Zephyr’s Candy Givens, Otis Taylor, David Givens and Michael Wooten on the Norlin Quad, 1971.

The year is 1970 and you’re a young CU student. You’re strolling across the Norlin Quad on a gorgeous day, your bellbottoms flapping in the wind, and you wonder what the sun-soaked crowd of people could be doing. They’re watching a Zephyr concert, right on the front steps of Norlin Library.  

Zephyr, a Boulder-based band, was formed in 1969 and was known for its blues-rock prowess. At the time, Boulder was a mecca for talented musicians, drawing legends like Joe Walsh and Rick Roberts, and the music scene was studded with incredible acts. Now considered one of the most influential Colorado bands of the 20th century, Zephyr played a number of iconic Boulder locations, including The Sink, Macky Auditorium, and the Boulder Bandshell. Although many believe the group never got the level of fame it deserved, they were inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2019.

This photo is a part of the Dan Fong: Music and Counterculture in Colorado collection, which is currently housed in CU Boulder Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. Dan Fong’s photographs are the cornerstone of the archives’ new initiative to document music, counterculture and social change in the Rocky Mountain region.

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Folsom Field during The Rolling Stones concert in 1981. Photo by Michael Goldman (Pharm'78).

Whether they're dancing until they can’t stand or simply watching the guitarist shred a solo, the people of Boulder love their concerts. CU has hosted many amazing artists over the years, representing everything from classical cello to electronic dance music. Here are 10 great concerts performed at CU Boulder.

1. The Eagles

Glenn Frey, singer and guitar player for The Eagles, was known for wearing University of Colorado T-shirts at concerts. Some think the five-night stint of shows the group played at Tulagi on the hill in their early career gave the school a special place in Frey’s heart. Once they garnered major fame, The Eagles played Folsom Field on July 29, 1978 during their Hotel California Tour. The band opened with “Hotel California” and ended with a four-song encore of “Rocky Mountain Way,” “James Dean,” “Take It Easy,” and “Tequila Sunrise.”

2. The Grateful Dead / Dead & Company

With their 1972 show, The Grateful Dead was one of the first bands to perform at Folsom Field, and Dead Heads came from far and wide to see the action. In July 2016, The Grateful Dead came back as the first band to play Folsom Field after a 15-year concert drought. Bob Weir, an original member of The Grateful Dead and a star of Dead & Company, said of CU before their return, “I’m looking forward to going back there in the biggest way.”

3. Dave Matthews 

In March 1999, the legendary Dave Matthews played with Tim Reynolds at Macky Auditorium. Later, in 2001, the Dave Matthews Band played Folsom Field on their promotional tour for the album Everyday. The group played 15 minutes over their allotted time and incurred a $15,000 fine from the university — $1,000 per minute. They played so long and so loudly that concerts were suspended from Folsom Field indefinitely. It wasn’t until Dead & Company played in 2016 that Folsom Field saw another show.

4. Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma, widely considered the world’s greatest living cellist, graced CU with his presence at Macky Auditorium in 2017. Ma is credited for invigorating classical music through his collaborations across all genres and cultures.

5. Van Halen

Van Halen played Folsom Field in July of 1986 as a part of their 5150 tour. They opened with a cover of “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks and closed with “Ain’t Talkin ‘bout Love” before a two-song encore.

6. The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger and the rest of the band played three times at Folsom Field. In July 1978, the group opened with a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock.” They came back in October 1981 to play two more shows in promotion of their “Tattoo You” album.

7. Cheap Trick

In July 1980, Cheap Trick played Folsom Field with three other bands as a part of the Colorado Sun Day series. The series featured concerts at both Folsom Field and Mile High Stadium throughout the '70s and '80s.

8. Zeds Dead

Representing the realm of newer music, Zeds Dead, a Toronto-based producer/DJ duo, performed at CU’s 2019 WelcomeFest. Although they play a variety of genres, Zeds Dead is best known for being a leader in electronic dance music.

9. Fleetwood Mac

In 1977, Fleetwood Mac played the Folsom Music Festival as a stop on their Rumors tour. They opened with “Don’t Stop” and closed with the iconic “Go Your Own Way.” The event drew a record crowd of 61,500 people.

10. Paul McCartney

The Beatles singer performed at Folsom Field in May 1993. His set included many of his most famous songs, like “My Love” and “Hey Jude.”

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Back-to-back shows at Folsom Field marked the end of Dead & Company's summer tour. The first show on Friday, July 5 was delayed shortly after it began as rain and hail pelted the stadium, but the band made up for lost time by foregoing their usual break. The next night, their final show of the summer went off without a hitch.

The Grateful Dead first played at Folsom Field in 1972, and in 2016 were the first act to play in the stadium since 2001. Check out more photos from their shows at . 

Photo courtesy @CUBuffs/Twitter 

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Folsom Field hosts the Eagles. The band opened the show with “Hotel California” and concluded with a four-song encore: “Rocky Mountain Way,” “James Dean,” “Take It Easy” and “Tequila Sunrise.”

Been to a concert at Folsom? Send a memory of your first or favorite to editor@colorado.edu. We’ll publish a selection of anecdotes in an upcoming issue.

Photo by Program Council 

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Dead & Company, which features members from the Grateful Dead and John Mayer, played in Folsom Field June 9-10 for the second summer in a row. More than 23,600 people attended the Friday night show. Last summer marked the first concerts in Folsom Field since 2001. 

Photos by Peter Burke 

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Digits

CU Education Abroad

ONE

Name change, from Study Abroad to Education Abroad

30,000

Approximate total number of CU students who have participated in an international experience through EA

TWO

Most popular countries: Spain and Italy

1,400

Approximate number of students who will study abroad in 2016-17

TOP 5

Majors for study abroad: Int’l. affairs, finance, psych, marketing, EBio

25

Faculty taking students abroad during the summer 2017 term

FOUR

Countries off the beaten path for recent study abroad students: Botswana, Cuba, Indonesia and Madagascar

Live at Folsom: Dead & Company 

Dead & Company returns to Folsom Field in June for two concerts. Last July the band, which includes three Grateful Dead members and John Mayer, performed Folsom’s first live music shows in 15 years. More than 50,000 people attended. As of early February, the Dead & Co. concerts were Folsom’s only scheduled musical performances for 2017. Tickets for the June 9 and 10 concerts are available at cubuffs.com.

Seen Around Campus 

Normalize vectors, not hate." 

 

— Sign displayed by Mathematicians Against Division, an informal campus group, before a Jan. 25 campus talk by Milo Yiannopoulos titled “Why Ugly People Hate Me.”

Seeding the Clouds

CU Boulder researchers have begun a three-year project to generate more winter snowfall in southwestern Idaho with the aim of producing greater river runoff for Western hydroelectric dams.

Using aircraft, the scientists will seed clouds with silver iodide to stimulate snowflake formation and measure effects.

The experiment is called Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime Clouds — the Idaho Experiment, or SNOWIE. Supported by the National Science Foundation, it also involves University of Wyoming and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign researchers.

Read more about the project at colorado.edu. Search “cloud seeding.”

Photo by Glenn Asakawa 

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Folsom Field hasn't hosted concerts since 2001. The sonic drought ends this summer with back-to-back shows by Dead & Company. 

Highlights 

January 1924: Ground breaks for a new campus stadium to replace the existing Gamble Field

October 1924: Colorado Stadium, as Folsom Field was first called, opens and hosts the first football game, versus Regis College

1944: Stadium is renamed Folsom Field after death of legendary CU football coach Fred Folsom (������’1899)

September 1969: First large stadium concert features the Byrds, Sons of Champlin, Buddy Guy and the Steve Miller Band 

September 1972: The Grateful Dead perform in Folsom for the first time

May 1977: Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Firefall and John Sebastian play for 61,500 people, the largest crowd in the stadium’s history

July 1978: The Rolling Stones perform

June 1980: The Grateful Dead play three days in a row

July 1986: Brief hiatus in Folsom concerts starts after extremely loud appearance by Van Halen

August 1989: The Who perform, part of the band's 25th anniversary tour

May 1993: Paul McCartney performs

July 2001: Long concert hiatus begins after performance by Dave Matthews Band

July 2016: Concerts scheduled to resume with two shows by Dead & Company

On July 11, 2001, the Dave Matthews Band played an electrifying 2.5-hour set at Folsom Field. The night was rainy, but that didn’t stop a crowd of 40,000 from showing up, or the band from going long.

By the time they finished a nearly eight-minute encore of “Ants Marching,” it was 10:45, 15 minutes past the curfew for outdoor concerts at Folsom. CU-Boulder fined the band $15,000 — $1,000 a minute — and concerts in the stadium were suspended indefinitely.

Michael Goldman (Pharm’78) was in the crowd that night, as he had been for almost every Folsom concert since 1973, when he attended a Leon Russell performance as a freshman.

“The campus would be taken over by whoever was playing,” the Denver pharmacist said, adding that the time to revive Folsom as a concert venue “is definitely long overdue.”

That day has arrived. The university announced Feb. 8 that Dead & Company — three surviving members of the Grateful Dead and John Mayer — will play at Folsom on July 2 and 3, 2016, the first concerts there in 15 years.

Like Goldman, former Buffs wide receiver Lance Carl (Soc’91) was at the infamous Dave Matthews Band show. After he joined CU-Boulder as an associate athletic director in 2013, he proposed bringing concerts back to revive a tradition and to generate additional revenue.

If the Dead & Company shows go well, other concerts could follow. 

“I would love to have concerts every year,” Carl said. 

In early 2015, Carl approached longtime friend Don Strasburg, co-president of live-music promoter AEG Live Rocky Mountains, about booking a big-name band. After Dead & Company were well received at a sold-out 2015 show in Broomfield, Colo., Strasburg went after them, and learned they were interested in a larger, more distinctive venue. 

The return of the Grateful Dead, or an incarnation of it, is symbolic in a way: In 1972 the Dead was among the first acts to play Folsom. They’d come back in 1980 to roaring crowds of around 60,000.

“The Grateful Dead has found a way to transcend time and generations,” said Ari Kononov (Comm’18), a sophomore and director of the CU Program Council, a campus group with a history of promoting concerts. “They’re a really hot comeback band right now.”

Bob Weir, a Grateful Dead founder and Dead & Company star, recalled happy memories of playing Folsom, including a rainy first show where he saw what he called “St. Elmo’s fire,” a natural electrical phenomenon, from the stage. 

“It got crazier from there,” Weir said in an April conference call. “I have nothing but the fondest memories of playing that facility.”

Weir added that Colorado’s thin air has sometimes made it difficult for him to sing, but that Boulder’s elevation always seemed to work well for him. 

“I’m looking forward to going back there in the biggest way,” he said. “This will be more fun for me in many regards than Red Rocks.”

An estimated 30-35,000 people are expected to attend the Saturday night concert, Carl said, and 25-30,000 on Sunday. Tickets range in price from $30 to $120 each. 

Besides scheduling the band, there’s the matter of transforming a football stadium into a concert venue. Carl helped determine the stage location — the north end zone extending to the 15-yard line, facing the Flatirons — and arranged for a breathable plastic covering to protect the grass from the dancing and hula-hooping crowd of 7,500 people with lawn tickets.

Dead & Company’s set-up crew plans to arrive June 26, along with 11 truckloads of equipment and others filled with steel for the stage. In all, about 200 workers, many of them locals, will participate, said Dead & Company production manager Chris Adamson. Altogether, it will take about five days to build the stage, with the crew working eight-to-10 hour days. 

On the day of the shows, doors open at 5 p.m. — and the music will end by 11. 

Of that, said Carl, “I’m confident.” 

One person sure to be there is Goldman, now in his 60s. The former CU Program Council photographer shot a legendary 1977 Fleetwood Mac concert at Folsom, among many others, and old habits die hard: He’ll bring his camera.

“I’ll be there for at least one of the nights,” he said, “if not both.”

For information about this year’s Dead and Company concerts, please visit Colorado.edu/deadandcompany.

Concerts are returning to Folsom Field for the first time in 15 years. The Buffs’ football stadium famously hosted a 1981 Rolling Stones concert, pictured.

Photos by Michael Goldman 

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