Denver is making moves to improve the backstage experience for performers at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
A City Council committee on Tuesday advanced to design the upgrades, which include converting the underground backstage area into a five-story facility.
The project, which voters approved as part of the $950 million Vibrant Denver bond package in 2025, will add new dressing rooms, showers, an elevator, covered parking for the performers, a kitchen and a dining area. It will also make the backstage compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the first time since it was built in the 1940s.
“When the building was designed, it was made so that horses could get up and down (the ramps),” said Tad Bowman, the venue director for Red Rocks and the Denver Coliseum. “Some of the performers have trouble getting up and down those ramps and need assistance to get to the stage.”
In response to a question from Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, Bowman confirmed that the iconic exposed rock that performers can see in the dressing rooms and dining room will still be built into the structure.
“One of the most amazing pieces of Red Rocks is the backstage, the fact that the rooms are actually built into the rocks. If it rains or snows, the water runs down through the rooms. And I don’t want to lose that in this,” Sawyer said in the committee meeting.
The new structure will be designed to be partly underground so that show attendees can still see the city view from the seats, said Patrick Riley, the program manager for the Vibrant Bond.
“We will make sure that we maintain the sightlines that are so critical to the Red Rocks experience,” he said.
City officials plan to complete the project over several years without disrupting any shows at the venue. Crews will do construction work only during the venue’s five-month off-season, Riley said.
The initial contract is only for the design. The construction, which is expected to begin in November 2027, is allocated about $30 million from the bond.
The unanimously approved the item, along with about $3 million each for bond-funded improvements at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Denver Zoo and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The full council will consider the items in an upcoming meeting.
