A look at Red Rocks’ setlist over the coming months shows a wide variety of genres and entertainment options, spanning from electronic dance music to funk, and even including some high school graduations along the way. But for several years, one genre was banned from play at the storied venue: rock ’n’ roll.
In June 1971, British rock band Jethro Tull was performing at Red Rocks, and thousands without tickets gathered around the venue to listen. At some point during the concert, according to the Denver Library, the non-ticketed crowd attempted to enter the venue and were rebuffed by officers from the Denver Police Department.
In an attempt to control the crowd, the police dropped tear gas out of helicopters. But, instead of dispersing, the roughly thousand-strong crowd responded by pelting the police with bottles and rocks.
While the show did go on that night, as Jethro Tull played their full set, it would be the last rock concert played for several years in the amphitheatre. Denver’s mayor at the time, Bill McNichols, banned rock concerts at the venue following the melee.
Thomas MacCluskey, a music critic for Rocky Mountain News writing soon after the fiasco, referenced a previous disturbance at an Aretha Franklin concert in a column titled “Rock rowdies ruin it for everyone.”
“You blew it for good …There’ll be no more rock concerts at Red Rocks this year,” MacCluskey wrote. “I’m willing to bet there won’t be any more there for many years. You shot down all your chances with the madness at the Denver Pop Festival in the Mile High Stadium in 1969, the Aretha Franklin scene and the Jethro Tull affair.”
Even the concert’s promoter, Barry Fey, said he was done promoting concerts at Red Rocks. But Fey’s disavowal of Red Rocks didn’t last long.
In 1974, Fey was the promoter of an America concert at Red Rocks, when city officials denied the use of the venue to the group because they were supposedly a “rock” band, according to a Straight Creek Journal article at the time.
Fey sued, and the “America trial” ensued, where musical experts were called to testify about the music America played, and to what degree it was “rock” music. In that case, the show was allowed to go on. Fey’s suit against the city ended in a win for him and rock’n’roll fans, as the ability to book rock concerts at the famed outdoor venue was restored.
According to Westword, that wasn’t Fey’s only legal encounter with the city. He told the publication that he had six wins, no losses and a tie in lawsuits against Denver.