DENVER — Colorado’s music scene thrives because people love seeing concerts here. Our venues range from the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre to the independent clubs that are growing the next generation of musicians, with plenty in between.

The biggest venues — those with a capacity of 2,000 or more — were constantly booked during the summer and early-fall concert seasons, with homegrown artists such as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and The Lumineers joining touring biggies like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Keith Urban, and Metallica.

While metro area stadiums and arenas aren’t purpose-built for music, they host enough concerts (and music fans) to justify inclusion here; anyone who’s seen Denver-based electronic headliner Illenium, The Rolling Stones or Taylor Swift, for example, can recall the giddy throngs at Empower Field at Mile High.

Here are Colorado’s 20 biggest live music venues, in order of size.

Empower Field at Mile High

Capacity: 76,125

Opened in 2001, the home of the Denver Broncos is also is also the largest concert venue in Colorado. The Eagles played the first concert there, but Mile High has gone on to host dozens more. This year, it has already welcomed Post Malone, Coldplay, the Weeknd and two nights of Metallica. As with most sports venues, concert capacity can rise or fall with field seating, or the closure of certain sections to maximize audience views. If you’re U2, you can even play in-the-round (as they did in 2011).

Coors Field

Capacity: 50,398

While concerts at the Colorado Rockies’ 30-year-old baseball stadium are rarer than at Empower Field, the capacity at Coors Field ensures big names and turnout — see recent shows from Billy Joel, Green Day, Kane Brown and Def Leppard. Booking has been relatively light so far this season.

Still to come: Paul McCartney (Oct. 11)

Dick’s Sporting Goods Park

Capacity: 27,000

As Commerce City’s largest venue, the home of the Colorado Rapids also hosted the annual Phish run on Labor Day weekend for many years (this year it’s at Folsom Field in Boulder) and the gigantic Mile High Music Fest (with Tool, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews Band and others). Opened in 2007, its concerts these days are fewer, but the airy layout of the 18,000-seat stadium lends itself to party-heavy events and dancing, with recent performers such as Imagine Dragons, Weezer and Bassnectar. Field seating adds a whopping 9,000 capacity — or just under the entire capacity of Red Rocks.

Ball Arena

Capacity: 21,000

The home of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Mammoth since 1999, Ball Arena, is a year-round concert venue that hosts the biggest names in touring. Floor seats and section closures put concert capacity around 20,000 or below, but in-the-round shows can make it feel less cavernous; see past visits from Metallica, or Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

Capacity: 17,000

The state’s largest-capacity amphitheater tends to book artists who are too big for a single night at Red Rocks, but who might also fit comfortably in Ball Arena, depending on the time of year. In 2025, that has included Earth, Wind & Fire, Keith Urban, Wu-Tang Clan, and AJR. Having opened in 1988, the Greenwood Village venue also specializes in presenting live orchestral movie scores, package tours and themed throwback nights.

Still to come: Haim (Oct. 3)

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Capacity: 9,525

Arguably the most famous amphitheater in the world — and, since the pandemic, inarguably the best-attended and most lucrative one — Red Rocks is a unique historical wonder in the Morrison foothills that’s a must-visit for music fans. Too many names to list have graced its outdoor stage, which peers up at a wide bowl between the towering formations of Ship Rock and Creation Rock, offering ideal natural acoustics and stunning vistas. Since it officially opened in 1941, notables have included the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Widespread Panic, Radiohead, Daft Punk and Blues Traveler’s legendary Fourth of July run. This year, there are shows almost every night through October, and then some.

Still to come: Lorde (Oct. 15)

Ford Amphitheater

Capacity: 8,000

Not to be confused with Vail’s more modest Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater (aka The Amp, which opened in 1987), this luxury-minded Colorado Springs newcomer has since 2024 soaked up performers looking to turn their Denver or high-country visit into a lucrative Front Range run. Colorado pop-rock juggernauts OneRepublic opened the venue last summer, and it’s since hosted a crowd-pleasing mix of country, hard rock, hip-hop, pop and other acts.

Broadmoor World Arena

Capacity: About 8,000

The multipurpose event center opened its doors in 1998 and has hosted classical music, bull riding, circuses, the Harlem Globetrotters, religious gatherings and, of course, tunes from acts such as Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, and Elton John.

Still to come: Alice Cooper and Judas Priest (Oct. 10), and A Day to Remember and Yellowcard (Oct. 28)

Blue FCU Arena

Capacity: 7,200

Northern Colorado residents are well served by this venue, which opened in 2003 as the Budweiser Events Center, and which is part of Loveland’s growing Ranch Events Complex, thanks to investments from Larimer County and others. It’s taken on more stature since FirstBank Center closed in Broomfield in 2023, having already hosted entertainers like Nate Bargatze, Weezer, Salt-N-Pepa, and even David Bowie.

Still to come: Cole Swindell (Oct. 2), Brantley Gilbert (Oct. 12)

Levitt Pavilion

Capacity: 7,000

Situated in the otherwise quiet Ruby Hill Park, Levitt is a nonprofit outdoor venue that hosts more than 50 free, high-quality concerts each year for all ages. Its bookings since 2017 have developed into an even mix of rock, pop, hip-hop, metal, soul, R&B, country, folk and impressively diverse acts from outside the U.S., with an emphasis on supporting local and up-and-coming artists.

Bellco Theatre

Capacity: 5,000

This perky venue inside the Colorado Convention Center arrived in 2005 as part of a larger renovation, but it stands alone with its booking, which has included one of the city’s most winning mix of musicians, big-name comedians, lecturers, and hybrid movie screenings.

Still to come: David Byrne (Nov. 6-7)

Mission Ballroom

Capacity: 2,200-3,950

The flexible stage at this high-tech, artist-favorite venue allows owner AEG Presents Rocky Mountains to customize the space to different acts’ audience draw, whether that’s Jack White, Olivia Rodrigo or Devo. The layout for in-venue bars, bathrooms, and accessible seating is state-of-the-art and a welcome change from most crowded theaters with mediocre sight lines to the stage.

Dillon Amphitheater

Capacity: 3,656

This high-country amphitheater with gorgeous views first opened in 1993, with a major renovation in 2018, and has, since the pandemic, been supercharged with acts that would normally just play Red Rocks. That includes Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, String Cheese Incident, Modest Mouse, Pretty Lights and Cypress Hill. Some shows are even free.

Fillmore Auditorium

Capacity: 3,600

Longtime Denverites will recall the long, curved-roof building at East Colfax Avenue and Clarkson Street as the Mammoth Events Center. Owned by promoter Live Nation, it has for most of the time since its 1999 rebranding been the Mile High City’s premier mid-size venue hosting rock, hip-hop, metal, electronic music and drag shows (at least until rival promoter AEG Presents, owned by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, built Mission Ballroom to compete against it.) A note for music historians: it was redesigned in the style of promoter Bill Graham’s seminal Fillmore venue in San Francisco.

Buell Theatre

Capacity: 2,839

While the 34-year-old Buell — full name Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, after the prolific and influential Colorado architect — mostly welcomes touring Broadway productions for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the city-owned theater also books musical artists.

Still to come: Morrissey (Oct. 2)

Boettcher Concert Hall

Capacity: 2,679

Music lovers continue to debate the acoustics at the Colorado Symphony’s home in the Denver Performing Arts Complex, but the mainstream profile of acts there has helped diversify the symphony’s audiences in recent years. That includes collaborations in-the-round with Denver’s Nathaniel Rateliff and DeVotchKa, as well as indie firebrands The Flaming Lips, in addition to standard orchestral fare and familiar classical-crossover acts such as Andrea Bocelli and Lindsey Stirling. Did we mention live movie scores from “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars,” “Home Alone 2” and others?

Ellie Caulkins Opera House

Capacity: 2,200

One of Colorado’s oldest venues is also its most majestic, hosting thousands of dancers, touring comedians, musicians, theater productions, and celebrity speakers since opening in 1908. Along with the Buell (next door), it’s the biggest venue in the bustling Denver Performing Arts Complex and a beacon of classic Denver style.

Grizzly Rose

Capacity: About 2,000

Since 1989, the Rose has been one of metro Denver’s only dedicated country music venues with a rich history of launching huge performers (see Taylor Swift’s first-ever Denver concert) and bagging acts that would normally play larger venues. Rough-hewn wood, line dancing, cold bottles of beer, barbecue and mechanical bulls bolster the estimable list of country, hard rock, roots and crossover acts that regularly play on Friday nights.

Macky Auditorium

Capacity: 2,036

The University of Colorado’s handsomely renovated Macky Auditorium, which held its first concert in 1923, hosts music festivals, ballet, circus performers, musical theater, symphonic tributes and more — and has been floated as a primary screening venue for the Sundance Film Festival when it moves to Boulder in 2027.

Still to come: Ballet Hispanico (Oct. 9), Cirque Kalabante (Nov. 7)

Pikes Peak Center

Capacity: 2,000

Comics such as Jerry Seinfeld and Marlon Wayans, and musical acts including Dream Theater, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett and Hauser, find a cozy reception in this stately venue in downtown Colorado Springs, which opened in 1982, and which can feel much bigger depending on who’s on stage.

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