Words & Images by: Mike Hardaker | Additional Images by: Soren McCarty
Mile High Music Festival :: 08.14.10-08.15.10 :: The Field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park :: Commerce City, CO
 Beta Girl by McCarty |
Day 1
Thousands of music lovers once again joined together for a 2-day music festival on the soccer grounds of Dicks Sporting Good Complex to celebrate the 2010 Mile High Music Festival. The first day featured headliner Jack Johnson, along with the Steve Miller Band, Slightly Stoopid, Phoenix, Nas with Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley, Keane, Cypress Hill, Keller Williams and more. This year’s festival was held later in the summer in hopes of avoiding the heat waves of the past two years. Mother nature did her part, providing nice low hanging clouds and bearable temperatures.
AEG Live has put on the Mile High Music Festival for the past three years. Each year the local concert promoting company finds new ways to make the festival experience as comfortable and easy going as possible for the patrons, VIPs, media, and most important, the artists. The 2010 Mile High Music Festival allowed patrons to re-enter the venue at any time during the event. This way people could picnic outside at their cars and save money on food and drinks during a tough economic period in this country. In years past this would be considered a huge no-no as the concert venue relied on income from food sales. Free water stations were also setup throughout the festival grounds, and keeping everyone hydrated is a great idea! And in more economic related news, Way To Grow, a hydroponics store in Boulder, Colorado, was flying a banner over the festival encouraging people to “Grow Your Own.”
Day 2
 Dave Matthews by Hardaker |
High temperatures returned to the festival grounds on Sunday, along with an estimated 20,000 concertgoers. The second day featured headliner Dave Matthews Band, along with Weezer, My Morning Jacket, Jimmy Cliff, BoomBox, Bassnectar, Ozomatli, as well as DJs from Beta nightclub in Denver performing at the Beta Beach in the middle of the festival grounds.
In a first for Mile High, AEG Live gave away free water bottles made out of 100% recycled plastic. Combine that with the water stations scattered around the grounds and it seems like the promoters were thinking of safety first and income second – the way it should be with 20,000 people’s live in your hands.
On top of the music, the food selections at the festival were impressive. Vendors from around the state of Colorado and traveling “carnies” setup shop on both sides of the stadium. Denver’s Stubens Restaurant set up a mobile kitchen, the Smiling Moose Deli was cooking made-to-order Mighty Mo sandwiches, pizzas and burgers, and a clever vendor was selling chocolate covered fruit kabobs.
For the non-foodies, there were massage tables setup with $1.00 per minute massages, video game lovers could test their skills on the new Guitar Hero game in front of a huge crowd of onlookers, and artists designed custom t-shirts and bandannas to take home as free souvenirs.
And those just wanting to dance non-stop found their home at the Beta Beach, located in the heart of the stadium. DJs from around the around, including DJ MLE and the Team EZ Dancers from Denver, entranced the crowd with heavy beats and lots of skin. Folks surrounded this tent, making it a very happening place to spend the afternoon.
A Few Words From BoomBox
Mike caught BoomBox‘s Russ Randolph and Zion Rock Godchaux after the fest to get their impressions of this year’s festivities.
“Festival was awesome, everything from the crowd to production to weather, everything was perfect,” says Randolph. “We played at three o’clock in the afternoon, which sometimes can be difficult for crowds, you know standing in the sun for hours and all, but the tent was a great setting for a daytime set.”
“For Mile High, we played for an hour, which normally goes by very quick. Anyone who knows us knows that we are never afraid to take our time and stretch out,” continues Randolph. “Mile High was unique in that time seemed to stop on stage for us, and we just played. We are normally a late night act and design our live show primarily around that. So, the intelligent lights and lazers that can look huge in a dark theater get somewhat lost in middle of the day sunshine. This forces us to come up with a different game plan for the visual aspect of the daytime sets, which are also very important to us.”
“Mile High was incredibly well organized and goes to the top of our list,” says Godchaux. “The Colorado crowds are always great.”
8/14/10 – 8/15/10 – Mile High Music Festival @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City, CO) View Photos
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