The earliest documented public performance was in 1906 featuring PIETRO SATRIANO and his 25 piece
brass band. Since then, the stage has seen superstars in the industry perform. One nasty incident happened
in 1971 when non-paying fans crashed the gates at a JETHRO TULL concert and started tossing rocks at the
police. This resulted in police using tear gas to control the crowd. The wind carried the tear gas over the hills
into the paying crowd and onto the stage. The incident, known as “The Riot at Red Rocks” prompted the
mayor to ban Rock concerts for five years, limiting the acts to softer music such as JOHN DENVER, SONNNY
AND CHER, PAT BOONE, THE CARPENTERS, SEALS AND CROFTS and CAROLE KING. In 1975, BARRY FEY,
the promoter for the band AMERICA, sued the city and won the right to host Rock bands once again, starting
in the summer of 1976. JETHRO TULL returned to play Red Rocks in 2008 and 2011.
Some of the more notable names to play Red Rocks include U2, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, BLUES TRAVELER,
WIDESPREAD PANIC, JIMI HENDRIX, VANILLA FUDGE, RUSH, JOHN TESH, THE MOODY BLUES, DAVE
MATTHEWS, NEIL YOUNG, COLDPLAY, PHISH and THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND. Speaking of The Allman
Brothers, it has been a custom of the park to give performing artist a sandstone brick with their name
engraved when they perform. Their presentation to Gregg was said to have pissed him off when they spelled
his name with two “g’s” instead of three.
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