Colorado’s mountain cities are locations for mountaineering, biking, sizzling springs and extra, however select the best one and also you’ll additionally faucet into music scenes which are locations in their very own proper.
Listed here are 5 locations price including to any music fan’s bucket listing. Don’t overlook to pack your dancing sneakers.
Aspen
Aspen is a small city with massive metropolis vitality relating to dwell music, due to its mixture of venues, festivals and sporting occasions that draw bands from across the nation. Belly 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 House caters to followers of classical music and opera. And the pageant season runs year-round with winter points of interest like Palm Tree Music Festival and summer season occasions like Up in the Sky Festival. In June, the Jazz Aspen Snowmass festival takes over the city with a plethora of occasions at indoor and outside venues, earlier than its sister pageant, JAS Labor Day Experience, pops up with a extra conventional principal stage pageant expertise within the fall. All that, plus free reveals throughout ski season and summer season 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 pageant grounds full with the complete vacation spot tenting expertise. Beforehand the positioning of Billy Strings’ Renewal pageant, in 2025, Meadow Creek hosts Fairly Lights for the two-day Yahn Dawn festival (June 27-28) and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for a three-day occasion referred to as Field of Vision (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 sweet, followers can absorb a live performance at outside areas like The Garden (additionally on the Surf Lodge) and The Beach, positioned 6 miles south of city on the banks of the Arkansas River.
Dillon
First opened within the Nineties, the Dillon Amphitheater obtained a significant improve in 2018 and has turn into the hallmark of the city’s summer season music scene. It often attracts artists you would possibly in any other case see on the lineup at Crimson 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 Crimson Rocks – seeing these acts in Dillon guarantees to be a extra intimate expertise. And since it’s positioned on the shore of Lake Dillion, which is surrounded by peaks, the view isn’t dangerous both. Exhibits often require a ticket, however not all the time, as bands play without spending a dime as a part of the venue’s Monday music sequence.
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 season. The field canyon comes alive with the sound of music for occasions just like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June, which has turn into a time-honored custom for locals and artists alike over its 50-plus 12 months historical past, and Telluride Jazz Festival 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 experience away, maintain the vibes rolling by the summer season earlier than the season concludes with the incomparable Telluride Blues & Brews Festival in September.
Even within the winter, although, followers are more likely to catch an act they like on the historic Sheridan Opera House 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 the easiest way 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 12 months, Willie Nelson was the primary artist to christen the stage. The outside venue has grown from internet hosting six concert events in its first 12 months to dozens, together with acclaimed acts like O.A.R. and Melissa Etheridge, each of whom might be stopping by this summer season after performances at Crimson Rocks. The amphitheater can also be identified for internet hosting dance performances and classical music, just like the annual Bravo! Vail Music Festival.
Elsewhere in Vail, Shakedown Bar is a mainstay for dwell music with performers virtually each night time of the week, and Chasing Rabbits is the place to bounce the night time away to the tune of DJs. All of the aforementioned venues e-book their calendars within the winter months, too, from après hour to late night time.
