Rainbow Music Hall

Not to be confused with The Rainbow Ballroom (Denver).

The Rainbow Music Hall was a 1,485-capacity music venue located in Denver, Colorado. The venue opened in 1979 by concert promoter Barry Fey and closed in 1989. Many famous artists performed at the Rainbow Music Hall, including:

Rainbow Music Hall

Address	6360 E. Evans Denver, Colorado United States
Coordinates	39°40′41″N 104°54′50″W / 39.67806°N 104.91389°W / 39.67806; -104.91389
Operator	Barry Fey
Capacity	1,485
Opened	1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Closed	1989; 35 years ago (1989)

• Journey,
• AC/DC,
• Bob Dylan,
• Berlin,
• B.B. King,
• Elvin Bishop,
• Black Flag,
• Blackfoot,
• Bobby & The Midnights,
• David Bromberg,
• Savoy Brown,
• Roy Buchanan,
• The Call,
• The Charlie Daniels Band,
• Cheech & Chong,
• Stanley Clarke,
• John Cougar,
• The Cult,
• The Cure,
• The Damned,
• Miles Davis,
• Def Leopard,
• Rick Derringer,
• The Dirt Band,
• Dixie Dregs,
• Bob Dylan,
• The English Beat,
• Erasure,
• Gamma,
• Greg Kihn Band,
• Jean-Luc Ponty,
• Jerry Garcia,
• J. Geils Band,
• Judas Priest,
• Gentle Giant,
• Bruce Hornsby,
• Joe Jackson,
• Al Jarreau,
• Howard Jones,
• The Knack,
• Leo Kottke,
• Lonnie Mack,
• McGuinn, Clark & Hillman,
• Meat Loaf,
• Jim Messina,
• Metallica,
• Midnight Oil,
• Minutemen,
• Ozzy Osbourne,
• Katy Moffatt,
• Willie Nelson,
• Siouxsie and the Banshees,
• Stevie Nicks,
• Graham Parker,
• Tom Petty,
• The Police,
• The Pretenders,
• Prince,
• John Prine,
• Rainbow,
• The Ramones,
• Bonnie Raitt,
• Reconstruction, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
• R.E.M.,
• Roxy Music,
• Siouxsie and the banshees,
• The Specials,
• Rick Springfield,
• Steppenwolf,
• Thin Lizzy,
• Peter Tosh,
• Tanya Tucker,
• U2,
• Suzanne Vega,
• Stevie Ray Vaughan,
• Tom Waits,
• Jerry Jeff Walker,
• Wall of Voodoo,
• Johnny Winter,
• Warren Zevon,
• 38 Special
• Anthrax
• Pat Benatar^[1][2]

On May 9, 1979, Journey recorded a live performance. The concert followed the release of their 5th studio LP Evolution; released March 20, 1979.

Many of the early performances were recorded by local audio/video company ListenUp, which was instrumental in the 1980s in introducing compact discs to the US market for the first time. ^[3] At one memorable concert at Rainbow Music Hall, ListenUp CEO, Walton Stinson tricked an audience of 1,000 into believing they were listening to a live performance of the band Grub Stake, but had segued the performance into a digital recording mid-performance to demonstrate the superior quality of digital audio over analog technology. ^[4]

References

1. "The Rainbow Music Hall: Remembering a Legendary Denver Concert Venue | Denver Public Library History". History.denverlibrary.org. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
2. Dave Herrera (2013-01-28). "The Rainbow Music Hall first opened 34 years ago this week with shows from Jerry Jeff Walker". Westword. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
3. Jacobs, Garry (1990). The Vital Corporation. Prentice Hall. pp. Technology. ISBN 9780139464508.
4. "1,000 Hear CD at Demo in Denver". Billboard Magazine. 26 March 1983.

• Metallica and Motorhead "Rainbow Music Hall about to take its last bow" - Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News. March 11, 2008
• Kim Allen, Denver Photo Archives (Westword) http://www.denverphotoarchives.com/blog/2009/august.html
• Concert Promoter Barry Fey http://barryfey.com/
• Miles Davis - January 29, 1983 Rainbow Music Hall, Denver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNkTEoQthsA