Music

I have seen many concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheater, an amazing natural concert venue little west of Denver, Colorado. While I knew the show would be good, the crowd at Frankie Goes to Hollywood was worth the price of the ticket! This video was recorded probably 20 years after I saw the band at Red Rocks...I'm pretty sure when I saw them live, they didn't have female backup singers...

Relax!

Hey Bob;My son lives in Denver and we have made several trips to Red Rocks.It is a great venue.We try to
see jam bands like Umphrey McGee, Disco Biscuits and Phish.It`s a real throwback young hippie crowd.
Looks like one of the big Vegas bands,Imagine Dragons, are setting up stage to play downtown Vegas
this weekend.It should draw a huge pop music crowd.
As far as Vegas groups,I am still partial to the Killers.Their lyrics and vocals are great.The song Human
is one my favorite songs.They refer to Vegas a lot in their music.One of their albums is even named Sams Town. Utube them,you might like them.

Funny you mention The Killers. I was going to post their cover of Joy Division's Shadowplay but never got around to it.

here it is. Shadowplay

I saw a movie based on Joy Division.Such a short lived tragic band who influenced a lot of other bands.Their name alone was full of controversy from a generation not that for removed from the 2nd world war.The Germans separated the beautiful woman,thus the joy division.The band`s tormented lead singer hung himself.Nice story to brighten your day!
Bob mentioned Beck in a previous post.Beck put out an album in 2014 Morning Phase which I consider a masterpiece. It is up for a grammy for album of the year.It was my favorite album last year.Beyonce(nice
if muted)will win.

My history with Red Rocks dates all the way back to 1969 when I saw Three Dog Night there. Front row seat! The Beatles played Red Rocks, and the show was not sold out. Tickets were around $30 each. That was stupid expensive back then!

Red Rocks is a relatively small venue compared to some other places. It seats about 9,000. That wasn't enough seats for a Jethro Tull concert in 1970. The show sold out, but there were several thousand (saw estimates as large as 6,000) other folks who wanted to get in who didn't get tickets in advance. I was one of them. The scene turned into a riot. I was dodging rocks being thrown by cops from the upper walkways down onto the parking lots. Police helicopters were dropping teargas bombs. That night I decided I REALLY don't like teargas. The city banned rock and roll concerts at Red Rocks for 6 years after that night...

A few more of my favorite Red Rocks concerts... Howard Jones. Tears For Fears. The Eurythmics with the Pretenders. The Pretenders with Simple Minds.

WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS NOT SUITIBLE AT WORK, OR AROUND CHILDREN! ADULT LANGUAGE CONTENT!

Trent Reznor is, for all intents and purposes, the band known as Nine Inch Nails. There are a number of musicians over the last couple of decades that compose and record their music by themselves using high tech electronic tools, layering multiple sound tracks on top of each other to produce a song. Reznor is very good at being a modern-day one-man band in his studio. My favorite Reznor/NIN song is a syrupy old fashioned love song (I need a sarcasm emoticon here) called Closer. I have the NIN CD with this song on it. I think a girl by the name of Kawehi does a better job covering Closer than Reznor does, either in the studio or live with a band...and she kinda shows how to do it with sampling and holding, electronically adding and subtracting musically and vocally, all by herself! I have a couple MIDI-abled electronic keyboards. I need the other toys she has!

Once again, DO NOT click the link if you are offended by adult language, are at work, or have children within hearing distance!

Help Me!

The music gods live.Beck wins grammy for album of the year!

Howard Jones is another modern "one man band", or at least he was early in his career. I've seen him live three times. The first time was at a movie theater that had been converted into concert venue in Denver known as the Rainbow Music Hall. The Rainbow only sat 1,400 people, but it hosted quite a few big-name acts like Bob Dylan, Van Halen, Tom Petty and U2. When Howard played the Rainbow, it was just him, his keyboards, and Bill the mime on stage. That was a great show! The other two times I saw him live were at Red Rocks, with a much larger supporting cast on stage.

What is love? The door must always be left unlocked!

This is another band that I saw live at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver. That show was fun, not just because of the band, but I went to the concert with three girls! I think they came up with the name of the band after one of them dropped a guitar on the floor. Wang Chung! Dance Hall Days.
And in her eyes two sapphires blue

The Hoodoo Gurus is another band that I saw live at the Rainbow Music Hall. They opened for the Bangles. That was a great show!

It's always bittersweet!