JohnRyan Lockman
Audio By Carbonatix
Every June, more than 90,000 people descend on Vail for the GoPro Mountain Games, and many newcomers think they know what to expect: speed climbers catapulting up the wall, mountain bikers tearing through the valley, and trail runners pushing their lungs to their limits. But what most people don’t realize is that the Mountain Games has also quietly built one of the best music festivals in Colorado.
This year’s event takes place June 4–7, and the Mountains of Music concert series is stacked. In addition to nonstop free live music on multiple stages throughout Vail on all four days, the festival includes three nights of ticketed shows at Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, tucked into the mountains right next to Vail Village.
This year’s lineup features Wilderado, Michael Marcagi, Mountain Grass Unit, Allman Betts Family Revival in the Rockies, Eric Krasno & Friends, and more. Plus, the night before the festival officially opens, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will get things going with a solo acoustic set under the stars.
If you’re not familiar with the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, you’re missing out. It was named the #4 best amphitheater in the country in the 2025 USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, beating out Red Rocks. The Amp just completed the first phase of a three-year, $19 million renovation, so the seats are new, the experience is better than ever, and the backdrop is the Rockies at their early-summer best. There’s a reason people who’ve been there once can’t stop talking about it.
The daytime festival is entirely free, no ticket required, and the energy in Vail Village during Mountain Games weekend is unlike anything else. The CoLab Creator Stage also hosts artists throughout the weekend in the middle of all the action, and the whole village is essentially one big outdoor festival. Gather with friends or bring your kids (or dogs), grab food from vendors, and watch world-championship slacklining or bouldering while a band plays fifty feet away. It’s the perfect way to kick off summer in Colorado.
The Mountain Games is one of the most family-friendly summer events in the state, and it’s the perfect way to introduce kids to the outdoors. They can watch elite athletes up close, wander through the festival grounds, participate in any of the free kids’ activities, and catch live music, all in a single afternoon. You don’t need to be an athlete, enter a competition, or spend a fortune. You just need to show up.
That said, if someone in your crew does want to compete in mountain biking, trail running, climbing, disc golf, you name it — they can. The Mountain Games draws some of the best outdoor athletes in the world, but registration is open to everyone. The events are designed to celebrate participation as much as elite performance.
At the heart of it all is a simple truth that GoPro Mountain Games organizers figured out long before the rest of the festival world caught on: Mountain culture and music culture are one and the same.
They go together like hot dogs and baseball, campfires and s’mores, après ski and a Hot Toddy. And nowhere does that pairing feel more inevitable than at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater: 8,000 feet up, surrounded by the beauty of the Rockies, in a mountain town buzzing with the energy of summer’s arrival.
