Tick Tock: Time for Colorado Concerts

Tim Van Schmidt  | New SCENE

The flood gates have opened.

For those who love live music, the Colorado concert industry has come back in 2022 with a vengeance — and it’s possible that, as the pandemic seems to be winding down, fans can be fairly confident that shows won’t be postponed or canceled on a wholesale basis like they were in 2020 and 2021.

Here’s a handpicked sample of just some of the shows that are coming to Colorado in upcoming months.

To make this list, I researched music venues all up and down the Front Range, including Denver (Ball Arena, Paramount Theater, Ogden Theatre, Coors Field, Empower Field at Mile High, Mission Ballroom, Fillmore Auditorium, Levitt Pavilion, Bellco Theatre), Broomfield (FirstBank Center), Greenwood Village (Fiddler’s Green), Boulder (Boulder Theater, Chautauqua Auditorium), Colorado Springs (Broadmoor World Arena, Pike’s Peak Center), Fort Collins (Washington’s, Lincoln Center, Aggie Theatre, The Armory), Bellvue (Mishawaka Amphitheatre), Loveland (Budweiser Events Center, Rialto Theater), Greeley (Union Colony Civic Center), and, of course, Morrison (Red Rocks).

I’m listing the shows by artist in the order they appear on the calendar.

Right at the top of the list is a special NOCO music event that is perhaps the most unique of them all. It’s “The KRFC BluesCircus Radio Hour” show scheduled for March 26 at Washington’s. There’s live music to warm things up, then a live radio and video recording, followed up by a Blues Jam.

That all should be raucous fun considering the line-up of top shelf Colorado musicians involved: John Magnie, Steve Amedee, Lionel Young, Erica Brown, Diana Castro, MJ Johnson and Eric Thorin plus Cary Morin & Ghost Dog along with West Side Joe & the Men of Soul, and the Hallelujah Horns. They’ll be paying a special tribute to bluesman Guitar Slim and more. See washingtonsfoco.com for more info.

But let’s not waste any more space talking. Dig in and start making plans: 

BluesCircus- Washington’s March 26

John Mayer- Ball Arena March 27

Al Di Meola- Boulder Theater March 29

Air Supply- Union Colony Civic Center April 1

The Wailers- Aggie Theatre April 3

Journey, Toto- Ball Arena April 11

Megadeth, Lamb of God- Broadmoor World Arena April 12

Ice Cube, Cypress Hill- Red Rocks April 19

Lindsey Buckingham- Paramount April 19

Pepper, Method Man & Redman- Red Rocks April 20

Lucinda Williams- Washington’s April 20

Flaming Lips- Mission Ballroom April 25

Buddy Guy- Paramount April 27

Gary Allan- Budweiser Events Center April 29

Offspring- Fillmore Auditorium April 30

A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor- Red Rocks May 2

Behemouth- Ogden Theatre May 4

Kenny Wayne Shepherd- Lincoln Center May 5

Henry Rollins- Aggie Theatre May 6

Steve Hackett- Boulder Theater May 10

David Bromberg Quintet- Boulder Theater May 15

David Bromberg Quintet- The Armory May 16

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram- Paramount May 19

Bruce Cockburn- Boulder Theater May 19

Marc Cohn- Rialto Theater May 21

Spoon- Mission Ballroom May 24

Bauhaus- Mission Ballroom May 25

Infamous Stringdusters, California Honeydrops- Red Rocks May 26

Samantha Fish- Chautauqua Auditorium May 28

Chromeo- Red Rocks May 28

Ziggy Marley, Ben Harper- Red Rocks May 29

Tears for Fears- Levitt Pavilion May 29

Tori Amos- Paramount June 2

Justin Hayward- Paramount June 3

Kim Wilson & Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ruthie Foster- Greeley Blues Jam June 4

Thievery Corporation- Mishawaka Amphitheatre June 5

Snarky Puppy- Mission Ballroom June 5

Black Angels- Ogden Theatre June 9

Tommy Emmanuel- Rialto Theater June 10

Jack White- FirstBank Center June 11

Chicago, Brian Wilson- Red Rocks June 16

Boz Scaggs- Paramount June 18

ZZ Top- Pike’s Peak Center June 19

ZZ Top- Budweiser Events Center June 21

Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick- Ball Arena June 26

Keb’ Mo’-Chautauqua June 27

Trombone Shorty, Tank and the Bangas, Dumstaphunk- Red Rocks June 28

Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire- Ball Arena June 29

Leftover Salmon- Mishawaka Amphitheatre July 1-2

Styx, REO Speedwagon, Loverboy- Ball Arena July 8

Mary Chapin Carpenter- Pike’s Peak Center July 8

Black Keys- Red Rocks July 13

String Cheese Incident- Red Rocks July 15-17

Cowboy Junkies- Chautauqua July 16

Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Joan Jett- Coors Field July 21

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Empower Field at Mile High July 23

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos- Red Rocks July 29-30

Foo Fighters- Empower Field at Mile High August 6

Joe Bonamassa- Red Rocks August 7-8

Hot Buttered Rum- Rialto Theater August 11

Bonnie Raitt- Red Rocks August 11

Wang Chung, English Beat, Missing Persons- Fiddler’s Green August 13

Reggae on the Rocks- Red Rocks August 20-21

Steve Miller Band- Red Rocks August 22

Elvis Costello- Levitt Pavilion August 23

Bush, Alice in Chains- Fiddler’s Green August 27

Robert Cray- Chautauqua August 28

Sammy Hagar & The Circle, George Thorogood- Fiddler’s Green August 29 

Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley- Fiddler’s Green August 31-September 1

Phish- Dick’s Sporting Goods Park September 1-4

Nine Inch Nails- Red Rocks September 2-3

Roger Waters- Ball Arena September 6

Weird Al Yankovic- Union Colony Civic Center September 9

Brandi Carlile, The Indigo Girls- Red Rocks September 10

The Head and the Heart- Red Rocks September 15

Bela Fleck- Chautauqua September 15

Iron Maiden- Ball Arena September 17

The Who- Ball Arena October 17

Porcupine Tree- Bellco Theatre September 25

Graham Nash- Washington’s October 23

Are those enough choices for you? Let’s just say there is a FULL inventory of events to go to. Tick tock — it’s time for live music in Colorado!

Tim Van Schmidt is a writer and photographer based in Fort Collins. Explore his channel on YouTube at “Time Capsules by Tim Van Schmidt”.