Blues News

Recap: KTBA Presents Joe Bonamassa – Live at Red Rocks

KTBA at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

When asking any musician which venues top their list to play, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado always sits at the top! On August 31st 2014, Joe Bonamassa and Keeping the Blues Alive did just that, playing to a sold out crowd of 9000 people! The single largest crowd of Joe’s career and what a place to host a show! With each ticket sold, $5 was donated directly to Keeping the Blues Alive foundation, raising $40,000 to fund struggling music programs around the nation!

From the stunning Rocky Mountains surrounding the venue to the natural acoustics generated by the massive red rocks jutting up from within the earth, this venue is an awe inspiring sight to behold. Once underway, the show itself inspired just as much awe in the eyes of the fans as the venue did for me. Watching people sitting at the edge of their seats, singing along to every song and hanging on every word was enough to say that this was just as memorable of a night for them as it was for Joe.

As a part of this memory filled weekend, a group of very special fans had the chance to have the Ultimate Joe Bonamassa at Red Rocks Experience! Thanks to their generous contributions to our auctions hosted on Charity Buzz and EBay, Suzanne Bowen and Ira Goldberg along with three of their family and friends got to spend a very memorable weekend in the Rockies! After disembarking from their flights they were whisked away to the beautiful Hotel Monaco located right in the heart of downtown Denver where they enjoyed a 2 night stay over the weekend. From there, we had them picked up in a private limousine and taken to the private dress rehearsal show and BBQ with Joe and the crew. Their weekend didn’t end there, on Sunday they were invited back and enjoyed 2nd row seats at the big show! Needless to say this was a weekend that will not easily be forgotten!

And of course we can’t forget the man of the hour, dressed in his signature black suit surrounded by a band of white tuxedos and fedoras, Joe was impeccable! He played with all the confidence and class that we are accustomed to and seemed to not have a nervous bone in his body. Playing through a collection of some of Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters’ best songs, we were taken on a journey through some of the Blues’ most memorable moments. As our guide through this incredible journey Joe was gracious, visually excited, truly moved and as he said “it was a boy’s dream come true to play this venue, so from that boy to you, thank you so much Colorado for making my dreams come true!”

-Eric deTuscan.

Share this post