Amped up: Amphitheater at Las Colonias’ opens, season announcements still coming

Nothing More and Wage War, two metal rock bands on a double-headlined tour, will lead off a new season for the amphitheater on Monday night. However, it’s a season that still has some secrets, truth be told.

“I think there are some great surprises in this lineup that aren’t out yet,” hinted Maria Rainsdon, general manager for the city-owned amphitheater, which is managed by OVG360.

Rick Christensen, echoed Rainsdon’s words, holding back while acknowledging that more concert announcements also will be coming from R&B Sound Reinforcements that promotes and produces shows at the amphitheater, Mesa Theater and other local venues.

“We want to surprise people,” said Christensen, co-owner of R&B, which is behind the Ja Rule show on May 3 at the amphitheater.

That will be R&B’s barbecue show, something that took on a life of its own two years ago with DJ Snoopadelic and last year with Ice Cube.

Those popular April shows led to some folks thinking of the R&B barbecue show as the kickoff to the local outdoor concert season, Christensen said.

But this time around, the barbecue show with Ja Rule will be in May and it will double as the Colorado Mesa University’s spring concert.

“We’re making up the rules as we go,” Christensen said, with a nod to how change is constant, and that there are exciting things coming related to shows not only at the amphitheater, but elsewhere in Grand Junction in the coming months.

Change and Success

Several years ago, when most venues in the country were closed because of the pandemic, but the amphitheater was able to open, Christensen and Rainsdon would brainstorm “who existed in the world that would come here,” Christensen recalled.

It went from that to “everyone in the world was on tour,” he said.

He and other promoters booked shows and ticket sales were hot.

“People were really eager to get out of the house two years ago,” he said, recalling a guy wearing a T-shirt for the metal band Slipknot while in line for a 2021 Beach Boys concert. “You could (book) anything in the world and it was amazing.”

To say that ticket sales have remained strong here and elsewhere in the years since is an understatement.

Pollstar, which tracks box office reports, venues and ticket data, even began its year-end analysis story with the line, “2023 was a colossus, the likes of which the live industry has never before seen. If 2022 was a historic record-setting year, which it was, then this year completely blew it out of the water — by double digits.”

Pollstar was looking at the total grosses for 2023’s Worldwide Top 100 Tours, which included Taylor Swift and Beyonce, and rose 46% to $9.17 billion in 2023 from $6.28 billion in 2022.

While Swift’s and Beyonce’s tours didn’t come to the amphitheater (and will likely never come to the venue), the venue still had a successful 2023 in its own way.

With $2.8 million in ticket sales, last year tied 2022 as one of the amphitheater’s biggest seasons, according to Rainsdon, who was optimistically eying what 2024’s season could bring.

“This season has a variety of new acts … we are looking forward to breaking records!” she said.

Selling out

Country star Cody Jinks’ June 8 concert at the amphitheater will sell out.

“Yeah, we have less than 200 tickets available,” Rainsdon said. “If you want to see Cody Jinks, you need to buy your tickets now.”

The Rick Springfield and Richard Marx show on July 12, The Tedeschi Trucks Band on July 24 and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Aug. 13 also are seeing quick ticket sales despite being months off, she said.

“We’re seeing people buy tickets further out,” she said.

The last-minute ticket buying days of 2017 are gone, and those who want to go to a certain concert or sit in a certain seat at a venue must get tickets earlier, she said.

When it comes the touring industry, though, there does seem to be some leveling out from the hustle of the past couple years, Rainsdon said.

Some touring artists are taking a year off, some are planning tours only on the coasts or by region instead of across the U.S., she said.

“We’re starting to see some artists who got their rise during COVID,” she said, citing Jinks as an example.

Adding to the dynamic is the amphitheater itself. The venue was relatively new before the pandemic — it opened in July of 2017 — and it now competes with other regional festivals for talent, she said.

National promoters such as Live Nation and AEG have “noticed this town,” Christensen said.

“It’s definitely more competitive,” he said, recalling the years when R&B was generally the only one that brought in metal or hip hop shows and only other area promoter was Ron Wilson with Sandstone Concerts.

The national notice has driven up costs, so it’s important to really figure out what people want, he said.

That sometimes means bringing back an artist or band who did well here before and other times it means booking an act that Christensen thinks is on the way up.

At one time, Jelly Roll was one of those. “I’ve done Jelly Roll shows for 15 years,” Christensen said.

“Super nice guy,” he said. “He has a bigger heart than anyone would guess.”

Jelly Roll played Mesa Theater in June of 2017. Tickets cost $15 and 85 people showed up, he said.

And now Jelly Roll is a headliner for this summer’s Country Jam.

Coming stages

Along with looking forward to R&B’s shows, Christensen is excited about what is coming the Grand Valley’s way in the coming months.

“I want every event in town to be a success,” he said, while noting Country Jam and other upcoming outdoor live music options.

There’s Grand Junction Rides & Vibes set for May 10–11 in downtown Grand Junction with The Blue Stones, The Stone Foxes, Cousin Cortiss, Cordovas and Crêpe Girl.

There’s the Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Festival on June 14–16 in Palisade with a deep list of acts.

Thousands Christian music fans will be at NightVision on June 7–8 for headliners Matthew West and Zach Williams.

And the Colorado Riverfront Concert Series will bring Tab Benoit and Firefall to Fruita in June and September, respectively.

Christensen and Rainsdon also have their eyes on a couple of new venues that will open in the coming months: Colorado Mesa University’s 850-seat theater and the Grand Junction High School new massive auditorium with 1,500 seats.

An announcement about the first season for CMU’s new $53-million theater is likely to happen in the next couple months, said Robin Brown, vice president of development and chief executive officer of the CMU Foundation.

“We want to announce a full season, Sept. 1 through May or June of 2025,” she said. “We are looking to have big names.”

CMU’s season will prioritize the university’s academic theater arts, music and dance offerings in addition to commercial shows, she said.

The new venue also will have some dates filled by the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. The symphony recently released the schedule for its 2024–25 Serene Horizons season with concert dates at CMU and Grand Junction High School’s auditorium in addition to dates at the Avalon Theatre.

The new venues will bring more entertainment options to the valley, however Rainsdon remained confident in the amphitheater’s position.

“I think that we are continuing to see success because people are buying tickets,” said Rainsdon, noting the regional draw of the amphitheater’s lineup.

Then she also mentioned that there are about seven shows confirmed but not yet announced for the amphitheater and still others in the works for 2024.

“There are big things to come that we wish we could tell you,” Christensen said.