Colorado Symphony and Nathaniel Rateliff Set Red Rocks Records in 2020 | Westword
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Nathaniel Rateliff and Colorado Symphony Set Red Rocks Records in 2020

A live-streamed Rateliff show will end the season September 30.
The September 15 Nathaniel Rateliff concert at Red Rocks was an intimate affair.
The September 15 Nathaniel Rateliff concert at Red Rocks was an intimate affair. Aaron Thackeray
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While Red Rocks Amphitheatre's normal season was butchered by the pandemic, the venue still managed to set some records in 2020.

Nathaniel Rateliff, who has announced yet another live-streamed show at the legendary venue on September 30, made Red Rocks history in 2020, playing more shows there in one season than any other solo performer, says Brian Kitts, a Denver Arts & Venues spokesperson.

But the Colorado Symphony will go down in the books as the musical outfit with the most Red Rock shows in any single season, though the musicians in those shows varied.

This is also the first season in venue history with a 100 percent sellout record, Kitts says. The Tiesto, Fitz and the Tantrums and Lotus shows this week each sold out in under thirty seconds.

Of course, Kitts points out, with a 175-capacity crowd — some of the smallest audiences Red Rocks has seen since its earliest days — those records weren't exactly hard to break.

Thanks to Megan Thee Stallion, Red Rocks also made the cover of Time's 100 Most Influential People of the Year edition.

And there's more good news — amid so much wretched news. When it shuts down at the end of this month, Red Rocks will get a much-needed new roof over its stage. Arts & Venues head Ginger White promises that it will allow Red Rocks to bring in even bigger concerts, with more robust productions than would have been possible to host in the past.

Even after five in-person Red Rocks concerts earlier this month, as well as a few others that were live-streamed, Rateliff is excited about the season-closing performance celebrating his solo album And It's Still Alright.

"This is our way of sharing the show with everyone around the world," he says of the September 30 event. "We worked as hard as ever to put this show together, and we don’t know when we will be able to get back out there. Whether you're on stage or in the audience, Red Rocks is certainly the best place in the world to play.”

The live-streamed concert is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 30, and costs $15 plus fees to watch; tickets are available through Seated.
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