A Halloween Perfomance at Red Rocks

On October 31st, 2025, I had the opportunity to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, for the first time. This legendary venue has been showing musical acts since the 1940s and includes a gorgeous view overlooking the Denver skyline. This concert in particular featured five performances over the evening. Lexa Gates, Meechy Darko and Zombie Juice from Flatbush Zombies, Earl Sweatshirt, Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist, and finally Denzel Curry were all on the bill to celebrate Halloween at this sold-out show.

For my first time seeing a show at this historic stage, I was very impressed with the venue’s layout, starting with the hike to the amphitheater. It’s not a hard march up the mountain by any means. In fact, it’s completely paved, with stairs leading up to the seating sections for easy access. Most of the sections themselves are also general admission, so there’s no need to worry about finding your spot specifically.

Sound design was also quite impressive during the show. Instead of an indoor concert where the sound reverberates off the walls and ceilings, sound waves were funneled up and out into the open air with only the cliffs on each end of the amphitheater to bounce off. As you can guess, the rocks don’t absorb the frequencies the same way as drywall and soundproofing panels, so creating a mix can prove to be quite challenging. But luckily, the natural formation of the canyons is able to reflect these waves, and a skilled audio engineer can use the environment to actively isolate the performance. Another plus side is the fact that being farther out of the city and closer to nature also eliminates interference from external sounds.

Onto the performances themselves. Unfortunately, I was still entering the venue and getting myself situated, so I missed much of the Lexa Gates opener. Following were Meechy Darko and Zombie Juice from Flatbush Zombies. The duo performed under the alias “2 Dead Boys” and played a lot of new songs together along with some fan favorites from their main discography. For one of the early acts of the night, they did quite well. I think that starting off, the performers had to adjust to the unique environment and differences between the set they were on the bill for compared to their normal shows, so the first couple of songs didn’t sound quite right, and the energy wasn’t as high, but this was remedied as the set continued.

Up next was Earl Sweatshirt. Formerly a crucial member of the Odd Future group from the early 2010s, he later established himself as a pivotal act in the abstract hip-hop scene with his lyrical prowess over unorthodox beats. Years ago, toward the beginning of college, I was a big fan of his and still am with his new album that released this year, Live Laugh Love. New songs and past hits were played from this artist, and truly, Earl was rapping his ass off. There was a stark difference between this performer and the preceding act. While the boys from Flatbush Zombies came to rile up the crowd and build some energy, Earl flipped the mood for a moment, providing a more conscious experience with his set. Most of his bars and themes aren’t about partying or debauchery but instead involve introspective lines about life with complex rhyming schemes.

After a break between sets, Freddie Gibbs finally approached the stage with the acclaimed producer, The Alchemist. Hot off a brand-new joint album between the two titled Alfredo 2, which exists as a sequel to 2020’s Grammy-nominated Alfredo, hits from both records were played together, and the show was electric! The first two came on stage in costume as Vincent and Jules from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and rocked the sold-out crowd to their bones. Freddie Gibbs, as one of the most notable rappers of hip-hop’s current era, was dialed into the music and attacking the mic with a barrage of expertly crafted verbiage, showing everyone how attuned he is to his talents and the sharpness of his raps.

Meanwhile, the esteemed producer, The Alchemist, was playing the beats for the set. The duo together have shown on two separate albums how well their dynamic fits and proved they’re not a duo to forget about. The two played together for two separate sets of about 20 minutes each. In between sets, Freddie earned a break, and The Alchemist took over the stage for a solo DJ set of his past productions, going through the eras of his career and mixing the biggest tracks that fans would enjoy together for a brilliant transition into the second half of the duo’s set. Freddie returned at the end of this DJ mix in a new costume as well—donning the super suit of Frozone from the Pixar film The Incredibles.

The two were on fire as they finished their set. Music and lyrics were on point, while their accompanying visuals mesmerized the crowd, showing scenes from Afro Samurai, the films whose costumes matched, and incredible effects projected onto the video of each person on stage. Freddie and The Alchemist truly stole the night, but the night was hardly over as Denzel Curry delivered the finale.

Denzel did incredibly as well. It’s really impressive to see how tuned he is with his artistic craft. Coming off a year since his last release, a double album, King of the Mischievous South, bangers like “Cole Pimp” and “Sked” were played from the collection, with past hits intermixed in the setlist. I’ve been listening to Denzel on and off for a long time now, and it’s incredible how inventive he is with each iteration of his discography. Every era has so much attention to detail included, and his performances of each of the songs from those past works reflected that. Denzel knows this too, and you could see it as he was building up the hype for his song “Walkin.”

Denzel delivered a brilliant finale to a long night of energy. Each of the acts that were featured at this concert really seemed passionate about the holiday celebrations, and the momentum never broke until the show was complete. For how unique this concert was compared to other acts I’ve seen this year, I can truly say that this was one of the most memorable experiences. The setting was gorgeous, the crowd was active, and each musician was enthusiastic. It truly went off without a hitch, and I had nearly nothing I would change. If I had to make critiques, I would bring up how multiple of these acts playing the same night have songs together, and while everyone referenced each other, nobody performed those tracks on stage together. I know that’s a constant in a lot of concerts, but it was the only thing I could think of that could’ve been added.

Check out our past review for Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s Alfredo 2 here