Travel Diary: Red Rocks
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
It was a bizarre feeling taking off from New Orleans, the 100 degree heat, flood waters still overtaking the small communities less than an hour away to land in Denver, Colorado for another Red Rocks adventure. In the days before I left to travel back out to Colorado, I was home sick - literally, and also feeling sick for the tragedy that continues as the clean up from the floods last week in Louisiana goes on.
I pushed my flight back two days initially intending to arrive in Aspen to spend a few days and then travel over to Red Rocks to be reunited with my love and his band for their final show of Summer tour. Once I finally arrived Friday morning I felt a small sense of relief as I made the trek from the Denver airport out to the Amphitheatre many considered to be the best in the world.
Grace Potter and the Magical Midnight Road Show sound checking a few hours before the show.
The night was one for the books in many ways.
The day started out sunny, I hiked to the top of the venue to watch sound check way down below.
An hour or so later rains came in... over dinner we heard stories about Red Rock's being a rain or shine venue... stories about opening bands diving under tarps with their equipment so as to keep themselves and their gear dry during torrential downpours. And then as 60 of us prepared for a champagne toast, the bottle popped and simultaneously lightening struck.
We were in the middle of the Grace Potter friends and family dinner to celebrate the last night of tour and in that moment the lights went out across the entire venue. The next two hours we waited in the dark. We waited, and then we snuck all around the venue by candle light exploring tunnels and hallways the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia and so many more spent time in.
Miraculously right before show time the lights flickered back on and all was right again.
The night went on, rain drizzling down, the band playing to a crowd that came prepared. Rain ponchos and hours of dancing kept everyone dry and warm.
It was a perfect ending to the summer tour. I'm so incredibly proud to call this group on stage my friends. I've never seen a show like the one they put on from night to night - talent and musicianship at it's finest.
Ben and I left that night for Grand Lake, Colorado - a 2 hours drive through the Rockies - and my thoughts went back to Louisiana. The people back there at home know how to care for each other. Like Bob Marley's quote - it's a place of music and good feelings, when it hits, no matter the pain, everything's all right.
We'll be out here the next week taking a little down time before heading home to finish moving into the new house in Nashville.
More to come from Colorado!
xoxo,
Andi
