DENVER — The merry month of May used to be an outlier on the Red Rocks Amphitheatre calendar, and any artist that dared book past September tempted the wrath of show-stopping cold and snow.

These days, Red Rocks’ season seems to start earlier and end later each year, and so far that’s true of 2025. Even as new shows are still being added — this week’s include Brad Paisley, Beck, Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen, Thievery Corporation, My Morning Jacket, the Beach Boys, and Tape B — the season is kicking off this weekend with Icelantic’s annual Winter on the Rocks party, on Saturday, March 8.

The calendar runs at least through late October, with a Halloween hip-hop showcase from Denzel Curry, Freddie Gibbs and Earl Sweatshirt. And there's more on the way.

Following a decade of growth that was halted only by the COVID pandemic, Red Rocks has led a global music comeback as other stages, artists and fans follow its sold-out success. Last year, the venue was again the world's most attended and top-rated amphitheater, according to Billboard, after similar accolades earlier this decade.

Attendance topped 1.6 million, according to Denver Arts & Venues, which owns and rents out the amphitheater to promoters (mostly Denver's AEG Presents Rocky Mountains). About half of the visitors were from out of state, which says a lot about the venue's draw, as well as our willingness to embrace outdoor shows year-round.

However, the return of Winter on the Rocks, which started in 2012, also shows that the season has perpetually flirted with the year-round mark. Featuring Gramatik, Zingara, the Funk Hunters feat. Charli 2na, and the Sponges, it christens a 2025 roster that's still taking shape.

Less than three weeks after Winter on the Rocks comes the March 28 Inzo showcase, the March 29 Boogie T show, the April 3 L'Impératrice set, and ... do you see where this is going? Despite the potential hassle and expense of buying concert tickets, unpredictable weather and other ongoing concerns, audience demand continues to drive the seasonal expansion in either direction, turning it into one, months-long music festival, as AEG Presents Rocky Mountains president Don Strasburg called it.

That demand is so high that Red Rocks can no longer meet it alone. Bookings now spill over into venues such as Ford Amphitheater, Dillon Amphitheater and a handful of similar-sized outdoor stages. Red Rocks may be the pinnacle of any tour, but its 9,250 seats are small in comparison to Fiddler's Green Amphitheater (about 17,000). Playing Red Rocks lets huge artists split their shows among venues that may be closer to home for some fans.

As long as the Morrison venue defends its world-class, fan-friendly reputation, the growth is unlikely to stop. The city works hard on that, scrambling to install upgrades and build new restrooms, roofs and bars in the slim, holiday- and early-year period where there are no bookings at Red Rocks.

Some of last year's improvements addressed drainage along the roads that connect the venue to its parking lots; a better ADA-accessible entrance up top; and smoother ramp slopes. That benefits not only concertgoers, but also visitors to the 738-acre park that the venue lords over. It's open daily to tourists, as well as those strong enough to climb its 69 rows of seats and hundreds of concrete steps for exercise.

It's not just for concerts: Red Rocks' season of live events includes Yoga on the Rocks (where one-hour sessions cost about $20) and Film on the Rocks — the Denver Film program that runs outdoor screenings of cult classics, crowd pleasers and new releases.

Dates for both are likely still a couple months away, but open spots are disappearing by the week, so it's easier to guess where they'll land (July has a lot of holes at the moment). You can't even call it a summer concert season anymore, really, but a spring-to-fall marathon that affords fans of nearly every type of music a good time in one of the world's most beautiful, popular concert venues. Provided you bring a coat.

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