Rainbow Music Hall...RIP

I had to laugh when I read this quote by a concert-goer in a newspaper article. To set it up, Bob Dylan had recently converted to Christianity. The year was 1980 and this was his first tour post-conversion. Dylan was only doing his new Christian songs when one frustrated fan yelled:

"Hey Bob, Jesus likes the hits too!"

I saw Dylan once, and he didn't speak one word to the audience. It was at Fiddler's Green amphitheater in the suburbs of Denver and the only reason I went was because the Alarm was opening. Have I mentioned that I love the Alarm? Well, now Fiddler's Green, like so many other corporately named venues is called Coors Amphitheater, and as Dylan himself said, "the times they are a changin'"

I missed the article in the Rocky Mountain News, which ran right before that paper went belly-up, which tells of the end of the Rainbow Music Hall. The Rainbow Music Hall has been a Walgreens for about 20 years now, but in the 1980s it was the best place to see a show in Denver, and despite the sadness of it being a Walgreens, at least the building was there, thesign remained, and when I drove past, I could smile and wave at the stripey concrete dated design and remember the good times there.

Yesterday, as I was driving to Melanie's to watch American Idol, I was dismayed by this sight:



Yep, that's what has become of my beloved Rainbow Music Hall...My first moshpit...the place where I caught Steve Taylor's drummer's drumstick, then later joined a band with the guy who caught the match...the place where I caught the 10 of diamonds at the Alarm show, then dated the guy who caught the nine of diamonds in San Francisco, where I nearly got smothered to death at a Midnight Oil show...the place where I camped on the sidewalk for good seats, skipping college classes for my music education, where I bribed fellow fans who camped on the sidewalk with pizza from my college waitress job so I could be smashed against the stage alongside them when my work hours didn't allow me to sleep side by side with them.

Check out all of this rock and roll history made at the Rainbow--maybe you were there for some of it. If so, please share.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/11/the-last-waltz-for-site-of-rock-history/

I don't know how to wrap it up except to say that driving past the corner of Evans and Monaco will always be a bittersweet thing for me. Good times. Rest in peace, Rainbow Music Hall.