On Wednesday, July 1, I had planned to stop by Red Rocks to take some morning pictures and then do some sightseeing.  I expected the stage to have been setup already for the night’s performance but I discovered that it wasn’t and since the park is open to the public prior to a show I was able to watch and photograph the whole setup process.  I ended up spending most of the day there.  It is fascinating to watch and after obviously doing it so many time they are quite proficient at it.  I expected it to take much longer than it did.  They started after 10am and were done before 2pm, including a lunch break.

Before they started to setup, though, I got some pictures of Red Rocks itself.  It is a geological and architectural wonder and quite breathtaking.  The rock formations are all natural, although there was some blasting done to clear the seating area.  The whole area is, of course, millions of years old but the park itself dates to the early part of the 20th century.  There is a very nice visitor’s center there which has the history of the park, both natural and manmade, and a list of all of the performers who have played there.  There is also quite a lot of music memorabilia from those performers.  Click on one of the thumbnails below to see the full-size image and then click on the arrows to step through the them.

Here is a set of pictures, in chronological order, showing the setup process from empty stage to completion.

The equipment check was particularly interesting.  Once mechanical assembly is complete, they verify that everything works.  This confirms that all of the cables are connected and nothing got damaged in transit.  It’s a shame that is was  the middle of the afternoon, because the lighting test is quite a show.  All of the light are tested by flashing them on and off, rotating and spinning them, and changing the colors.  It would be rather spectacular at night.

Next they test the sound system.  First they do a basic check using white noise, turning each speaker on and off individually to check each one.  Then they use prerecorded music to check volume, balance, mix, and general sound quality.  The first song they used was, oddly enough, Sting’s version of Fields of Gold.  I knew that Lisa’s version was a cover and I vowed to never let my ears be tainted by the original but here it was.  They actually played it several times while they adjusted levels and mix.  Then they played a few more songs from that same album while they continued to tweak things.  As the final check they used - are you ready for this? - Staying Alive by the BeeGees!  Holy Cow!  Not at all what I expected to hear.  They played that several times, too, while the sound engineer walked from the sound booth to various parts of the seating area to verify the sound was acceptable.  The sound was excellent, the music was not.

It was a very interesting morning and early afternoon.  After the equipment check, security required everyone to leave so they could do the final sound check with the artists.  I went back to my hotel to cleanup and change for the show.