cover photo by Don Idio
With Hulaween just a month away it not only has me excited to be back at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, but the lineup boasts a handful of artists who I have had to pleasure of seeing at quite a few venues across the US. My absolute favorite venue that I’ve been to has to be Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado. Artists including The Revivalists, STS9, Lettuce, The Floozies, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, and NGHTMRE, have/will headline their own shows there this year! With many other artists in the lineup playing at Red Rocks this year, lets take a look at some artists and their accomplishments this year!
Gramatik
Denis Jašarević, otherwise known as Gramatik, headlined another Red Rocks show this year on Labor Day weekend. He brought along Balken Bump, Ramzoid, Haywyre, and Gryffin as his openers. Not only was this show sold out, it was the 50 year anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s ONLY Red Rocks show.
What I’m most pumped about is that this year we played Red Rocks on the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s ONLY Red Rocks show! So fucking epic! 😭♥️🎸🔥 pic.twitter.com/hWc89BPb0u
— Denis (@Gramatik) September 5, 2018
He also paid tribute to the passing of Aretha Franklin with his song Let Me Know The Way. Check out the song below:
Needless to say, I am excited to see another Gramatik set, hopefully at the Patch stage for a late night set!
REZZ
Isabelle Rezazadeh, otherwise known as REZZ, has been taking the scene by storm with her mesmerizing goggles and dark, bassy tunes. She is a part of Mau5trap and OWSLA and has been DJing since she was 16. After one of her shows last year in Denver, she made a special announcement that she would be back in 2018 and headlining her own show at Red Rocks. To no surprise, she sold out her highly anticipated show!
REZZ ROCKS OCTOBER 13TH 🌀_🌀
tix officially on-sale now!!! https://t.co/6VNtgjKHamThis will be my biggest headline show to date, in one of the most beautiful venues on the planet. I hope fans from all over the world come out to this 🙂 pic.twitter.com/IRH8ss27bj
— Rezz ¨̮ (@OfficialRezz) February 2, 2018
With this being her biggest show to date, she has supporting artists Shadient, Digital Ethos, CharlestheFirst, BLEEP BLOOP, and TOKiMONSTA. Take a listen to her second album, Certain Kind of Magic, she released back in August below:
ODESZA
Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, otherwise known as the popular duo ODESZA, come from Bellingham, Washington with their electronic indie music that captivates the popularity from numerous crowds. They have been playing at Red Rocks for the last 4 years, headlining 3 of those shows. Their rise to popularity has been something to pay attention to. They have been featured in commercials for GoPro and Microsoft, and more recently Apple with the release of their new single Loyal.
Not only did ODESZA sell out all of their Red Rocks shows they played over the last 4 years, but they made history at Coachella. They had 420 Intel Shooting Star drones powered by HP Workstations that flew during their performance with a coordinated animation sync. This marked the first time that the Intel drones were flown during a live performance. They also had an article featured on Forbes.
I have watched ODESZA progress over the years from playing smaller venues and opening time slots at festivals to selling out Red Rocks, arenas across the US, and shows overseas in Europe and Asia. I am excited for another epic performance at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park!
OPIUO
Oscar Davey-Wraight, otherwise known as OPIUO, comes from New Zealand with his glitch-hop and funky music. He has been gaining popularity here in the US over the last few years and headlined his own show at Red Rocks this year with his Syzygy Orchestra that consisted of 20 people, including Andrew Block and Russ Liquid.
2 months ago Red Rocks happened. The biggest musical adventure of my life yet. I couldn’t have done it without my incredible crew, the crazy talented Syzygy Orchestra, & the beautiful energy & support of everyone in attendance 💜 (ps Australia, announcement coming next week…👀) pic.twitter.com/PM2taNR4Yr
— OPIUO (@OPIUO) June 22, 2018
Not only was his show one of my favorites that I have seen at that venue, the orchestra was being conducted by OPIUO himself! He even played a lot of his glitchy tracks that I didn’t think an orchestra could do! This show blew me away and the supporting artists were fantastic as well! Anomalie, Flamingosis, and SunSquabi were the perfect openers for this show!
Check out the recap video from the show below:
Emancipator Ensemble
Douglas Appling, otherwise known as Emancipator, is based out of Portland, Oregon and produces music that is made to listen and chill to. He began studying and playing the violin from ages 4 to 12, eventually progressing into electric guitar, drums, and bass at a young age. He currently has 5 studio albums, 2 remix collections, and one live album. On top of creating his own record label, he also formed a live band, Emancipator Ensemble!
Emancipator headed back to Red Rocks again this year to headline another show Memorial Day weekend and had supporting artists Tor, Kayla Scintilla & Eve Olution, Wax Tailor (solo set & special guests), and the Manic Focus live band. With the supporting artists setting the tone for the show, Emancipator Ensemble did not disappoint.
Red Rocks is a venue that I think everyone should go to at least once to see you favorite artist. The venue never gets old and the views are beautiful. Pictures do no justice! You can stay up to date with all of the Red Rocks shows for the rest of 2018 here and be on the look out for show announcements for 2019 soon!