Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Near Idaho Springs, Colorado
Red Rocks Amphitheatre sits about ten miles southwest of Denver near Morrison, framed by two sandstone formations called Ship Rock and Creation Rock. Those rocks began forming roughly two hundred ninety million years ago from eroded sediment of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, and both monoliths rise taller than Niagara Falls. Denver architect Burnham Hoyt designed the amphitheatre, working alongside Stanley Morse.
Construction began in nineteen thirty-six using labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps. Workers removed fifty thousand cubic feet of earth and rock and laid ninety thousand square feet of sandstone over five years. The amphitheatre was dedicated on June fifteenth, nineteen forty-one, with Metropolitan Opera soprano Helen Jepson performing and Colorado Governor Ralph Carr presiding.
The natural bowl between the two rocks produces acoustics that performers and sound engineers consistently rank among the best of any outdoor venue anywhere. The Beatles played here on August twenty-sixth, nineteen sixty-four, drawing about seven thousand people. The altitude of six thousand four hundred fifty feet left the band short of breath, and oxygen canisters were placed at the side of the stage.
Today the venue seats nine thousand five hundred twenty-five and is owned by the city and county of Denver.
