Global Dance announced on Thursday that their flagship festival, Global Dance Festival, is changing venues from Red Rocks Amphitheater to the Sports Authority Field this year. They also announced that they are changing from a three-day event to a two-day event. These announcements came as a huge shock to many of their fans.
The event has been held at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater ever since the very first Rave on the Rocks in 1999. Their first show only had two artists Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers, however they still drew in several thousand people. After several name changes due to pressure from the venue and the local police, the name was finally changed to Global Dance Festival in 2003.
After tickets sold out two years in a row back in 2008 and 2009, they turned the single day show into a two-day event in 2010. After the 2010 show sold out almost instantly, the promoters decided to make it a three-day festival starting in 2011. For The last 6 years it has been the largest music festival in the Rocky Mountains, pulling in thousands and thousands of music lovers from across the globe. Many big names have had the honor of playing at the legendary venue including Above and Beyond, Avicii, Big Gigantic, Deadmua5, Dillon Francis, Griz, Knife Party, Major Lazer, Paul van Dyk, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, and Zeds Dead just to name a few.
There could be many possible reasons for these changes including a larger venue with more capacity, bigger and better stages, noise ordinances, or any number of reasons. When asked about these changes, Global Dance declined to comment simply saying, “We will have more details at a later date.” I still have high hopes that Global Dance Festival will live up to its name in being the biggest and best EDM Festival in the Rockies!
