A Monolith Day at Red Rocks

It is easy to forget how lucky we are to have a place like Red Rocks nearby.

There's a reason bands have long made the pilgrimage to our natural wonderland of an amphitheater at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Most famously U2 will always be remembered for belting Sunday Bloody Sunday to the world from Denver foothills.

The venue itself is iconic.

Time after time on Saturday, artists new to the venue stopped to admire with awe the dramatic rock outcroppings rising up high above them. It is no less impressive for the audience. Facing down the mountain onto the stage, the entire city of Denver spreads out before you into the great plains.

It's one majestic place.

Our one day foray into the Monolith Music Festival on Saturday was a great reminder of this.

Exhausted after hiking up and down the amphitheater more than a few times, we went home giddy -- and not too deaf -- after some rousing performances from bands we knew, and some we didn't.

Foals, Cut Copy, Vampire Weekend and The Presets were absolute highlights. Superdrag and The Fratellis, not so much. And our short misguided foray into White Denim was saved by a quick escape.

More on these bands in the days ahead, but here's hoping Monolith lives to play another year. Hat's off to the organizers for putting together such a bang-on lineup on Saturday.

In the meantime you can take a gander at Westword's much more comprehensive take on the two-day event HERE, HERE, and HERE. The Denver Post has photos and links to their still unspooling reviews HERE.

I don't necessarily agree with their takes on the sets I caught on Saturday, but that's the point of a festival like this: With five separate stages, there was plenty for everyone to dig!

It was a rocking good time in a setting that's 100% Colorado.