Colorado Summer Tour - Part One

The anticipation is over! Finally after our show in Kansas, we made our way to Colorado on Thursday August 4th. We had a show later that night in Denver at a world renown Grateful Dead bar called Quixote's True Blue. Its a bar that we played on the last trip and from experience we knew it would be an amazing way to start out our Colorado run. The Drive from Lawrence was a whopping 8 hours - so waking up early was essential. Sleep was tough anyway due to the incredible 80 degree heat + humidity all night; and not to mention the coyotes howling nearby our campsite. None the less we arrived to Denver on time to load in for our 9 o'clock show at Quixote's.

Once again we are extremely lucky to have our good friend Carter Jennings in Denver, who has been more than gracious enough to let us crash at his house for the days we're in town.

The first show was incredible. We opened up for a national touring band called Groovement from Arkansas, and they were a blast! We had a great crowd and got everyone dancing by the end, it was a perfect start to playing in the Rockies!

The following day, Friday Aug 5th, we drove out to Breckenridge - a small ski town about two hours outside Denver. We were set to play at the Historic Brown - a 40+ year old hotel and restaurant. The good news about this show was that we would actually be provided a few hotels rooms after the show to stay for the night. Essentially we would just have to walk up stairs from the stage and BAM we could go to sleep - it was a real treat. The show here was a ton of fun. Lots of people our age were in attendance and started dancing right from the beginning - we even saw a few of our friends who live in the area. Though the stage was small and hot, we shredded through our sweat and created an epic experience for anyone in attendance. Here's a few pictures from the show...

After a great night's rest, the following day we took our van to the South Colorado town of Durango! Some of you may remember from the last tour that Durango was one of our favorite spots, and this time was no different. Upon arrival, the town was bustling and busy. We were incredibly surprised based on that fact that during the Summer months, Colorado is supposed to be a little slower - but alas, Durango was crowded. The show was no different. After about one song, people starting pouring in and ended up being some of the most attentive listeners of the tour so far. Not a lot of dancing ensued, but all eyes seemed to be on us and there was minimal talking. It wasn't until we played Z Z Top's "La Grange" that we got the entire crowd hooting, hollering and dancing! What an incredible show. 

Afterwards we spent the night camping underneath the stars in a large campground field near by - it was the perfect end to a great night. Here's some pictures from our drive through Southern Colorado

The next day we drove straight back to where we came for a show in the tiny town of Rollinsville. The venue, called The Stage Stop, was built in the 1800's and has been standing since! Made of all wood, it seemed to be a landmark to anyone passing by, though not a lot of people stopped by. Our set from 5-8 PM and performed mostly for these two guys who were incredible interested in our music. By the end of the set, they had convinced us that we needed to tune all of our instruments to 432 hz instead of the usual standard 440 hz. The theory behind this method is that 440 is a very sharp and aggressive sounding tone, while 432 hz is more mellow and actually resonates at the same frequency as every atom in your body. Naturally we had to try it out and it was actually quite amazing. I'm not sure exactly what changed, but the jams that ensued were blissful and relaxing. It ended up being a great end to our first run of Colorado shows.