Starting Today, Denver Concert-Goers Should See All-Inclusive Pricing for Events

Prospective concert-goers at city venues including Red Rocks Amphitheatre will no longer face the disappointment of snagging tickets for a favorite act, then having to back out when they get to checkout and see how much fees and taxes add to the total.

Denver Arts & Venues announced today, August 5, that all city-operated venues will now display all-inclusive pricing that includes all applicable taxes and fees from the get-go.

Along with Red Rocks, the change will impact the Colorado Convention Center and Bellco Theatre, the Denver Coliseum, the McNichols Civic Center Building and venues in the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

“This is a win for event and concertgoers in Colorado,” Brian Kitts, Denver Arts & Venues spokesperson says in an announcement of the change. “The all-in pricing prevents surprises during the check-out process and the legislation also starts to tackle behavior by unscrupulous re-sellers.”

The new pricing system was spurred by legislation signed by Governor Jared Polis earlier this year, which requires those up-front price disclosures and prohibits raising prices once a ticket has been selected for purchase. The legislation also requires event operators and ticket resellers to give customers full refunds if they buy counterfeit tickets or if events are canceled.

Polis had vetoed similar legislation in 2023, but after consumers encountered chaos while trying to get Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny tickets and Colorado joined a federal lawsuit calling out Live Nation and Ticketmaster over an alleged illegal monopoly, Polis signed this bill in June.

The legislation marks the first time that ticketing rules in Colorado have been updated since 2008, and customers will soon start seeing its effects across the state, with Denver Arts & Venues leading the way.

Westword tested both Ticketmaster and AXS, checking upcoming concerts at Fillmore Auditorium, the Paramount Theatre, Ball Arena and Mission Ballroom; all of the prices we found were all-inclusive.

But while major primary-market ticket sellers appear to be complying with the law, secondary market sales haven't caught up — even though the legislation applies to event operators and resellers.

Major ticket resale-market player StubHub still had major fees at checkout: an $85 fulfillment and service fee on a $222 Hozier ticket at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, and a $116 service and fulfillment fee for a $316 ticket to see Wicked at the Buell Theatre, a Denver Arts & Venues location.

VividSeats, another secondary market site, also still wasn’t employing upfront prices on August 5, with over $80 in fees added to the price of Mt. Joy tickets at Red Rocks.