Mile High Music Festival Day 1 Recap

Commerce City! A bustling metropolis of industry! And the home of the two year old Mile High Music Festival. Two fully stocked days of bands both big and small mashing in to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Complex to entertain the sun-kissed crowds.

Day one began with us walking in to a cover of The Cure’s In Between Days actually being given justice by Matt Nathanson. After making a plan of attack, we headed towards Main Stage East. Long time running band Gomez took the stage and pulled Revolutionary Kind from their earlier days to kick off the set. After catching a few more songs, we headed to the Rhapsody tent to wait for Colorado loved Ani DiFranco. The demographic in the tent was amazing. On top of the crowd that usually follows DiFranco, there were a lot of dudes in Tool shirts with mohawks dancing when she kicked off Little Plastic Castle. Ani DiFranco is small but is a powerhouse. She filled the tent all the way to the back.

After DiFranco was local staple Big Head Todd and the Monsters on Main Stage East. Singing into the slowly sinking sun, the ensemble that has been solidly performing since the late eighties abided by the Colorado band rule #2: play home often.

The front Main Stage West filled quickly before Incubus came up. Without saying a word...Privilege, Pardon Me, Nice to Know You, Anna Molly, Stellar, Megalomanic... It was a hit filled set that seemed to have two purposes. One: to entertain the gathered masses and two: to remind people (myself) how many singles these guys have had.

On the way to the Westword Tent, we decided to head to the main thoroughfare and let the corporate sponsors take a crack at stealing our souls. Unsuccessful would be the “MLB Experience” which consisted of a trailer with some baseball caps inside and a ho-hum, poorly placed batting cage. SUCCESSFUL would be the Playstation Experience. This thing was an air conditioned semi-trailer with giant Sony TVs and tons of free games. Walking in and around were a bunch of scantily clad women with PSPs hanging from their waist on retractible cables so that as you play, this weird girl awkwardly breathes down into the side of your head. Now THAT’S how you infiltrate every level of a consumer’s consciousness! (I just pimped your product Sony. I want my free PS3.)

Leaving Soul Removal Alley, we went to the Westword Tent to take in The Black Keys. This tent was so full that I couldn’t get anywhere close to seeing or hearing anything. AWD frontman and photo pit monkey Castro said that they killed it though!

As Castro enjoyed the set from the front row, I headed to the 1stBank Stage in the back of the complex. Denver raised India.Arie took the stage after a long sound check. “There’s something I have to get off my chest before I start the show,”. She then told a story about how she sent her brother to the car to get the credentials passes for her family to get backstage(see Westword's article). As he was at the car, the wonderful Commerce City Police Department arrested him under the suspicion of him scalping the passes. She had to start the show without her family because they were picking him up from the station. In tears she started her show as she normally does with a musical prayer. Turning to her musical director and keyboardist, she had a long conversation ending with “...Because it will make me feel better, that’s why I want to do it.” She said that the song she was about to the band didn’t even know yet. Under her powerful direction, they threw this brand new song called Life is Good together right there on stage and it was perfect. “Now I feel better!” she stated and then promptly launched into Video. The emotional set concluded with I Am Ready for Love. Now that her family was all there (including her wrongfully arrested brother) she brought her mother on stage to finish the song with her. Arie’s set was one to be remembered.

Not having proper clearance to photograph Tool, Castro and I gathered up the equipment and headed home to rest up for day two.

illustration by Joe Tone

Additional Note: NONE of us had clearance to shoot Tool. Because of that, we have provided you with the Westord’s depiction of what it looked like and a bunch of iPhone pictures of people in Tool shirts.

Mile High Music Festival Announced

Colorado's Mile High Music Festival returns to the Fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on July 18 and 19. The 2009 festival expands to two main stages for its second year. Headliners include TOOL (Saturday), Widespread Panic (on both Saturday and Sunday), and The Fray (Sunday).

In addition to the headliners, 2009 performance highlights include Incubus, Ben Harper and Relentless7, G.Love & Special Sauce, Gov't Mule, Buddy Guy, 3OH!3, Ani DiFranco, Paolo Nutini, The Black Keys, John Butler, Gomez, The Wailers, India Arie many others. The Fray, 3OH!3, India.Arie, Set Forth, and Paper Bird are among the bands on the bill who call Colorado home. A complete list of currently confirmed acts is included below, with additional artists still to be announced. Visit http://www.milehighmusicfestival.com for ongoing updates. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m. each day.

Mile High Music Festival exploded on to the national festival scene last year as hosts to Colorado's largest music and arts festival, offering concertgoers a tremendous variety of musical talent, food from many of Denver's top restaurants, an artists' village and more. The festival, which attracted more than 90,000 attendees its inaugural year, went off without a hitch and promises again to put the fan experience first. The festival grounds, with its remarkable views of the Denver skyline and Rocky Mountain Front Range, will offer even more shade and misting tents, an increased number of free water stations, and shorter concession lines. The 2009 event also boasts an upgraded VIP experience and expanded festival greening initiatives.

This year's Mile High Music Festival introduces a charity component as a special thank you to the community that is helping make the event a Colorado summer tradition. A portion of the ticket proceeds will benefit Commerce City's Quality Community Foundation (QCF). "This is extremely good news," said Commerce City Mayor Paul Natale. "The city is very excited to again be apart of the Mile High Music Festival and for AEG Live to donate money to the city's Quality Community Foundation is just music to my ears." The Quality Community Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established by Commerce City in 2006. It grants money to organizations that provide nonprofit services to Commerce City residents.

Tickets for Mile High Music Festival will go on sale Friday, April 3, at 10:00 a.m. MDT online at http://www.tickethorse.comand http://www.milehighmusicfestival.com, by phone at 866-461-6556 and at Dick's Sporting Goods Park Box Office. They can also be purchased with a credit card at the Ticket Outlet Kiosks in twelve Dick's Sporting Goods stores. The Paramount Theatre Box Office will be open on Friday, April 3 from 10 am - 2 PM to sell MHMF tickets to walk-up customers only. Ticket prices are $162.50 (plus service charges) for a 2-Day Pass. A limited number of Single Day Tickets will be available for $90.00 (plus service charges) while supplies last. Two-day VIP Packages are also available: $400.00 (plus service charges) for the Mile High VIP Pass and $1250.00 for the Mile High Apex experience (plus service charges).

Mile High Music Festival's two-day weekend pass is available this year on a Layaway Program. The Layaway Program offers an opportunity to pay for the price of a two-day pass in two installments, with 50% plus service charges due at time of purchase and the remaining 50% balance due on June 12.

The festival will also offer a Carpool Package for $650.00 and includes four two-day passes and special carpool parking. Carpoolers are encouraged to participate in the Mile High Music Festival Carpool Contest. Participants are asked to decorate their vehicles to draw attention to their green driving efforts. Winners will be randomly chosen on each day of the festival and awarded VIP upgrades for each rider in the vehicle.

Visit www.milehighmusicfestival.com for details. The Fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park is conveniently located just nine miles from downtown Denver, and only 1.8 miles from the I-70 and Quebec exit.