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AEG Presents Rocky Mountains, the music promotion company and booking giant owned by Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz, announced today, October 8, that it has partnered with the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park to expand the historic hotel's live entertainment offerings to sixty events per year that will "include exciting new artists and events that grow the diversity and scope of programming," according to a statement announcing the deal.
Stanley Hotel owner John Cullen has built out the hotel's campus and added to its events so that it's become something of a cultural hub up in Estes Park. The hotel, already famous for inspiring Stephen King's The Shining, launched its own booking and promotion service called Stanley Live, bringing in talent for concerts, comedy shows, festivals and parties. Then, in spring of this year, the Stanley opened a $10 million performance venue called the Pavilion Amphitheatre, and the statement announcing today's news reveals that the hotel is still planning to construct a 40,000-square-foot horror-film center with the help of $11.6 million from Colorado's Regional Tourism Act (October 2016, “Shine On”).
EXPANDAEG, meanwhile, continues to consolidate its power in Colorado's live-music market. In April this year, AEG Presents Rocky Mountains announced that it would be unveiling a 60,000-square-foot concert venue called the Mission Ballroom in Denver's RiNo neighborhood next summer.
Today's announcement adds the Stanley to the list of venues that AEG supports.
AEG Presents Rocky Mountains Vice President of Talent Scott Campbell says that his company's relationship with the Stanley began in 2013 when the band Murder by Death booked a show at the hotel using AEG as a promoter. Murder by Death has returned every year to the Stanley since, and next year plans to do five concerts over two weekends in January.
“We owe much of the Stanley Live success to the idea planted by AEG Presents,” writes the Stanley's vice president, Reed Rowley, in today's statement. “It was only logical that we further combine forces and take the entertainment program at the Stanley to the next level. Working with a national entertainment leader gives us the ability to expand and develop new entertainment facilities on our hotel campus. This is just the start of many exciting things to come.”
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