Guster Discusses Its Milestone Concert at Red Rocks With the Colorado Symphony

The Colorado music landscape is rich and varied, and what could be a better celebration of the area’s musical diversity than a collaboration between orchestral symphonic music and ’90s alternative rock? That’s what awaits fans at Red Rocks on Thursday, August 1, for Guster’s 25th anniversary show of the band’s breakthrough album Lost & Gone Forever in collaboration with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and special guest Kevin Morby.

Formed in 1991 in the dorms of Tufts University, Guster has been a mainstay of the alt-rock music scene for more than thirty years, with a loyal fan following and an ever-evolving catalogue of new music. Known for its unique instrumentation, including eclectic variations on percussion, Guster is a model of musical innovation, and for a decade now it has been part of the band circuit fusing rock music with classical compositions. In a community of vast musical subcultures, this collaboration is exactly what a music scene like Colorado's appreciates. “It makes sense,” says Guster lead guitarist and vocalist Ryan Miller, “because classical halls want to connect with new audiences, and bands love playing with orchestras.” Building orchestral charts and connecting with such forward-thinking symphonies as CSO has been an interest of Guster’s since first playing with the Boston Pops, and the band does several collaborations a year, including a recent show with the LA Philharmonic. The collaborations introduce people to classical composition while offering bands a new way to present their music. Miller says bands should “get into storytelling and honor where we’ve been and where we’re going,” and such collaborations are an opportunity to find new fans and find new ways for old fans to appreciate the music.

Tony Pierce, chief artistic officer for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, was enthusiastic from the beginning. “I’d been a fan of Guster since college," he says, "and we’re always looking for new collaborators, looking for ways to bring in new audiences.” This show will be CSO’s third experience with Guster, having performed at Boettcher Hall in 2012 and Red Rocks in 2021. Every year, the CSO plays numerous Red Rocks shows with non-symphonic collaborators, and Guster's "music lends itself to orchestration very well, and it’s a positive collaboration," Pierce notes. "It’s like family, and we’re excited to see them.” With nearly eighty musicians on stage, "it’s a huge production with a lot of moving parts,” he adds, because orchestras need sheet music, and arrangers must translate a band’s songs to orchestration, such as “creating a string line for a tasteful counter-melody to complement what is already there.”
In commemorating Guster’s pivotal third album with its eclectic instrumentation, Pierce explains that “the orchestra expands it all with traditional strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion sections and even a harp, creating a beautiful way to realize and reimagine music.” Christopher Dragon, CSO’s resident conductor, will lead the show, and as the man on the podium for CSO’s collaboration with RZA of Wu Tang, Pierce believes “he has the vision to ensure that purely symphonic music has a future and the ability to engage people who’ve never heard orchestra.”

This year, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra will play eight Red Rocks shows, teaming up with artists such as Brandi Carlisle and Jason Mraz. “We’ve pursued a reputation that actively collaborates with musicians," Pierce says. "Our mission is to be a curator of the classical art form, and this is in service of the mission. Many people have never seen us, or any symphony, and giving initial exposure to what a symphony can do is a source of pride for us.”

In developing a show to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Lost & Gone Forever, "we try not to be backwards-looking, but this album was a huge step for us,” Miller explains, and the band appreciates performing it at select special venues like Red Rocks and the Ryman in Nashville. Produced by the legendary Steve Lillywhite, the LP was a breakthrough because, Miller notes, Lillywhite is “such a massive talent, and he really took our music and got inside what we do well. It felt like the first time we made a recording that sounded good, and it shifted the landscape of what the band sounded like and what the future could hold.” Working with such an accomplished producer gave the band confidence: “He’s a magician, and he brought out nooks and crannies in our sound, helping us become the best versions of ourselves,” Miller says.
The Red Rocks show includes two sets — Lost & Gone Forever in its entirety and then greatest hits, along with songs from Guster’s new album, Ooh La La. “Keep Going,” a new single, is a melodically serene reflection, noting where the bandmembers are in their lives after thirty years of making music, with Miller hypnotically singing, “It’s okay, I’m all right... keep going.”

At Red Rocks, the audience will benefit from a beautifully orchestrated celebration of the band’s career. “It’s really about keeping things interesting for our fans and for us,” Miller explains. “We want to be excited to go out on the road, and at a bucket-list venue with so many more colors to paint with, and the extra layer of celebrating a record that is special to so many people, it’s just magical, and I’m thrilled we get to do this again.” With young fans now in their thirties with families, Miller knows people “grew up with our music as a soundtrack for their lives. It’s not really nostalgia, but more just life, and we’re honored by the fan base.”

Miller is also a playwright and actor who has a new musical, Safety Not Guaranteed, premiering in September, and bandmate Adam Gardner is the co-founder of Reverb, an organization helping artists become environmentally conscious and impactful. The band has also toured and done livestreams with comedians, and for its spring tour, drummer Brian Rosenworcel wrote a fifteen-page script that fused the band's songs with short skits about its history, such as meeting in a college dorm. Because Rosenworcel is a Swiftie, the band called the three-week trip the “We Also Have Eras Tour.” Following this current run, Guster will do its Eras tour again in January, hoping to return to Denver.

“It’s another new way to package and present our music,” says Miller. With the orchestra collaboration and a new album, Guster continues to produce and impress. And Miller acknowledges that while Guster’s last album was a bit colder and more mechanical, Ooh La La has a lot of heart, and is the perfect complement. “It’s where we are in our lives,” he concludes, and that’s “a very rich creative life, which is all I could have ever dreamed of or hoped for.” 

Guster with the Colorado Symphony, Thursday, August 1, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. The show is sold out.