Red Rocks.
So I’ve heard from many of you (via IM, email, texts, etc.) that it’s taken me way too long to add a Road Journal post about something as exciting as a debut SoundRabbit Red Rocks show. My apologies for the delay! I had to get all of my photos off the ol’ camera and figure out a few other things before getting around to this.
So… this coverage of the show here in the Road Journal will be more of the ‘backstage’ perspective… our personal experience there, with photos taken hurriedly by me with my camera at opportune moments that day.
First I’ll share the bad news… we weren’t allowed to video the show due to Union regulations with the employees at Red Rocks (it would have cost us $6,000 to get video rights), so we brought our trusty Korg MR-1 to audio record the show. I went up to the Red Rocks soundboard and met the lead engineer, who handed me a cable that ran from the soundboard… I hooked it into the Korg MR-1, checked the levels, and all appeared well. Unfortunately when we listened to the recording on our way home from Red Rocks that night, we discovered that the engineer must have given us a bad cable or channel, because the recording mix is pretty terrible. One of our biggest venue shows to-date and we don’t have any footage, audio or video! MAJOR bummer.
Okay, so on to the more positive stroll down memory lane from Sunday…. I’ll do it with photos and captions….
Beers stares down a security guard as we pull up to Red Rocks.
The trusty SoundRabbit Red Van and Red Rocks.
Van, Trailer, Rocks, Sky, Tires, Gravel
Pre-show view of the main stage and fog (it was freeeezing!)
View from the main stage looking up, before we loaded in.
SoundRabbit band & crew get our all-access “Artist” wristbands for the night.
Wristbands = go anywhere and eat LOTS of free food.
Backstage dressing room, complete with LCD tv, vibrating massage chair,
oriental rugs, and giant rock falling into the room.
SoundRabbit hangin’ backstage at Red Rocks
GQ Beers striking a pose backstage.
Map of Red Rocks backstage. Notice that they put the animal-themed bands in
one dressing room (Band of Horses and us) and the Rosewood Thieves
and Tokyo Police Club in another area together. It’s not random, folks.
Jason pre-show, tuning up.
Beers pre-show, setting up the kit.
Anton pre-show, tuning up.
Our first product endorsement, for Asics and Koss headphones.
We got free kicks for doing it, any size & style we wanted! Perks, baby.
Here’s how the setlist panned out:
Turn My Egg
View From Way Up Here*
Don
I’ll Race Ya
Obey –>
Life During Wartime
* nod to LeRoi Moore of DMB in middle bridge
The one thing that I wanted to photograph but wasn’t allowed to (and wasn’t quick enough to snap while security looked the other way) was the dining area by the dressing rooms. All the food we could eat, from sandwiches to meatballs to mexican food to desserts to salads to fruit to drinks… all day. I ate three square meals, taking opportunities to go backstage during the Avett Brothers and Tokyo Police Club sets to chow down.
As noted above, Anton gave a little ‘nod’ to the late great LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band during his solo on View… he teased “Sunshine On My Shoulders” and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” two songs teased by LeRoi on DMB’s “Live at Red Rocks 1995” album. For those who don’t know, LeRoi passed away at the age of 46 a few weeks ago and was an old acquaintance of Jason’s back in Charlottesville. Jay had the chance to jam with LeRoi a few times and we all figured it would be nice to pay homage to him at Red Rocks, of all places.
All in all, a great experience for all of us. One of the crew members at Red Rocks told us that they (the crew) consider Red Rocks their “home,” and he welcomed us to their “family.” He said, “we’ve seen it a thousand times… you play your first show here, then you come back and play as an opener on a big night, and then you come back and we give you your own night. We can’t wait to have you guys back.” Much thanks to all of the Red Rocks crew, and to the RabbitReps and Backstage Members who made it out! It was great to see two of you in particular – Claire & Alex – dead center, smiling in front of us through the whole set! We’ll see you there next time!