UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY

The Rocky Mountain News ran a great piece yesterday to mark twenty-two years since U2 played Red Rocks, the point where U2 peaked. A band at a time when they still had something to say; a venue that might be the greatest in the world. And, erm, the influence of Jonathan King:

[Booker] Pam Moore: "I had mutual friends of Jonathan King, who was doing a show across America (for the BBC). He wanted to do a segment on Red Rocks and Denver and music in America. Barry was quoted on the BBC show saying, 'Yeah, U2 is going to be the next Who.' The band saw this show - they just happened to be watching this episode on TV in the U.K. somewhere. That's what really solidified the relationship with Fey Concerts and Barry Fey."

Fey: "(King) was in town and said, 'Have you seen any new bands?' I said, 'I've been through a couple, but the big one is going to be U2.' He put that on the show and they saw that.

The really astonishing thing is that it was only U2's fourth US gig. The weather looked like being against them; in the end, it was the good people of Colorado who came through for them:

[Writer G.] Brown: "I just remember having to motivate myself. I was going to school in Boulder - the make-up show was three blocks away - why drive to Red Rocks? But I was motivated to go because they were going to film it. The amazing thing was that 4,000 to 5,000 kids had the same thought. (The fans) were the stars. All props to the band for delivering the performance of a lifetime , but the kids were the heroes. If it had been 200 people, it just wouldn't have mattered."

The make-up show wasn't The Make-Up, it was the planned Boulder gig that was the fall back position if Red Rocks was a screw-up.

Of course, there has to be a healthy slice of overstatement - this is U2, after all:

[Photographer Greg Wigler]: "A number of people I talked to there felt like the Red Rocks show was a religious experience. Nobody was prepared for what the band did. It stunned everybody."

One curious footnote: U2 at Red Rocks wasn't the big ticket in Denver that night. Back in the city, Neil Diamond was playing the McNichols Arena.

music U2 red rocks