Throwback Photo: See Red Rocks Amphitheatre — But Before the Amphitheater

We're throwin' it back to when Red Rocks was, well, just some red rocks. OK — it wasn't just some rocks. It was (and is) a geologic formation that's over 200 million years old and more than 6,000 feet above sea level. But, this summer marks its 80th year as Colorado's famous outdoor amphitheater, and to celebrate, the venue shared a photo of the days before stages and steps and speakers.

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You can see Ship Rock to the left, Creation Rock to the right of the photo and Stage Rock at the forefront. It's hard to imagine how anyone, or anything, moved those boulders to make way for the amphitheater steps.

Red Rocks became an outdoor amphitheater on June 15, 1941. Below, you can see Red Rocks visitors during World War II.

For its 80th birthday, Red Rocks got to reopen to full capacity (nearly 10,000 people), and it got a new stage roof, which could hold 15 elephants... if it ever needed to.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Rocks Amphitheatre was one of the few venues that was able to operate, because it is outdoors. However, it was functioning at a very limited capacity. While it can normally hold thousands, the venue only opened to 175 people per event, socially distanced.

Artists like Nathaniel Rateliff and Fitz and the Tantrums still headlined as 'touring' acts, and others like Megan Thee Stallion and Sam Hunt came to town, but played for no in-person audience, livestreaming their performances instead.

While we appreciate what we could get out of the last year, we're incredibly excited to actually be able to go to live shows again, with 9,000 other fans.