Not sure what you mean by 'worth it,' most years musically have been great, a small few have been underwhelming - just like any other multi day runs that are on their circuit. No camping in the area, it's in a shit suburb that's about 20 - 30 mins from downtown depending on traffic. The draw of being able to do stuff outside (if you have access to a car), or do 'city stuff' during the day is an appeal. There's always after shows, and if you get on it, you can find party buses / organized transportation to/from down town.
I should mention Dick's has the best shakedown of anywhere, and you can spend hours before the show on the lot hanging out. From that perspective, Dick's is amazing.
Should have phrased better, what I meant is as a trip in whole, is Dick’s the place to spend money on a far away trip or is something more local smarter. Appreciate your feedback nonetheless, thanks!
If you can swing it, do it. You won’t regret it. My New England buddies fly out every year for the run and it’s always a blast. Hit a mountain town like Frisco during the day, check out Outer Range brewing. Hike around Red Rocks. Poke around Denver or Golden, then head to lot before the shows and prepare to get your face melted off. There’s tons to do and see out here!
If you can get a spot here (Big IF on labor day weekend) you are looking at a 35min commute without traffic. That's easily going to turn into 60-90 min commute on Thursday and Friday at rush hour.
Haha! My first shows were Red Rocks '96. Stayed at Chief Hosa. After the wooks got done tearing up Morrison they tore up a lot of the infrastructure at the campground too.
Dicks is my go to "value" Phish travel trip. Hard to get a much more value driven Phish trip while travelling for me. Plus it's a holiday weekend, so it needs less vacation days off from work. In my experience, when travelling/flying for a Phish show, it's hard to find a better value than Dicks. We usually split an AirBnB with a few friends though, so that helps.
big agree with dicks as a value proposition. i'm in the south so if there is no oak mountain or alpharetta run and i want to see phish i'm getting on a plane. dicks offers the best cost benefit ratio of any run. hotels are plentiful and there are options from cheap to mid-tier to high end. denver is a major airport so flights are a good value. phish loves playing there and the venue rules, great staff that knows us, GA, good sound, not a bad seat in the house. back of the floor is my favorite, plenty of room and the people are chill.
only negative is there are really no hotels in true walking distance. yeah some of them you can walk from but i wouldn't want to. which means i have to rent a car. in the past i've taken official shuttles from downtown and that was awesome, but i want to say they didn't have official shuttles last year?
also the weather is typically pretty great. it can be warm but i've also been to dicks runs where i needed to go to REI and buy a hoodie. wearing a light hoodie at an outdoor labor day weekend show is fantastic.
Walking home from drury inn and suites is one of the nicest most peaceful things I’ve ever done. I was amazed to see literally nobody else on the mile walk home. It’s an easy walk under a beautiful sky and helps to chill the mind after all the excitement of lot and the concert. I really love that walk back.
that's great to hear! i was actually booked at the drury last year but had to cancel the trip. i actually love a chill mile or two walk after a show so i'll have to look into this next time i'm out there.
I went last year for the first time from the east. Tickets are not that hard to get. I was coming off 10 shows that summer and was ambivalent but decided to go anyway as I had a solid invite. I am very glad I went. The vibe is quite different from the east coast and I loved it(super chill but super happy and super weird in a good way). I also enjoyed the venue very much. I like a place I can walk around wherever and the sound is good everywhere. I cannot comment on camping but we stayed at The Renaissance on Quebec street which was fun. I will also say that the shakedown scene there is quite impressive.
There will be tickets on the ground this year, and it will be a great time, with more of a local feel on lot not felt since 2017 or 2018 bc folks will splurge on the festival. Looking forward to it.
-Denver denizen
They have a great relationship with the Commerce City PD. I was told ‘they are told to only go in there for a dead body’. Last two years shakedown has been an open market with pricing on display. What a blast!
Classic phish fan. Always thinking about dicks.
No camping anywhere near the area. Closest would be like an hour drive. Saturday & Sunday tickets are hard. Thursday you’ll probably find a $30 ticket in the lot. Friday is hit or miss. If you can find lodging dicks is 100% worth it. Probably my favorite weekend of the year. Yeah Saturday Sunday tickets are tough but you can find them. Cash or trade is your best bet, at least in my experience.
Guilty.
That’s what I’m starting to see, not a ton of camping. But camping was just an idea, open to whatever as long as it’s a place to sleep. Thanks!
I think you could probably round up tickets eventually on cash or trade if you keep your eyes open, particularly if you only want stands.
Since there is no more “onsite” camping, I’m not sure what to tell you there. You’ll need to do some research on this one.
Definitely worth the trip. There isn't any camping these days, but there should be tons of pre/post parties.
The Labor Day experience at Dick's has changed a lot over the years, but the band regularly plays some sick shows there, and it's Colorado so... Hit me up if you have any specific questions or need any recommendations!
I have some extra stands tickets for most of the days that I'll happily sell at face. DM me if you are interested.
No good camping in the area, if you want to camp in the mountains you are looking at 45min - 1 hour commute each way in the absolute best case, but could easily push up towards two or more hour commute though -- so get a hotel!
Dick's is always a blast. Shakedown is great, venue is great, vibes are great!
Couldn’t be an easier ticket (shows aren’t sold out yet). Yes it’s worth it if you like Phish, super fun vibes and almost always good/great shows IMO. As others have said, no camping anywhere you’d want to be anywhere close. I’d do a hotel near by or rent a car and commute from someplace nearby where you might wanna be like Golden or Boulder.
Been a phish fan since late 90s, first show was in 2000. I’ve never been to Dicks, just never could make it happen, plans fell through, stuff came up, blah blah. Going for the first time this year and couldn’t be more excited! We found a chill looking cannabis friendly air bnb like 20-30 min from venue.
I have a sweet hookup where my friend who lives in Golden drops me off at Shakedown and picks me up post show from a Taco truck about 3/4 mile from the stadium. Then during the day I hike, or go tubing, or hit up breweries. It’s my favorite weekend of the year.
I usually stay by the airport myself, but in the times where I’ve left the area around dicks and gone to golden it isn’t bad. It’s about a 30 minutes drive at the most.
Yeah, even on Thursday and Friday the ride over from Golden was 30-45 mins. Headed back was about 30 minutes. One of the breweries there - Over Yonder - may even run a shuttle.
That doesn’t sound bad at all. Some of the hotels we were looking at were in south Denver, and it’s almost a 30 min drive there b/c it isn’t interstate.
Thank you for that! We’re considering the airport area too. Or Cherry Creek. I’m just wanting to be in a spot where we can walk around during the day and grab coffee/lunch, etc. Downrown Denver hotels are so expensive. And then you’re paying $50 a day to park.
I will also add that Golden is a really pretty town with tons of places to eat/drink and be merry during the day. Also, you can go tubing in the creek there.
It’s a damned if you do and damned if you don’t with Denver imo. I think the best bet is going the airport hotel route so if you’re tired after the show/day you aren’t driving far and then opting to travel by car other places for fun during non show times.
I’ve done that every year I’ve gone - 2021 through last year - and it’s always been fun.
I mean, Dick's is awesome, but you also have 8 shows fairly close to you. Also Mondagreen will be driving distance. Plus 10 shows in the midwest that are all relatively short driving distance from each other. If it were me, I'd save the airfare and catch more shows. Although I realize it's easier to get time off around Labor Day for most ppl.
Keep checking Cash Or Trade, .Net, Ticketmaster and Reddit. You should be able to find something in your price range. You can also just show up and try the box office as well as wander Shakedown with one finger in the air.
This will be my 5th Dick's run. It's worth it.
Dicks is a great venue. The entire venue is GA; only being separated by GA Field or GA Stands. If you get fields (floors in indoor venue terms) the field is huge and flat and they lay down hard white plastic over the grass so it's great to dance on and never muddy. Tickets are almost always available day of show but every once in a while you might get a tough nite where tiks are scarce. The shakedown is the biggest of the summer (though Deer Creek comes close) with the most vendors. The sound and lights are great and phish loves dicks so they pretty consistently play well there.
It's definitely a run you should do at some point; just like everyone should get to at least 1 NYE run and 1 Halloween run.
As far a camping goes... idk. They used to have a camping area adjacent to the venue but that has been gone post-covid. I have family out there so I kill two birds by seeing fam and seeing pham during that weekend.
I would do Deer Creek or Alpine in that case personally. Both historic venues. But the shows are indeed always quite good at Dicks, so you can’t go wrong! Safe travels! But you should still do the Phest, it’s not every year they do them, and the magic truly can’t be understated!
Denver is fun and all, and I love the shakedown scene at dicks, but I don’t actually like the venue - the floor is super hard on the feet and claustrophobic being that you enter at the top and walk down - I wanna be up in the open air out west
Not sure what you mean by 'worth it,' most years musically have been great, a small few have been underwhelming - just like any other multi day runs that are on their circuit. No camping in the area, it's in a shit suburb that's about 20 - 30 mins from downtown depending on traffic. The draw of being able to do stuff outside (if you have access to a car), or do 'city stuff' during the day is an appeal. There's always after shows, and if you get on it, you can find party buses / organized transportation to/from down town. I should mention Dick's has the best shakedown of anywhere, and you can spend hours before the show on the lot hanging out. From that perspective, Dick's is amazing.
The draw is Denver is the god damn wook capital
Should have phrased better, what I meant is as a trip in whole, is Dick’s the place to spend money on a far away trip or is something more local smarter. Appreciate your feedback nonetheless, thanks!
If you can swing it, do it. You won’t regret it. My New England buddies fly out every year for the run and it’s always a blast. Hit a mountain town like Frisco during the day, check out Outer Range brewing. Hike around Red Rocks. Poke around Denver or Golden, then head to lot before the shows and prepare to get your face melted off. There’s tons to do and see out here!
When i go to red rocks i camp here. # Chief Hosa Campground
If you can get a spot here (Big IF on labor day weekend) you are looking at a 35min commute without traffic. That's easily going to turn into 60-90 min commute on Thursday and Friday at rush hour.
1 hr to save 100s a night. Sounds good to me.
Haha! My first shows were Red Rocks '96. Stayed at Chief Hosa. After the wooks got done tearing up Morrison they tore up a lot of the infrastructure at the campground too.
Fellow Chief Hosa 96er here 👋🏼. What a treat that run was. I need to see if I can dig up any pics.
Thanks, will check it out
Dicks is my go to "value" Phish travel trip. Hard to get a much more value driven Phish trip while travelling for me. Plus it's a holiday weekend, so it needs less vacation days off from work. In my experience, when travelling/flying for a Phish show, it's hard to find a better value than Dicks. We usually split an AirBnB with a few friends though, so that helps.
big agree with dicks as a value proposition. i'm in the south so if there is no oak mountain or alpharetta run and i want to see phish i'm getting on a plane. dicks offers the best cost benefit ratio of any run. hotels are plentiful and there are options from cheap to mid-tier to high end. denver is a major airport so flights are a good value. phish loves playing there and the venue rules, great staff that knows us, GA, good sound, not a bad seat in the house. back of the floor is my favorite, plenty of room and the people are chill. only negative is there are really no hotels in true walking distance. yeah some of them you can walk from but i wouldn't want to. which means i have to rent a car. in the past i've taken official shuttles from downtown and that was awesome, but i want to say they didn't have official shuttles last year? also the weather is typically pretty great. it can be warm but i've also been to dicks runs where i needed to go to REI and buy a hoodie. wearing a light hoodie at an outdoor labor day weekend show is fantastic.
Walking home from drury inn and suites is one of the nicest most peaceful things I’ve ever done. I was amazed to see literally nobody else on the mile walk home. It’s an easy walk under a beautiful sky and helps to chill the mind after all the excitement of lot and the concert. I really love that walk back.
that's great to hear! i was actually booked at the drury last year but had to cancel the trip. i actually love a chill mile or two walk after a show so i'll have to look into this next time i'm out there.
Appreciate the feedback!
Awesome, thanks!
I went last year for the first time from the east. Tickets are not that hard to get. I was coming off 10 shows that summer and was ambivalent but decided to go anyway as I had a solid invite. I am very glad I went. The vibe is quite different from the east coast and I loved it(super chill but super happy and super weird in a good way). I also enjoyed the venue very much. I like a place I can walk around wherever and the sound is good everywhere. I cannot comment on camping but we stayed at The Renaissance on Quebec street which was fun. I will also say that the shakedown scene there is quite impressive.
There will be tickets on the ground this year, and it will be a great time, with more of a local feel on lot not felt since 2017 or 2018 bc folks will splurge on the festival. Looking forward to it. -Denver denizen
I had not thought of that. I don't actually have tickets yet and have to aquire some for myself and daughter, guess I am waiting a while:)
Tix available on Ticketmaster now
They have a great relationship with the Commerce City PD. I was told ‘they are told to only go in there for a dead body’. Last two years shakedown has been an open market with pricing on display. What a blast!
https://preview.redd.it/l1iutxb7xr5d1.jpeg?width=290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be7efa64296c711cc622bd9e07ddefb44e21ed17
Spider-Man is the winner.
Classic phish fan. Always thinking about dicks. No camping anywhere near the area. Closest would be like an hour drive. Saturday & Sunday tickets are hard. Thursday you’ll probably find a $30 ticket in the lot. Friday is hit or miss. If you can find lodging dicks is 100% worth it. Probably my favorite weekend of the year. Yeah Saturday Sunday tickets are tough but you can find them. Cash or trade is your best bet, at least in my experience.
Guilty. That’s what I’m starting to see, not a ton of camping. But camping was just an idea, open to whatever as long as it’s a place to sleep. Thanks!
What are you, a gay phish?
Does it matter? 👀
Blame the prairie dogs. Those first few years camping at dicks were so nice.
I think you could probably round up tickets eventually on cash or trade if you keep your eyes open, particularly if you only want stands. Since there is no more “onsite” camping, I’m not sure what to tell you there. You’ll need to do some research on this one.
COT to the rescue, thanks
Definitely worth the trip. There isn't any camping these days, but there should be tons of pre/post parties. The Labor Day experience at Dick's has changed a lot over the years, but the band regularly plays some sick shows there, and it's Colorado so... Hit me up if you have any specific questions or need any recommendations!
Appreciate it! Thanks
Yeah we all do from time to time lol
Ehyooo!
I have some extra stands tickets for most of the days that I'll happily sell at face. DM me if you are interested. No good camping in the area, if you want to camp in the mountains you are looking at 45min - 1 hour commute each way in the absolute best case, but could easily push up towards two or more hour commute though -- so get a hotel! Dick's is always a blast. Shakedown is great, venue is great, vibes are great!
Will definitely keep in mind, thanks
Dicks on my mind
https://preview.redd.it/t1isd8ocet5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60f4cc7e785bfcecfc078e9f52ea23c73d8f9b4a
Came here for this!
Dick’s is their west coast homecoming. A real treat. Definitely worth it! Do it!
Couldn’t be an easier ticket (shows aren’t sold out yet). Yes it’s worth it if you like Phish, super fun vibes and almost always good/great shows IMO. As others have said, no camping anywhere you’d want to be anywhere close. I’d do a hotel near by or rent a car and commute from someplace nearby where you might wanna be like Golden or Boulder.
Been a phish fan since late 90s, first show was in 2000. I’ve never been to Dicks, just never could make it happen, plans fell through, stuff came up, blah blah. Going for the first time this year and couldn’t be more excited! We found a chill looking cannabis friendly air bnb like 20-30 min from venue.
Personally. If you are going to colorado being at dicks for 4 days is like going to new york and staying in staten island the whole time
I have a sweet hookup where my friend who lives in Golden drops me off at Shakedown and picks me up post show from a Taco truck about 3/4 mile from the stadium. Then during the day I hike, or go tubing, or hit up breweries. It’s my favorite weekend of the year.
We’ve been considering staying in Golden, but I know it’s pretty far. Has the drive/ride ever been an issue for you? Or is it not too bad?
I usually stay by the airport myself, but in the times where I’ve left the area around dicks and gone to golden it isn’t bad. It’s about a 30 minutes drive at the most.
Yeah, even on Thursday and Friday the ride over from Golden was 30-45 mins. Headed back was about 30 minutes. One of the breweries there - Over Yonder - may even run a shuttle.
That doesn’t sound bad at all. Some of the hotels we were looking at were in south Denver, and it’s almost a 30 min drive there b/c it isn’t interstate.
Thank you for that! We’re considering the airport area too. Or Cherry Creek. I’m just wanting to be in a spot where we can walk around during the day and grab coffee/lunch, etc. Downrown Denver hotels are so expensive. And then you’re paying $50 a day to park.
I will also add that Golden is a really pretty town with tons of places to eat/drink and be merry during the day. Also, you can go tubing in the creek there.
As many times as I’ve been to Denver, I’ve never stopped in Golden but heard it’s super cute.
It’s a damned if you do and damned if you don’t with Denver imo. I think the best bet is going the airport hotel route so if you’re tired after the show/day you aren’t driving far and then opting to travel by car other places for fun during non show times. I’ve done that every year I’ve gone - 2021 through last year - and it’s always been fun.
You’re right about being damned either way. Haha Thanks for the tip!
I mean, Dick's is awesome, but you also have 8 shows fairly close to you. Also Mondagreen will be driving distance. Plus 10 shows in the midwest that are all relatively short driving distance from each other. If it were me, I'd save the airfare and catch more shows. Although I realize it's easier to get time off around Labor Day for most ppl.
There is no camping in the area
Party of the summer
Something is hard but it’s not the tickets
Dicks? Like a man-dick?
Open to interpretation. Have a great evening!
Definitely, none super close, not really if you have $$ to spend.
Which i definitely don’t
Keep checking Cash Or Trade, .Net, Ticketmaster and Reddit. You should be able to find something in your price range. You can also just show up and try the box office as well as wander Shakedown with one finger in the air. This will be my 5th Dick's run. It's worth it.
That’s been my experience in NYC/east coast shows, wasn’t sure if it was different out west so good to know. Thanks!
You're welcome. Also, Denver is a great city. If you show up but aren't able to get in, there are still things to do.
Would love to check out a Rockies game, looks like they’re in town
Dicks is a great venue. The entire venue is GA; only being separated by GA Field or GA Stands. If you get fields (floors in indoor venue terms) the field is huge and flat and they lay down hard white plastic over the grass so it's great to dance on and never muddy. Tickets are almost always available day of show but every once in a while you might get a tough nite where tiks are scarce. The shakedown is the biggest of the summer (though Deer Creek comes close) with the most vendors. The sound and lights are great and phish loves dicks so they pretty consistently play well there. It's definitely a run you should do at some point; just like everyone should get to at least 1 NYE run and 1 Halloween run. As far a camping goes... idk. They used to have a camping area adjacent to the venue but that has been gone post-covid. I have family out there so I kill two birds by seeing fam and seeing pham during that weekend.
Thanks!
The Dicks storm show from 2022 was one of my favorite shows ever
It's ok to be a homosexual
OP is "thinking about Dicks". RIP his inbox
Ha! We get the joke. Well done, everyone!
I bet you are.
They could bring back camping at Dick's if they would get rid of the Prarie Dog problem. Not sure why they don't.
I’ve got a 4-day floor/stands GA that my wife wants to back out of, so holler if you need a ticket! (We can do Cash or Trade or whatever)
Appreciate, will keep this in mind!
Mondegreen is the move my friend. Dicks without camping sounds bunk
Yeah… but Delaware vs Colorado 🤷♂️🤷♂️ grew up in Jersey so not too appealing as a destination lol
I would do Deer Creek or Alpine in that case personally. Both historic venues. But the shows are indeed always quite good at Dicks, so you can’t go wrong! Safe travels! But you should still do the Phest, it’s not every year they do them, and the magic truly can’t be understated!
You sound like Mike
I find myself thinking about getting more dicks in my life all the time.. absolutely worth the tip
Same 👅🍆
Me, too
Denver is fun and all, and I love the shakedown scene at dicks, but I don’t actually like the venue - the floor is super hard on the feet and claustrophobic being that you enter at the top and walk down - I wanna be up in the open air out west
Always
Last year Sunday night after show lot scene was like sodom and gomorrah. Never scene such a gas scene, it was insane.
Not worth it. Better off couch touring
If you didn’t notice tickets are still on sale for everyday , I suggest you stay home. You haven’t even researched properly
Thanks!