-loving pastor and the town’s Junior Chamber of Commerce, who were looking for a way to stoke summer tourism during an era of decline for the local silver mines. It started small — with five shows performed by 12 students who drove out from the University of Kansas — and has only grown, now employing around 75 artists and offering over 100 performances to nearly 20,000 patrons every year. When the last mine in Creede closed in 1984, the Rep became the county’s largest employer, and continues to be the economic driver that its founders had hoped for.
Ivy Ballroom
A standing room-only venue that often pulls in national headliners on their way to Red Rocks, as well as plenty of local and regional talents. While Colorado’s mountain towns have no shortage of intimate spots for live music, the Ivy stands out for its location, inside the Surf Hotel on the banks of the Arkansas River in Buena Vista, making it a perfect Main Street spot to end a day of adventuring. It’s also, according to Sun reporter Jason Blevins, the “undisputed best small room in the state.” (And thanks to Jason Myers for the great photo).
Shakespeare in the Sangres
At Shakespeare in the Sangres in historic downtown Westcliffe, the Bard’s tales are brought to life in the unlikeliest of places — a small stage in the leafy backyard of an old Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad depot, with spectators fanned out on lawn chairs under sprawling trees and a few canopies for shade, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains towering in the distance. Part of the fun in these outdoor performances is in watching players scramble to prepare for their next scenes, sometimes dashing off stage into a restored railcar perched in a sideyard for rapid wardrobe changes.
Central City Opera House
This beautiful two-story stone building that fronts Main Street in Central City is the state’s oldest surviving opera house, and the fifth oldest in the nation. The venue was built in the 1870s with money raised by a citizens’ group to bring cultural opportunities to the gruff mining area. It fell out of disrepair not long after its opening season in 1878, and was revived in 1932 with a summer festival that offered both opera and theater performances — a tradition that continues to this day. The events calendar is typically filled year-round.
Mountaineer Theatre
Nestled in the San Juan Mountains, the one-screen Mountaineer Theatre in Lake City is a go-to among locals during the winter and Texas tourists in the summer. It opened in 1975 with vintage projectors and old-style popcorn and cotton-candy machines. The theatre has been around long enough that the previous top hits have become today’s classics, and the release posters for “Some Like It Hot” with Marilyn Monroe, “Jaws,” John Wayne Westerns, “The Sound of Music” and “Casa Blanca” remain on the walls, along with black-and-white photos of the Virden family, who founded the theater, and community members over the years.
Telluride Bluegrass
Let’s start with the obvious: Telluride Bluegrass is a festival, not a venue. But what sets this annual revelry apart are the sprawling grounds that fill Town Park, and spill into nearby campgrounds, where Festivarians — as they’re known — gather to meet new folks and share a meal. For more than 50 years crowds have gathered during the weekend closest to summer solstice, enduring intense sun and afternoon thunderstorms — summer signatures in the high country — that are as much a part of the festival experience as the music itself. As the festival’s website says, the show goes on rain or shine.
Mishawaka Amphitheatre
Tucked partway up the Poudre Canyon, Mishawaka has been through a few phases over its more than 100-year history. It began as a dance hall and general store handbuilt by a Fort Collins musician starting in 1916, expanding to include an outdoor amphitheater in the 1970s and drawing crazy crowds who many thought would lead to its own demise. After a few rowdy decades, the Mish was sold in 2010 and the new owner has revived the property and its reputation, creating a warm and rustic concert venue.
Tank Center for the Sonic Arts
One day in 1976, composer and sound artist Bruce Odland was touring Colorado when a couple of oil workers drove him to an abandoned water tank on the hillside above Rangely. They demonstrated for Odland a nearly minute-long reverberation that bounced around the parabolic floor and 65-foot concave roof. The tank became and remained an unofficial stop for sound artists and musicians until 2012, when Odland and others formed Friends of the Tank, renovating the space and turning it into the Tank Center for the Sonic Arts. Its title, beautifully and purposely ambiguous, reflects the open-ended manner in which people visiting the tank use its acoustics.
Pea Green Saturday Night
On the fourth Saturday of January, February, March and April as winter turns to spring, a community hall in Pea Green fires up for a night of music, food and comedy. It’s open to all but filled mostly with folks from Delta, Mesa and Montrose counties who know how to get there without Google maps. Attendees are charged $10 and a potluck dish for entry, and the format for Pea Green Saturday Night is always the same: an opening band, followed by refreshments and potluck, a short comedy routine and then more music.