VIA PRESS RELEASE | Red Rocks: The Concert Years, an expanded and updated edition of the award-winning coffee-table book, has just been published this week, distributed internationally by Publishers Group West (PGW).
A comprehensive history of what has come to be considered one of the Natural Wonders of the World, it presents more than 200 interviews with an array of performers who have played on the special and magical Red Rocks stage, from Stevie Nicks and Jimmy Buffett to the Grateful Dead and Nathaniel Rateliff, as well as detailed accounts of the legendary Beatles show in 1964, Bruce Springsteen’s first-ever outdoor concert in 1978, and U2’s career-making 1983 video shoot.
Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Carlos Santana, who wrote the foreword, said, “Red Rocks is not just dirt and stones and sky. It’s a temple, a shrine. It’s the same setting that that the Greeks performed in at the beginning of civilization, and it definitely has the sacred American Indian spirit—you can feel the vibe. There is nothing like playing at Red Rocks under a full moon. Anything can happen!”
Richly illustrated, Red Rocks: The Concert Years includes hundreds of images from leading professionals both regional and national—concert photographers, architectural photographers, portrait photographers—supplemented by archival images from the morgues of newspapers, libraries, historical societies, and private collections.
“It’s true—of all the places in the world to play, Red Rocks is the greatest venue. And I know I speak for my bandmates and many of my fellow artists when I say that there is no better-qualified journalist to record its storied history than G. Brown,” the late David Crosby, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, said.
ABOUT RED ROCKS | In 1906, Denver’s Pietro Satriano and his 25-piece brass band became the first musical act to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, then christened the Garden of the Titans. Over a century later, Denver is a must-stop for every nationally touring act, and Red Rocks, set deep into the towering red rocks of Morrison, Colorado, is heralded as America’s most important outdoor music venue, thanks to the combination of natural aesthetics and acoustics, as impressive to the eyes as to the ears. Now the interest in Red Rocks is at an international peak—Billboard magazine has named it the most ticketed venue in the world for two years running.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | G. Brown has navigated the world’s musical landscape for decades as a journalist, broadcaster and historian. He contracted with The Denver Post for 26 years, interviewing more than 3,000 musicians—from Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen to Bono and Kurt Cobain. Published in numerous national magazines including Rolling Stone and National Lampoon, Brown also covered music news and hosted and programmed for myriad Denver-based radio stations.
He is the author of On Record, an encyclopedic series of award-winning books celebrating popular music from 1978-1998, as well as Colorado’s Rock Chronicles and Telluride Bluegrass Festival: The First Forty Years. He was the founding director of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame beginning in 2011; he then launched and now oversees Colorado Music Experience, a nonprofit cultural and educational organization working to preserve musical legacies.
