Nathaniel Rateliff's 2020 tour was cut short in March by COVID-19. But Rateliff is still going to play Red Rocks this year — in front of live, if small, audiences. “We want to get out there and play,” he said in a statement announcing a series of five concerts that start next week. “We feel so fortunate that Red Rocks is our hometown venue and look forward to having people at normal capacities in the future. But until that time, it will feel great to make the best of the current situation; we want to get back to that live energy."

A maximum of 175 people will be allowed in the nearly 10,000-seat venue at the shows, which start on September 15. And while that's far from the overflow crowd that fans have grown to expect for Rateliff, it will be the first time the Missouri-born, Denver-based singer-songwriter has played in front of actual humans since the spring.

And those humans appreciate it, as evidenced by their comments on our Facebook post of the Rateliff concert news. Says Joe:

Broncos can have 5,700 people in their venue but Nathaniel can have only 175? I assume Nathaniel would be happy to have people sit in “pods”, have separate restroom facilities and more to increase capacity similarly.

Government shouldn’t be giving special permission to football and not the arts.

Notes Kleber:

This is the same mentality as school district administrators upping the football team’s budget over the arts programs. Thanks for favoring a multi-million dollar football team that’ll have another forgettable, mediocre season over artists and venue owners trying to create culture in the city.

Adds Frank: 

They are allowing Mile High to have almost 8 percent of its capacity, yet Red Rocks is only allowed just under 2 percent of its capacity. And Red Rocks seats are definitely bigger and spaced out a LOT more than Mile High....if you used the same percent for Red Rocks as they are for Mile High, it'd be 722 people, not 175.

Asks Nick:

175 people! I wonder what the tix are gonna cost... $1,000 each?

Replies Marilyn:

$75. So doable.

And Megan concludes:

Been waiting for SOMEONE to do this. About time.

Will you try to get tickets to a Rateliff show? How about the Broncos? What do you think about the number of people allowed at both venues? Post a comment or email your thoughts to editorial@westword.com.

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