Review: Glass Animals Red Rocks Concert Was Otherworldly

English rock band Glass Animals returned to Colorado for two nights of packed-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on September 3 and 4, transforming the iconic venue into a pseudo-space station.

This was a long-awaited performance for fans, as the band just broke a four-year album hiatus with this year's release of I Love You So F***ing Much. It's Glass Animals' first LP since releasing 2020's Dreamland, which included "Heat Waves," the viral song that shot the band to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 2022 and remains its biggest hit single to date. And while the new album hasn't topped the charts, the I Love You So F***ing Much tour has maintained deeply personal themes, supplemented by mystical layers.

Fans arrived at Red Rocks on September 4 in a bizarre variety of looks, from fully capitalizing on the space theme with alien makeup to Western apparel and — in typical Glass Animal fan fashion — pineapple-themed attire. The audience’s creativity even caught the eye of lead vocalist Dave Bayley: “I love your outfits tonight!" he praised the audience. "Did you make them yourself?”

Whether it was the fans' eccentric looks or the calm before the literal storm that descended halfway through the show, Bayley opened the set by noting that there was something “special in the air.”

Perhaps inspired by this energy, or freed from first-night jitters, Bayley grooved across the stage hardly keeping his mouth closed — even his tongue couldn’t sit still: Meanwhile, the rest of the Glass Animals lineup — Drew MacFarlane, Edmund Irwin-Singer and Joe Seaward — performed in a more muted style, outside of an occasional sashay across the stage

The concert involved a frenzy of colors and otherworldly elements, including a center-stage globe that depicted holographic images. One such visual was of Red Rocks in orbit — adding to a few stage elements that were specifically tailored to the venue. In an interview with NPR, Bayley explained that he has always wanted to write a space album. According to him, I Love You So F***ing Much was the product of that desire and the powerful juxtaposition between space and the earthly, human experience of connection and love. And Bayley was boldly unafraid of bringing the human-connection theme to the sci-fi concert, taking his performance of “Gooey” to the center of the audience. The mystical theme was truly alive last night, as the lightning and droves of wet confetti definitely made audience members feel like “Creatures in Heaven.”

Glass Animals knows how to put on an eccentric show, always concluding with the band’s tradition of gifting the token pineapple to an outstanding audience member. The quirky finale did not stop there, as Glass Animals seized the opportunity to poke fun at themselves, or maybe their critics, with a pre-encore screen visual that encouraged audiences not to head for the exits too soon: “Forget traffic, man, this is Glass Animals, man. They only drop an album like once every four years, man!”

The playful visual seemed to work its magic on fans: The large majority stayed for the predictable encore of "Heat Waves"...and left wondering how long it will be until the next album.

See more photos from the show below: Find more concerts on our concert calendar.