Colorado has a rich and remarkable music history, filled with legendary performances, unforgettable concerts, special guest appearances, historic milestones and moments that have forged the music culture of our state.
To commemorate The Hall’s 15th anniversary and the state’s 150th, we asked for nominations of top Colorado music moments. From those nominations, these 15 arose to the top.
Now, it’s your turn!
Please take a few minutes and rank these Top 15 Music Moments below.
Top 15 Music Moments in Chronological Order (not ranked):
1. July 22, 1893: On a trip to Colorado Springs, American poet and professor Katharine Lee Bates was inspired by Pikes Peak to write the poem “America.” In 1910, her words were merged with music by Samuel A. Ward in the song “America the Beautiful,” one of the country’s most beloved songs.
2. May 31, 1906: The first concert held at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (then known as the Garden of the Titans) featured Pietro Satriano and his 25-piece brass band.
3. October, 1949: Classical and jazz bassist Charles Burrell became the first Black musician to sign with a major symphony, the Denver Symphony Orchestra, gaining the nickname “the Jackie Robinson of classical music.” A legendary figure in the Denver jazz scene, he played with greats including Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. In 2025, he died at the age of 104.
4. September 8, 1967: Colorado rock promoter Barry Fey, a Chicago native who put Colorado on the map as a concert destination, opened a 2,500-seat rock venue called The Family Dog. During its short life, it featured acts including Janis Joplin, the Doors, the Grateful Dead, and Cream.
5. June 27-29, 1969: The first stadium concert in the state, the “Denver “Pop Festival,” took over Mile High Stadium for three days, filling it with 18 acts that included Three Dog Night; Iron Butterfly; Vanilla Fudge; Joe Cocker; Poco; Zephyr; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Steve Martin and Frank Zappa, who’s credited with creating “the wave” at this show. This was also the final performance of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, which broke up at Stapleton Airport.
6. June 10, 1971: Jethro Tull and Ten Years After were playing a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre when 2,000 un-ticketed fans attempted to crash the gates, causing police to unleash clouds of tear gas on the coughing crowd. The event put an end to rock concerts at Red Rocks until 1976 and began a national discussion on policing of concert crowds.
7. March 1972: Joe Walsh and his band Barnstorm were the first artists to record at Caribou Ranch. They recorded their self-titled debut album while the studio was still under construction. Released that October, the record included the track “Rocky Mountain Way,” which put the ranch — located in the foothills above Nederland — on the map for prominent 1970s musicians.
8. February 1, 1976: Elvis Presley flew his private jet to Stapleton Airport, where his crew was met by employees of the Colorado Mine Company, with 22 “Fool’s Gold” sandwiches. Elvis had fallen in love with the sandwich –a loaf of hollowed-out bread filled with a jar of peanut butter, a jar of grape jelly and a pound of bacon – on a previous trip to Denver. He played his last show in the Mile High City on April 23, 1976, wearing his signature White Egyptian Bird jumpsuit and performing before 19,000 fans at a sold-out McNichols Sports Arena.
9. February 28, 1976: Earth, Wind & Fire’s Shining Star won the Grammy Award for best R&B song. The band, which included Denver East High graduates Philip Bailey, Larry Dunn and Andrew Woolfolk, had been recording its sixth album, That’s the Way of the World at Caribou Ranch when co-founder Maurice White took a night-time stroll and was inspired when he looked up at the starry sky. It was the first of the band’s six Grammy Awards.
10. June 5, 1983: Irish band U2 played – and filmed — a rainy concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The epic show confirmed U2’s reputation as a live powerhouse and was memorialized by the film and album, Under a Blood Red Sky.
11. April 22, 1991: Founded by Nick and Helen Forster with very limited funding, eTown aired its first broadcast. Exactly 30 years later, the Boulder mainstay was inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Today it occupies a 1920s building at 1535 Spruce Street that’s known as eTown Hall, where it records its hourlong programs offered for free to radio, internet and satellite affiliates, and also offers live performances and conversations on social and environmental issues.
12. October 6, 1997: After a Fiddler’s Green performance, Prince, along with Chaka Khan, offered an after-hours show at the Church nightclub that started at 1 a.m. The Denver club had to obtain a special permit to remain open until 6 a.m.
13. February 21, 2001: Jazz musician Dianne Reeves, who was raised in Denver, won the first of five Grammy Awards for her album In the Moment – Live in Concert. Her distinguished career blending jazz, gospel, R&B, Latin and pop earned her the title of NEA Jazz Master in 2018, the year after she was inducted into The Hall, along with her uncle, Charles Burrell.
14. March 12, 2007: “Rocky Mountain High,” the 1972 hit by John Denver, who took the name of Colorado’s capital and made his home in this state, became Colorado’s second official state song.
15. June 25, 2026: Widespread Panic was inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame at its annual concert run at Red Rocks; the band has played more shows at Red Rocks – 78 and counting – than any other band.