GoPro Mountain Games 6.10 - 6.13.21

-

Vail, CO

Words by Elliot Siff Photography

Each June the GoPro Mountain Games event brings athletes, art, music and mountains together in Vail, Colorado drawing 2,000+ pro and amateur athletes in 12+ disciplines and 30+ events such as whitewater events, dog jumping competitions, bicycling, slack lining, running and much more. During the Gopro Mountain games the town of Vail gets a chance to showcase all it has to offer with live music in the streets and venues, adventure competitions and demonstrations, gear and product demos in “Gear Town” and so much more. It's a glorious and inspiring weekend with something to offer for anyone with adventure and entertainment around each bend.

Only a few short months ago, it was unclear exactly what the 2021 GoPro Mountain Games in Vail would look and feel like.  As late as May of 2021, it wasn’t clear if the event would be able to fully welcome spectators, a difficult pill to swallow for an event that drew 83,000+ spectators to the area in 2019. By May 19, the vast majority of public health restrictions that govern the event were lifted, and in a few short weeks the event was able to grow in terms of events offered, venue footprints, spectator numbers and athlete participation. Tens of thousands of spectators came to Vail to enjoy the event over four days, and more than 2,000 unique pro and amateur athletes took part in competitions ranging from trail running, road/mountain/e bike events, white water events like kayak free style and SUP downriver sprint, a disc golf competition, fishing events, dog competitions including the jumping masters of Dock Dogs and much, much more.  

Music always plays a key role in the Gopro Mountain Games and this year was no different. On Thursday evening Yonder Mountain String Band played at the Gerald Ford Amphitheater for their first “real”, non socially distanced, sold out concert since the pandemic took hold. The energy from the band and crowd was off the charts. During the days two stages offer up great free music right by all of the events.  Unique collaborations and Colorado bands played in the hot summer sun as folks saw everything on offer. These shows felt like “only in Colorado” moments, with artists from bands like Dark Star Orchestra, Circles Around the Sun, The Motet and more casually playing amazing tunes on a beautiful afternoon.  

This year the addition of Bob Weir performing Friday and Saturday night at the Gerald Ford Amphitheater brought in an additional crowd of dedicated deadheads to the valley. During the weekend folks in tie dyes were mingling around town enjoying the festivities as well prior to some top notch, intimate 2500 person concerts with Bob Weir’s expanded Wolf Brothers/Wolf Pack outfit featuring legendary producer Don Was on upright bass, Jeff Chimenti on piano, Jay Lane on Drums and Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar. In addition to the 5 man Wolf Pack, the group brought out a a three horn, violin and cello 5 piece outfit to join them for some thoughtful and expansive orchestrated takes on Grateful Dead classics.

Having now been in Vail to experience all this event/weekend has to offer, I couldn't imagine missing the unique and fun variety of events and entertainment that overtakes Vail each year for the GoPro Mountain Games presented b the Vail Valley Foundation. It's a special, truly Colorado experience.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

-
Image
Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus
Read more

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

-
Image
Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least
Read more

Billy Strings 4.18.19

-
Image
Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B
Read more