a red rocks 'secret'

if you ever find yourself hunting for tickets to a sold-out red rocks concert, don't fret. the secret to getting day-of tickets is this: show up when the box office opens, generally two hours before gates open, and you stand a decent chance at purchasing tickets for seats never issued or were not released, usually because they were unused comp tickets given to the band or vips. you can buy those premium the seats for face value and don't have to grab your ankles pay service charges.

we successfully used this same tactic for monday's sold-out police & elvis costello concert. i arrived 10 minutes before the office opened, was third in line, and had no problem purchasing two tickets behind the sound board in row 16. party on!

it gets better: i asked the gal at the ticket office if photography was allowed. she said they allowed "small cameras," meaning i could bring the nikon d300 minus the vertical grip and the 85 f/1.4.

nicole & i did our usual pt cruiser tailgater, complete with fruit, crackers, cheese, and some hoegaarden belgian white beer, our favorite summer brew . the concert was the loudest red rocks show we'd ever heard. our ears were still ringing the following evening :( nicole had to some explaining to do when listening in the stethoscope at work... instead of listening to heartbeats, all she heard was ringing!!! we know, ear plugs next time.

sting made his first appearance towards the end of elvis costello's opening set.

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20 years since their 1986 breakup, the police still sounded awesome and gave out so much energy.
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a shot of the megatron composite featuring band members sting, andy summers, and stewart copland.
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without fail, the police played all the biggest hits and two encores :)