The anatomy of a green room is deceptively simple: couches, tables, mirrors, mini-fridges, and other basic items are available to performers as they wait backstage, do interviews, receive guests and party.
But within those confines are wildly divergent experiences for rock stars, drag queens, comics, authors and other stage performers at the area’s best indoor and outdoor venues.
At the Hi-Dive, layers of graffiti and spare, ratty furniture give the South Broadway club a punk-rock authenticity and sense of history. By contrast, Red Rocks Amphitheatre’s green rooms offer sprawling hangout spaces for world-famous artists, with on-site catering and accommodations for both bands and their crews (or fans, as the case may be after shows), as well as unique natural sandstone formations.
New spots try to shake off their paint and construction dust by starting traditions. That often includes signing autographs on a wall to mark an artist’s visit, as Dazzle jazz club has been doing since it reopened in a custom space at the Denver Performing Arts Complex last year.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, only a few them actually have green walls — and those tend to be the less rock-ready spaces. Think the Tattered Cover on East Colfax Avenue, with its calming, low-light green room for touring authors about to read from their work. At Comedy Works downtown, local and national stand-ups, including Dave Chappelle and Sarah Silverman, mingle before shows and mentally work their routines. But those are color-coded exceptions.
David Weingarden of Z2 Entertainment, which books Chautauqua Auditorium, 10 Mile Music Hall and other venues, prides himself on his company’s upgraded and well-maintained green rooms, as has long been the case at the gorgeous Boulder Theater and modest but powerful Fox Theatre, as well as Fort Collins’ busy Aggie Theatre (which just received its own upgrade).
Perks often lead to positive press: When mega-comic Bret Kreischer visited Loveland’s Blue FCU Arena in February, he was treated to a golf simulator and whiskey tasting, which Kreischer praised on his social media accounts.
We surveyed metro area venues to get a sense of what Denver looks like from the inside — when artists have only a few hours in town, and their main impression of the Mile High City is a windowless room, however well appointed. Here are just a few.
The green room where musicians relax before going on stage has portions of the natural rock inside the concert venue at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre on Feb. 6, 2024, in Morrison, Colorado. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Simply playing the venue is a career-high achievement for many artists, and the backstage experience is similarly epic. Side-stage “barn doors,” carefully guarded, lead to underground tunnels that break off into green rooms, a dining room (complete with rolling popcorn machine and snow cone dispenser), and other spaces.
Water seeps through rocks in the largest green room into a tiny gutter, which can create surprising tableaus. When Macklemore and Ryan Lewis headlined a Winter on the Rocks event there, all they cared about was getting their picture taken next to it, said venue manager Tad Bowman.
“The water had seeped in and it turned into this frozen waterfall, and it was beautiful,” Bowman said. ” I remember them saying ‘We’ll never play anywhere else where there’s a frozen waterfall in our dressing room! ‘ ”
When James Taylor visits, he’s known to hang out in the egalitarian dining room where crews and local stagehands also eat from a small catering kitchen. It’s a safe, subterranean space.
Backstage at Denver’s historic Paramount Theatre. (Provided by KSE)
Paramount Theatre
This 94-year-old gem in downtown Denver has a well-preserved, Art Deco look that contrasts with its utilitarian backstage. However, up the stairs and through a narrow hallway, the green rooms are comfy havens that can also be easily reached through the alley (where most performers enter, and fans wait after shows) while crews load in.
They’ve been recently updated, according to Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which owns and operates the venue. Wall-mounted film reels that mark its history as a classic movie house are joined by modernist fixtures, deep blue walls and perks like a Pop-A-Shot machine.
That contrasts with other KSE venues, such as Ball Arena, which feature handsome but generic dressing rooms that cater to both sports-league and artist needs, from the Denver Nuggets to the Eagles and Bad Bunny, with puffy couches, a bar and a wall-sized photo of downtown Denver’s 16th Street Mall.
Dressing Room One is backstage at The Fillmore Auditorium and is used for the main preforming acts on Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Fillmore Auditorium
The Fillmore’s green rooms are beautifully moody and old-school, with the feeling of cloistered backstage space — or, in this case, under-stage space.
The Capitol Hill venue has a long history, formerly as Mammoth Events Center and as a skating rink that took advantage of the building’s wide, wooden floors. Major refreshes over the last decade have brought more bathrooms and slicker styles to the green rooms, which general manager Joe Petrie was proud to show off recently to a Denver Post photographer.
In its warm and womb-like design, the red walls, murals, chandeliers and stuffed couches are joined by a wall with the names of past performers, ranging from Bob Dylan to Ms. Lauren Hill, Denver’s Nathaniel Rateliff and Troye Sivan. Any recent visitors have also had access to backstage table tennis and pinball to pass the time.
Sunset Amphitheater
Colorado Springs’ newest, biggest concert venue is set to debut Aug. 9-11 with shows from Colorado’s own OneRepublic. But owner JW Roth said his upscale dressing rooms will go beyond the usual perks.
“We’re calling it an artist compound,” he said. “They’re broken out individual rooms with showers, there’s a beautiful kitchen, outdoor patio with grills and flattops, and they can order off the menu at our seafood restaurant and chophouse — which isn’t open just yet.”
Views make a difference: As with the main venue, the green rooms include outdoor spaces that look upon Pikes Peak and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Artists tend to remember that, Roth said, and it helps to lure them back for more shows.
A green room in the Ogden Theater in Denver on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Ogden Theatre
As one of Denver’s most revered theaters, the 1,600-capacity Ogden Theatre has welcomed thousands of touring acts, locals, famous actors and directors into a backstage space that, until recently, needed more than a little love and care.
Now, brick walls, rugs and a classic Galaga cabinet, as well as a flatscreen TV, immediately jump out, as do the handsomely askew lampshades that seem to be a signature of any green room. It was recently renovated to account for a boiler that loomed over the room, owner Doug Kauffman has said, and is in its best shape yet.
South Broadway venue Herman’s Hideaway recently moved its green rooms from its “dungeon” basement to offices upstairs, which were renovated for musicians. (Provided by Herman’s Hideway)
Herman’s Hideaway
This legendary South Broadway venue has changed hands a couple of times since the pandemic, but also enjoyed major upgrades to lighting, sound and other necessary features. That includes a trio of brand new green rooms, which owner Mike Roth is happy to crow about.
“We moved them from the nasty dungeon-basement to upstairs,” he said. “Only two bands could really fit down there, but now we have three rooms and two bathrooms, which cost probably as much as the new sound system.”
Indeed, Herman’s green rooms are tidy and cozy, with soft couches, refrigerators, coffee and tea machines, flatscreen TVs and even a safe for valuables. And, hey — actual green walls!
Mission Ballroom’s backstage area is sleek and modern, with record players and curated LPs, lighted mirrors and other touches that accent the high-tech venue. (Provided by AEG Presents)
Mission Ballroom
One of the country’s most technologically advanced venues also boasts one of its best green-room setups.
Opened in 2019, the AEG Presents-owned, RiNo-located venue is an artist’s dream with state-of-the-art dressing rooms that include TVs, record players and curated LPs (courtesy of nearby vinyl manufacturers Vinyl Me, Please), navy blue walls, natural wood, pop-art paintings, mid-mod fixtures, and mirrors with lighted strips on either side. It’s a hip addition to a hip neighborhood, and one that may herald more sponsorships and brand placements in green rooms.