15 MARCH 12-18, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | FIND MORE MUSIC COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/MUSIC Boulder Rocks FOLSOM FIELD GETS EXTRA CREDIT AS A COLLEGE-TOWN VENUE. BY JUSTIN CRIADO While plotting and planning your summer concert calendar, don’t forget to check out what’s going on in Boulder, particularly at the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field. The 50,000-plus capacity football sta- dium is hosting a trio of big acts — Mumford & Sons with Sierra Ferrell (June 6), Tyler Childers (July 18) and Rüfüs Du Sol (August 22) — courtesy of a powerful partnership between the university and AEG Presents Rocky Mountains. Boulder-born producer and Buffs alum Thadeus Labuszewski, aka Disco Lines, is also headlining two on-cam- pus shows at Farrand Field (April 17-18). The upcoming slate is part of a concerted effort to make Boulder more of an entertain- ment destination, especially since the city is now the new home of the Sundance Film Festival. And Folsom Field is serving as its concert crown jewel. “My job is to try and create an experience and atmosphere that is special. We take into account a myriad of factors to try to deter- mine what’s the best for the fan and the artist. Where that artist is going to resonate,” says AEG Rocky Mountains Presents President Don Strasburg. “When we’re looking at Folsom, Boulder is such a beautiful town, and when a concert of this magnitude happens there, it’s an event. You have a few really neat things that can happen. One, the artist and the fans feel a little bit more enveloped in a town like Boulder. There’s a bit of a town takeover. We walk through Pearl Street during the day, and you see a huge percentage of people who are like-minded fans of the artist. “You have a quintessential Colo- rado town that’s both an amazing place to live for the people in the community, it’s really accessible from Denver and the other Front Range cities, and it’s also a destina- tion for people nationally and internationally who love the artists and might want to par- ticipate in concert tourism,” Strasburg adds. Boulder, particularly Folsom Field, is certainly no stranger to hosting mega acts, as the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney have made their mark there in the past, but the recent resurgence of heavy-hitting headliners can be traced back to Dead & Co.’s sold-out run in 2023. “Since we started doing concerts at Fol- som Field with Dead & Company, we really recognized the opportunities for other art- ists and fans to enjoy the space,” Strasburg shares, adding that the university saw the subsequent boon fi rsthand. “For a long time, the university was reti- cent on doing concerts. That reticence, based upon the success of Dead & Company, turned into an amazing partnership. That’s really been the critical change that’s enabled us to do this,” he continues. “Those experiences helped the university get comfortable with what concerts looked like and saw the cultural benefi t for campus and the community. We’re doing everything we can to be great partners.” In 2024, Childers and ODESZA packed out the venue. “Both shows went phenom- enally well,” Strasburg adds. Last year, Phish and John Summit took turns fi lling Folsom, further proving Boul- der can draw just as well as Red Rocks and Denver venues. Although Phish is returning to its usual three nights at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City over Labor Day weekend this year, CU and AEG proved they’d tapped into something special. “We’re incredibly proud of the momen- tum we’ve built with our partners at AEG to bring a variety of artists across multiple genres to the Boulder community. There is simply nothing better than live music at Fol- som Field, which is an iconic venue nestled against the Flatirons in one of most beautiful towns in the nation,” says Ryan Gottlieb, CU senior associate athletic director and revenue generating offi cer. “We’re proud that we’re able to bring the highest caliber of entertainment to one of the best outdoor concert venues in the country, which attracts fans from all over the world,” he continues. “Thanks to our strong relationship with AEG, we look forward to continuing to bring amazing artists to the Boulder community for years to come.” Strasburg, who stepped into his current role in 2024, agrees. After all, he has a long history of bringing music to Boulder, start- ing with his efforts to open the Fox Theatre in 1992. “It seems like our choices, so far, knock on wood, have been pretty good,” he says. Plus, AEG has shown it has the Midas touch when it comes to curating one-of-a- kind live-music experiences recently, includ- ing having FISHER headline 16th Street and the debut of Project 70 with Turnstile last year. “It’s not rocket science. We’re just doing the best job we can to try and create really compelling experiences that appeal to the fanbase of the specifi c artists,” Strasburg explains. “We can take ev- erything we can possibly think of into account to advise an artist what we think their fans would most enjoy.” In that sense, Boulder is more mountain town than metropolitan Denver, adding to its own unique energy as a college town. “My job is to try and create ex- periences for people who work their butts off all day long and want to forget about their jobs,” Stras- burg says. “It’s the opportunity to curate. We’re just thrilled and honored to have a partner like CU and Folsom and be able to have that opportunity for the artists and fans and make that part of our curation. The uniqueness of it and the warmth of the building, we’re trying to place artists who are going to resonate on those factors.” In case you’re considering making a trip to the People’s Republic of Boulder for one of the shows, Strasburg outlines what a day in the mountains could look like: “A couple times a year, take a little road trip up to Boulder, go for a hike over by the Flatirons in the morning or take a nice little hike up Chautauqua, come back and have a delicious meal on Pearl Street Mall, go to an amazing venue, maybe even spend the night in Boulder or take a 35-min- ute drive home. It’s a different experience.” So what Folsom gig is Strasburg most excited for? Short answer: All of them. “No one has a favorite child,” he says with a laugh. “They’re all amazing, and they’re all different. We know especially nowadays our musical tastes is very varied from one day to the next, one moment to the next. I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there like me who love all of these acts, even though they’re not all really the same. Rüfüs is signifi cantly different than Mumford & Sons and Sierra Ferrell, nonetheless Tyler Childers.” Tickets for all three shows, as well as the Disco Lines dates, are still available, but don’t wait too long to grab them. “Ticket sales, fan reaction for the three shows we have this year and the ones we’ve done in the past have indicated that we’ve directed people to a place that they are enthusiastic about,” Strasburg says. “We’re really lucky that a diverse retinue of amazing acts were interested in coming and playing.” So Boulder is not just becoming a mecca for fi lm fans, but music fans. “It’s really an impressive and such a clear signal of the quality of our music community and the experiences that we have that people from all around the country fl ying here to see music. Concert tourism is really strong in Colorado, and that says a lot about the kind of offerings we have,” Strasburg says. “AEG takes live music seriously, we as an overall community take it really seriously. That’s what people have come to expect here, and that’s what they deserve.” Email the author at [email protected]. The crowd at Folsom Field at the University of Colorado Boulder for John Summit’s performance. John Summit’s Folsom Field show on October 18 was the biggest headlining show of his career to date. MUSIC BRANDON JOHNSON (@BJOHNSONXAR) BRANDON JOHNSON (@BJOHNSONXAR)
