Photos by Larissa Swatek ; Written by Larissa Swatek

On Wednesday, September 23rd Bleachers took the stage at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater on their Bleachers Forever Tour with American Football as their opener. From the first song, Bleachers have always had a way of making their music feel personal and at Red Rocks under the rainy skies, that feeling was amplified.

Songs like “Modern Girl”, “Chinatown”, “Rollercoaster”, and “Don’t Take The Money” had the entire amphitheater singing and dancing along. Thousands of voices filled the space turning familiar songs into something bigger. Even the quieter moments felt meaningful. Lead singer Jack Antonoff stripped “I Wanna Get Better” to a solo acoustic performance explaining that he believed that this song should have originally been an acoustic song instead, pulling the massive outdoor venue into something extremely intimate.

By the end of the night, it felt less like Bleachers had simply played a concert and more like they had created a safe space for everyone in the venue. Strangers were singing the same words, dancing together, and sharing the same moments together. And that’s what made the show so memorable.