Boulder Life

From Kansas City we headed to Englewood, CO to play the Comfort Dental Amphitheater in the Denver area. I was excited to see Colorado since so many people have told me that Evan and I are the type of people that would love living in the Boulder/Denver area. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I wanted to know if it would be love at first site.

The day was a bit difficult emotionally because of the night before in Kansas City and this being the first show without any of Evan’s instruments. We must have told our story of being robbed over a dozen times but each person that heard it gave us words of encouragement. By the end of the evening Evan and I were so full of love it seemed like the violations against us were a distance memory.

Without any of his own instruments, Evan played Vivian Campbell’s gold top Gibson and a Dobro guitar that Jeff (one of the guitar techs for Heart) picked up on loan for Evan the day before. Evan cut his set short and played only three songs that night in light of the emotional dealings in Missouri. He started his set with “Woodpecker” on the Gibson, then invited Vivian out to play their Robert Johnson cover on the Dobro and finished the set with “The Giving Tree” on the Gibson.

Before playing his last song, Evan told the Denver audience about the thievery in Kansas City and dedicated his set to the crew of Heart and Def Leppard along with the band members. He gave a special thanks to Jeff, Dave (Wolfie), and Jason for all their help in recovering equipment for him so the show could go on. The audience shared in Evan’s grief as he belted out his pain in “The Giving Tree”. Music was the perfect therapy for working out those lingering emotions from the day.

That night we stayed at a friend’s house and awoke the next morning determined to have some fun. We drove an hour to Boulder, CO and walked the quaint streets; we window-shopped, listened to live music and drank non-Starbucks coffee. It was fairly quiet except for the sound of children playing in the water which was shooting up out of the pavement. After we felt satisfied with our stroll we decided to get back in the car and drive up into the mountains less than 5 minutes away.

The drive up was beautiful! The mountains were covered with greenery and a clear water stream flowed down the opaque boulders which ran parallel to the winding road. There was a bike path on the other side of the stream with happy joggers and exhausted bikers climbing the hills with us. We had found a place to park the car and dip our toes in the water. It was amazing that this rugged, natural beauty was this close to the artsy downtown of Boulder. I feel in love, a place I definitely would like to visit again at the very least.

I wanted to stay another night but we had to leave and drive on to Salt Lake City for a show on Wednesday, August 31st at the USANA Amphitheater. Boulder life might just be the next step, we will see!