High Points: Summer sounds  

What is the actual sound of summer in Aspen?

Is it the beeep-beeep-beeep of construction trucks backing up on our streets? (Not at the RH Crystal Palace, which has been quiet of late). Or perhaps it’s the roar of Gulfstream jets as they take to the skies, one after the other following another global roundtable event at the Aspen Institute. Maybe it’s the buzz-buzz-buzzing of bees in the patch of Russian Lilacs in front of the Aspen Post Office.

Truth is, it’s all those things.

But the real sound of summer here is the sound of music. And today, a new addition to the Aspen schedule of summer musical events kicks off when the first band takes the stage at Buttermilk for “Up in the Sky.”

Instagram tells me that band will be Shae District at 3:30 p.m. This is a production of the Belly Up boys, so you can expect a quality gathering just as they have nightly in Belly Up, one of the best music venues on the planet. Other acts include a pair of glasses, as in Glass Beams and Glass Animals, along with headliners Rüfüs Du Sol from Australia and Kacey Musgraves. An eclectic mix indeed.

Befitting an Aspen event, there is a top-shelf lineup of sponsors doing activations, including Patron Tequila, Land Rover Defender, and a Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar. Oh, and of course there will be Nobu Signature Cuisine if you are one of those who pony up for the covered Cabin premium table experience, which is a step or two, or three, up from the two-day VIP experience that will cost you $1,125 for the two-day event. General admission is available for $375 for a two-day Tier 3 pass.

Like most things in sports and entertainment, these days it seems that how “Up in the Sky” you can go depends on the color of your credit card. Oh, and so you know, “Up in the Sky” is a cashless event. So, leave your Benjamins and bitcoin at home.

We are also just three weekends away from the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience shows in Snowmass. We are all familiar with how well run this event has been since they first debuted in Aspen back in 1991. This year’s headliners include Imagine Dragons, Lenny Kravitz, and Luke Combs. A very different collection of acts.

Want a GA ticket for it? You can still get one still for $399. The Labor Day Experience also fields a status gap for those who have and those who don’t that divides the General Admissions from the VIPs but is indeed the way of the world these days.

Times have changed considerably since the mid-1970’s when the blockbuster, must-attend had-to-be-there show of the summer was the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s annual picnic as a fundraiser for the camp. In those days, before the Belly Up, it was bars like the Tippler, the Red Onion, and the Gallery that hosted many up and coming acts.

Each summer, John Denver would host the picnic raising money for the camp. As many as 7,000 locals and visitors would come to hear Denver along with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and occasionally Jimmy Buffet. It was before my time here, so I never attended, but I’m guessing there were not GA and VIP sections, and there was more Coors than Veuve. Not better, just different.

With the summer winding down, this is a great time to go hear some live music al fresco under the stars at both Buttermilk and Snowmass.

And if you can’t afford a ticket, there is also the sound of bees buzzing in the Russian Lilacs.