We bought tickets for this in maybe April when the band announced it. Our favorite band.A headlining show at Red Rocks. Headlining. They've opened four times for other bands but this, this was theirs.
And I've always wanted to see a show at Red Rocks, so this was it. Here we go. We cannot miss this one.
I bought the tickets for myself and 5 friends.
I bought plane tickets for Linda and me. We all made our hotel arrangements for the same hotel, coordinated schedules. Got it all figured out.
The crew, the "framily" as Sara calls us was me, Linda (from NY), her bestie Ginger (from Florida), Sara and Sean (from up the road here in Maryland), Kacey (she went to HS with Jess and lives around the corner from them up in Massachusetts), and Joe and Debs. Sara and Sean connected with me before a show in DC, and we met Joe at the same show. Joe lives in Pittsburgh. Debs is his bestie, she lives in Virginia Beach. Debs and Linda got introduced to our little growing team at the Fillmore show for Lost and Gone Forever's 20th anniversary. Linda brought Ginger to the Guster show we attended in Fort Lauderdale.
No matter what, we'll jump anyone into our friend circle and have a great time.
Once the plans were made we then just had to wait. The excruciating wait. Time dragged on and eventually we got to the week of travel. Finally.
Linda drove here 2 days before the actual trip so we started our "vacation" early. We both are working from home so we worked from the couch here. We went out to eat all together with Doug and Geoff, cuddled with Phineas, and had a lot of fun just visiting.
Thursday we flew to Denver, you can't tell in the picture because of the mask but I'm smiling super big (you can tell Linda is because she's got goot "smize"... smiling eyes).
Our departure ended up rescheduled at some point, initially it was supposed to be 5pm but got bumped back to 7:30, which turned out okay since I didn't need to take half a vacation day just to go to the airport. We met up at the tequila cantina across from our gate, joyfully chatting. It had been a minute since we'd been in the same place and this was fun.
We got into Denver at about 10:30pm, got our luggage, and met Ginger at the passenger pick-up area. She had rented a "mid size SUV" but they gave her something much smaller. She argued this letting them know she had to pick up 4 people and luggage and this was not going to work but as many people know rental cars are scarce, and she had to just take what they gave her and deal with it.
Evaluating the situation, Sean and Sara were contemplating taking the light rail to get to the hotel, and we'd take the luggage. We were tired and cranky, our bodies feeling like it was closer to 1am than 11pm with the time change. We discussed it at length, how ridiculous this toy clown car was, but damn if somehow we didn't just make it all fit. I kind of wish I had video of this, or pictures, of how we did Tetris and got luggage into the way back, and then ourselves in there with more luggage on top of ourselves. With us laughing our asses off as we drove the forever long trip from the airport to downtown.
We must have looked a sight to the valet folks as we were falling out of the car, stuck under luggage, laughing like assholes.
Ginger had flown in that morning, so she had toodled aboot Denver getting to know the lay of the land. She bought the makings for cocktails and a mess of snacks, and Linda and Ginger's room was "the bar." My room was next door, and I had the room to myself until Kacey showed up Saturday morning. Sara and Sean were a couple floors above us, and the pool was waiting for us the next morning on the fourth floor deck.
We got checked in, had a couple cocktails. Sara was very hungry and tried to order Door Dash a couple of times but each time her order got canceled. Around 1:30 in the morning, she finally got a McDonalds order completed and delivered. Probably the best Quarter Pounder with Cheese I've ever had because at that time, I was also very hungry. We laughed our asses off and fell assless into our beds around 3:30am MT.
Linda got coffee. We went to the pool deck. The view was lovely but everyone local told us this was horrible. Not at all what the view should be. Cloudy, smoggy, smoke-filled. But hey, I thought it looked pretty nice.
Nice little football stadium there, too. Hello Denver Broncos.
We got ready for the pool and had a lovely afternoon "bobbing like manatees" in the water. Sara ordered pizza, we gathered with other Guster fans there (from MA and NH) and just really had some fun.
Some of the details and recollections are foggy for me for Friday. I do know that Joe and Debs were on their way to Denver, and I think we went to pick them up at the airport to surprise them. They had a shit day of flight cancellations and reroutings but we were so happy to get them there in one piece. More hanging out. More fun. Kacey arrived on Saturday morning and took the light rail. We were all gathered in our place together.
Here are Ginger and Linda, chilling in front of some wall art when we walked back from dinner on Friday night.
Saturday Ginger, Linda, and I went and got pedicures. Treat yoself. They were a lot more affordable than DC pedicures, that's for sure.
Guster hosted a bingo night on Saturday, and we ended up delaying our departure to the venue which was a mistake. We didn't get in, but were able to sit at a picnic table on the sidewalk and hear the game. We were able to get in to get drinks thanks to a friend who scored us nametags (you couldn't get inside without a name tag) so we could at least hang out, see other friends and, then this happened.
That's the drummer, Brian. He couldn't get in either. Too crowded. Ha.
I ran across the street to the brewery where he was hanging out on the patio to say hi. We got to visit for a few minutes, a lot of people wanted to say hi and get selfies so I didn't want to hog him. I wished him a happy early birthday (his birthday was the day before so I was wishing him a happy early birthday for next birthday. That's a joke we had running at the office for a while. "Every day that isn't your birthday is your early birthday, Brian," I explained. He laughed and said "you're the weirdest person I know." I told him I doubt that. He has to know weirder people.
He said he said he was feeling so overwhelmed and blown away. He was shocked and amazed at how many people came from so far just to see them. "You're here from like Maryland, there are people from everywhere here, the show is sold out! The orchestra is amazing. You're going to die, Chris. You're just going to die." I told him that Linda was there from NY and Ginger from Florida, and yeah he was right. People were there from everywhere, it was a pilgrimage. An opportunity to have fun, gather, be together, finally. Finally.
I thanked him for recognizing that this was such a big deal for them as a band and for us as fans, and thanked him for making it so I'd die. I left him to go back across the street to Linda and Ginger and hang out. He came across and we had the opportunity to say hi again and we got the picture.
Then he had to go to the airport to get his family. I asked for his nametag, he laughed. Later I put it with a red rock that I got from Red Rocks.
We hung out with Joe and Debs, and Kacey, and the gang was all together. There we were. T minus 24 hours to the show.
Mind you right now the forecast for Sunday is for 77 degrees, 1% chance of rain. Keep that in mind.
On Sunday I had arranged for a meet and greet for Guster fans. There's a hotel near the venue that a lot of people were staying at the night of the show, but they couldn't accommodate us without charging us a room rental fee, so I reached out to the brewery across the parking lot to see if they could host us.
The taproom manager was the coolest guy, set us up with a side of the tasting room. Guster fans gathered, I think we had like 50 at one point, people came and went as they had time. The beer was flowing, the restaurant next door was coming over every 15 minutes to take orders to feed the people. The staff had the brilliant idea to just put on Spotify's Guster playlist and everyone was singing along. Good lord we looked like some sort of crazy cult, but everyone was just having so much fun. Good old friends, new friends, card games, lots of laughs, meeting new people, meeting kids! It was a successful and wonderful gathering of the like-minded and some joy. I asked the taproom manager at the end if he thought this was a good day and he looked at me and said "uh yeah. You guys bought all our merch. Best day of beer sales we've had in weeks." I thought it was so weird that they're so close to Red Rocks that no other fan base had made this kind of event and he shook his head and said no not really. Nothing organized like this. Sometimes a few people show up and have a beer before the show but nothing like an actual coordinated meet and greet.
If you're ever in Morrison Colorado, go to Over Yonder Brewing Company. Tell Corey I sent you.
Holy Cow this is a lot of Guster Fans enjoying beer and each other.
We were staying at the hotel near the venue that night (we kept 1 room at the other hotel in downtown and concierged all our stuff in that room for the night. Best 300 bucks we've ever spent for all of us to not have to worry about schlepping stuff back and forth. Linda is a genius sometimes). We knew that we couldn't once again cram all our shit into a car again. Joe had picked up a car for a 24 hour rental through some Uber driver thing. So we had 2 cars at our disposal.
I was taking a post meet and greet snooze and the sky opened up. It was POURING, thunder and lightning, and hail. Everyone was pretty terrified that the show would just be canceled. We waited at the hotel, monitoring the chat in the Facebook group from people who were already up there, waiting it out in their cars or inside the venue because they were doing show volunteer work with Adam's organization, Reverb.
The waterfalls rushing down the stairs, the absolute pooling and ponding of water everywhere. The images were kind of daunting. But then it stopped, the sun was coming out, and the show was not canceled. We made it over to the venue.
It's a complicated parking situation, and kind of a shitshow. Because we had two cars, our group got separated. I had the tickets on my phone for the 6 humans I bought for, but Sean and Kacey were at a lower gate from where we were. I should have dispersed them at the hotel before we left but we weren't thinking we'd end up in this situation.
No cel signal for either of them (I had one) so they couldn't receive the tickets.... and I was wary of trying to transfer them, and then have them be floating somewhere in the ether with no way to get them once we found what gate our friends were at.
There was some stress but I wasn't going to let it ruin anything. Sara was freaking out a little because she couldn't believe Sean might not be able to get in. The Red Rocks Staff was literally no help. We came in the north gate. But Sean said they were at the north gate. There's an upper north and a lower north but basically the lower north was marked "Coca Cola gate" according to Sean and Kacey when we were able to get them on the phone.
The staff had no idea what that meant. "This is the north gate."
No dude, up top there, that's the north gate.
"yes. Yes it is. And this is the north gate."
Jesus you people are infuriating.
In my heart of hearts I'm writing the "strong letter to follow" that Red Rocks was going to get from me for calling both of their gates North Gate instead of naming them things like Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple gates. Or something. Or telling their internal staff what the Coca Cola gate means. Dipshits.
Anyway, we finally find one normal human, who knows what the Coca Cola gate is, and points up to where we can see Sean and Kacey coming down the stairs toward the ticket scanner. They're about 20 people up. We run over there and try to tell security that we have their tickets on my phone. This one woman tells me "no you don't." I'm like "bitch do not try me right now." Sean and Kacey are waving to us and I point to them like "look, I have their tickets, I need to step up to that scanner lady and get this scanned, and finally someone with half a brain guides me up.
Scanned, in, relieved, somewhat pissed and angry, and realizing we've basically just missed the entire opening act, the Lone Bellow, who I really wanted to see but ... we've got our party back together.
Rule number one in D&D is do not split the party. Well. Same for Red Rocks, I guess. Lesson learned about electronic tickets too - make sure to just give every human their ticket on their own devices before leaving. And cel coverage is not universal out there - screenshot your ticket so it is an image in your gallery and back that shit up.
All together, we get to our seats. Joe and Debs had bought their tickets way after I bought ours, and they got them from someone who couldn't attend, so they were in the 14th row and we were in the 22nd. Joe offered the people next to us "swapsies" so they could go up to the 14th row and we could be together. Those folks were happy to do so, and were part of our Guster fan group so they shot a little video of themselves in their new seats being all happy. We were happy to have our party fully together.
And the show began.
This was a next level experience for me as a fan. The venue, the lighting, the stage, the crowd. I'd never seen them in a bigger venue than say the House of Blues in Boston. There were 9000 people here. 9000 people there to see Guster. And the band was absolutely blown away. "For the first time in my life, I'm at a loss for words," Ryan Miller said after the first song.
They played a few songs and then the orchestra came out. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Christopher Dragon. Coolest conductor I've ever seen.
And this is one of the magical results. Full screen this and love that orchestra rounding this all out and making it just an auditory masterpiece. And love Brian's drum performance when they have it full miked, because he's just the focal point of this all and I wish the camera would just stay on him from about 4 minutes in.
The entire experience was simply amazing. Even when Ryan's voice went all "12 year old puberty" in a few spots, probably hydration and altitude related. And the wind in the microphones was a bit hard on the audio.
When they performed "Hard Times" acoustic, quietly and beautifully singing at the edge of the stage holding that audience in absolute silence as they listened along, really a stunning experience. Their song "Mind Kontrol" isn't one of my favorites but with the orchestra, it was mind blowing. And such beauty with songs Adam sings lead on, like "Dear Valentine" with the orchestra. I can't get over how wonderful they all sounded together.
At the end of a lot of the shows they do a song called "Jesus on the Radio" and they usually do it without amplification, standing on the edge of the stage or out in the audience. For this they had a small stage set up in the audience, about 18 rows up, and they had to be microphoned. People had left the show already, so we were able to move much closer. And everyone close in knows - sing along. Sing loudly, you're part of this little 2 minute long song.
The show ended and they put a "Save the Date" sign up on the screens for On The Ocean, 2022. They have done this twice where they basically take over the city of Portland Maine for a weekend. That'll be August 12-14 next year and we're already conspiring on our attendance for that one.
Monday morning, Kacey had to go back home, so before I drove her to the airport, Joe and I were up early and we went over to Red Rocks to look at it one more time. The venue is in the middle of a park, so it's open every day. People exercise in their, running up the steps and using the different stages of the venue for different exercises.
We walked around and just looked at it, Hot, dry, no rain, bright sun. No Guster. It was fun to just have one more walk around.
I dropped Joe off at the hotel so he could rouse the crew and get them ready for check out. I took Kacey to the airport, got back and grabbed Linda and Ginger. We all went over to a Mexican restaurant that Joe had been eyeballing after the show but we sadly were all too tired to go out. We hit the place up for lunch, and had a great time.
We headed back to our downtown hotel, got our rooms all figured out. Ginger took the car and headed back to Florida.
Tuesday morning, we headed out to the Denver Biscuit Company for breakfast and mimosas, and spent our last moments together before we had to part ways. Joe and Debs were headed to her aunt's house, Sara, Sean, Linda and I were flying home that afternoon.
Flight was delayed by over 2 hours so I'm glad Linda and I had driven to the airport instead of having Doug take and pick us up. We got in well after midnight, and were happy to try to fall asleep thinking it was only 11pm in our bodies and brains at that point.
I keep thinking that I could have done more in Denver. But I was very happy doing pretty much nothing but Day Drinking at the pool. There's no crime in that for a vacation. I am disappointed on one hand that Doug didn't want to come with me but on the other hand, I got to do all the dumb things I wanted to do like nothing. I didn't have to go hiking and get really winded and exhausted. I didn't have to walk 11 miles all over town to go look at things in the 90 plus degree heat. I got to just hang out with my friends. And that's just fine sometimes. I had a great time. I don't regret any choices. The only regret I have is we didn't have another day or two to be there because maybe, just maybe, I could have gone to a museum or something, or more driving in the mountains. But it's okay. The focus of this trip was the band, and the friends.
Happy to have that as a memory that I'll cherish forever.
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