You probably know that nature makes everything better.  This can range from sleeping under the stars vs falling asleep on the living room couch; swimming in the ocean vs swimming in your city pool; and eating real rabbit meat shot and roasted on the open plains vs those questionable Easter Peeps that come out in pastels every spring.

When I was a little girl I lived full time with my Me Ma who owned a large 200 acre farm with lots of chickens and cows out in the country.  I would spend my childhood running around partially nude, eating wild berries that grew in the roadside ditches and learning to poop on the soft dirt squatting in her barn when I had to go since there were no toilets (being sure to cover it up afterwards of course).  I feel like this rite of passage should bestow every child as it teaches you it is okay and safe to be free.

Fast forward approximately 26 years later.  I am riding in my friend’s car on the short drive out to Morrison, Colorado from her place in a suburb of Denver.  It is May 2012.  We are heading out to a place that in 1906 had been carved out of the actual red colored rocks for the purpose of hearing live music outside and unfiltered.  We were going to Red Rocks Amphitheater and we were going to see the band The Shins.  This was The Shins first concert at Red Rocks.

If you have seen the movie Garden State you already know then that the music of The Shins will change your life.  If you have ever listened to James Mercer, meaning listened with your whole soul (not texting, IMing, Skyping or masturbating at the same time) then you understand the gift of songwriting this man has.  His words are true poetry in motion.  And we were going to get to absorb their wonder while sitting high up top flaming red rocks with the mountain air blowing in our hair and the moon looking down from its perch above the rocks.  Halfway through the concert James himself commented on how breathtaking the beauty of the whole place was, how magical it was to be able to perform in such a place filled with such history and transformation.

The irony of Red Rocks is that the place in itself holds so much beauty that it doesn’t need sound.  You don’t even need to speak of its majesty.  Trying to talk about it would be obvious and would cheapen the soft sense of wonder that Red Rocks creates.  She stands on her own with and without music.  Listening to a band perform at Red Rocks is like an extra bonus, a generous bequeath that Red has given us mere mortals just for taking the trek out to see Her, heck just for taking the strenuous trek from the parking lot up the mini mountain to get inside the amphitheater (side note for the ladies:  Yeah, don’t wear clogs to a show at Red Rocks.  Wear flats.  Or sneakers.  Or maybe even hiking boots).  This sacrifice will be worth every second.

The mystery of Red Rocks combined with the quirky following of the Shins meant that gazing down at the sea of people from up top gave you a quilt pattern of gray heads of grandfathers and grandmothers bobbing up and down along with bubble gum snapping teenagers.  Was it really the music of The Shins or the setting that brought such together?  We will never know.  One thing I do know is that this is NOT a venue where you want pit tickets.  This is a venue where you want to sit up high and tall in order to take in the best views not just of the stage but your fellow concert-goers who seem to be more alive, along with the moon, open sky and stars.

I don’t want to apply logic to the whole scene but what exactly makes it special?  Is it the colors?  The air?  The sound system?  The old lyrics buried deep inside the rocks from over 100 years of shows?  Is it because everybody else feels in awe and so by some sort of energy transfer you feel it too?

I realize even after these words that I am not doing this place justice.  I give up.  For one thing words cannot do it justice to begin with.  And I realize that you may go there and not experience what I experienced or what others have experienced.  It may just be any old outdoor amphitheater to you.  You may be color blind and therefore cannot distinguish the color red that engulfs your entire body and line of sight at Red Rocks.  You may not care about the extent of how the music sounds because you will be too busy texting or Facebooking while the music plays.  Regardless you should still give Red Rocks a chance at a show once in your life.  This place was not known as the Garden Of the Angels for nothing.

After my inaugural The Shins show I wasn’t sure if any other concert at Red Rocks could top that performance.  Until I went back 2 days later and saw Bon Iver perform at Red Rocks.  And then I knew.  It could.