54 |^5280 |^ AUGUST^2019
Fromtop:CourtesyofWorksProgress^ Architecture,^ LLP;^ CourtesyofMel^SchocknerMUSIC
Final Stage
An inside look at Mission Ballroom, a local legend’s
parting gift to the Denver music scene.
A
s CEO of AEG Presents Rocky Mountains, Chuck Morris has spent nearly five de-
cades booking Colorado concert venues. But with the last years of his career upon him,
the 74-year-old decided he could bolster his legacy by building one. Not just any music
hall, mind you—Morris, aided by AEG co-presidents Don Strasburg and Brent Fe-
drizzi, envisioned one of the city’s finest performance spots. On August 7, he’ll achieve his
goal when 60,000-square-foot Mission Ballroom opens in Elyria-Swansea for a show from
the Lumineers. Here, we detail why it’s a superior setting for live tunes. —KIRAN HERBERTEQUAL-OPPORTUNITY
ATTENDANCE
A rafflelike program—similar
to the one popularized by
Phish—will prevent scalpers
and bots from buying up all
the tickets before the general
public’s internet browsers can
even load. Called Mission
Fair Ticketing, it involves a
dayslong reservation period
during which fans put down
credit card info for the chance
to snag as many as four tickets.
Mission Ballroom randomly
draws the winners and auto-
matically charges their cards.STAGE CRAFT
If a show doesn’t sell out, the
empty space can ruin a venue’s
acoustics. Mission Ballroom is
the only Denver concert hall
to employ a system that can
wheel the stage forward and
backward to fit the room tothat night’s audience, from
2,500 to 3,950 attendees.IN FULL VIEW
Portland-based Works Prog-
ress Architecture designed
an open dance floor in front
of the stage and 2,000 tiered
seats to limit the number
of inhibited sightlines. To
be sure, they tested every
vantage point using a com-
puter-generated model.SONIC BOOM
Germany’s D&B Audiotechnik
recently unveiled a sound
system outfitted with noise-
canceling technology that
reduces the amount of music
that escapes from the backs
and sides of speakers. Mission
Ballroom is the first venue in
this country to use the tech,
which better projects tunes
toward the audience instead
of letting the sound go in un-intended directions (where it
becomes muddled noise).PLACE SETTER
Mission Ballroom will anchor
the North Wynkoop District,
a 14-acre mixed-use develop-
ment from Denver’s Westfield
Company. The site eventually
will host shopping and upscale
restaurants and is only a five-
minute walk from RTD’s 38th
and Blake station, making Mis-
sion Ballroom one of the few
Mile High City venues that’s
easily accessible via light rail.GALLERY GRADE
The concert hall will house
eight permanent installations
from local creators, includ-
ing three neon sculptures by
Scott Young. Plus, as part of an
ongoing partnership with the
Rocky Mountain College of Art
& Design, student works will
be showcased in the lobby.“Attitude in
Altitude” by
Rosalind CookA rendering
of Mission
BallroomCOMING
TOGETHER
The original Center for
the Arts in Crested Butte
had a theater—and that’s
about all. To participate
in most of its other
programming (like writing
workshops and painting
classes), patrons had to
travel all over town to
wherever extra space
could be found. That
changes this summer
with the unveiling of the
new $20 million Crested
Butte Center for the Arts.
The 38,500-square-foot
facility will house not
only a 500-seat theater
but also a visual-arts
gallery, four art studios,
a kitchen for cooking
classes, and an aerial
dance studio, all under
one very distinctive roof:
The center’s gabled top
was designed to mimic
the slopes of Mt. Crested
Butte. The building
opened last month, and
its original programming
ramps up in August with
five concerts and the
debut of Oil and Bronze.
Combining the works of
local sculptor Rosalind
Cook and painter John
Ingham, the exhibition
(August 13 to 26) seems
an appropriate early
show for the center,
considering it hopes to
show what’s possible
when different media
unite in one setting.
—SPENCER CAMPBELL