While the summer concert season has already begun at Red Rocks, there’s still time to take stock of what’s left. Here’s a curated sample of some of the best shows at the 9,450-seat venue in Morrison this year.
Billie Eilish
June 5
This is 17-year-old Eilish’s first show at Red Rocks, though likely not her last, considering the following she’s built since breaking out on Soundcloud in 2016 with “Ocean Eyes.” Eilish’s spare songwriting, deceptive restraint and moody delivery have positioned her as an R&B heir to indie/pop darlings such as Lana Del Rey, though with fewer Laurel Canyon affectations and a glitchier sonic palette.
Kacey Musgraves
June 26
Musgraves’ most recent Denver show — at downtown’s Paramount Theatre on Feb. 22 — arrived on the heels of her dominant performance at this year’s Grammys (both musically and awards-wise), so expanding the capacity for her next Denver show by a factor of five seems like a smart idea, given how quickly her discerning country-rock fan base has grown.
Tenacious D with the Colorado Symphony
July 25
Possessed of both legitimately good singing voices and wicked senses of humor, the folk-metal duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass has mostly been absent from the touring scene — and will continue to be, minus a handful of dates this summer. It all starts at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony in tow, so expect a rehearsed yet stirring show that reaches back into the band’s bombastic and self-referential catalog, as well as new album “Post-Apocalypto.”
Dave Chapelle and Jon Stewart
Aug. 9
“It’s so hard for us to line up our schedules sometimes, but we’re really hoping we can bang out some of these dates and then put together something a little more extensive,” former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart told The Denver Post last year, just before visiting Colorado Springs to kick off The Warrior Games. It was a reference to the demand for more dates with buddy, upcoming Mark Twain Prize recipient and frequent Comedy Works drop-in Dave Chappelle. Seeing these two master comics together at a venue like Red Rocks is very likely a once-in-a-lifetime event, particularly for stand-up nerds.
Full list and more details at Denverpost.com
