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Parker: Red Rocks fetes U2 concert film

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 20, 2007 at midnight

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So you had a chance to see U2 at the legendary Under a Blood Red Sky concert at Red Rocks in '83 but blew it? Here's your chance for a do-over: the Aug. 21 Film on the Rocks will bring the concert alive once again.

"We're going to re-create the entire concert as it was done 24 years ago," said Erik Dyce, Red Rocks marketing man.

There'll be the flaming towers on either side of the stage (brought in special for the '83 filming), and the U2 tribute band Under a Blood Red Sky re-creating the concert note-for-note. And, Dyce hopes, there'll be a bit of the rain and fog that made the original concert film so eerie.

There's a reason it's happening now: 2008 is the 25th anniversary of the show that put U2 and Red Rocks on the map. City officials hope that a petition drive will bring Bono and the boys back.

"We'll start a petition to beg the band, 'Please, you must come back for your 25th,' " Dyce said.

The city, however, tried to get the band to do 15th and 20th returns to the Rocks with no luck.

Regardless, the tribute concert will go on, and one lucky fan is going to get the chance of a lifetime to sing a U2 song at the Rocks. An upcoming promotion with radio and YouTube.com will have fans submit audition videos, with the winner joining Under a Blood Red Sky for a song.

"What kind of experience would that be?" Dyce said.

LEFTOVERS: I'm still digesting the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen follies last week. Here are some tasty tidbits that were left over. (Check out today's Spotlight for a complete report from food editor Marty Meitus.)

Who me? Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse tried to sip a sample of a Grand Marnier margarita during a promotion at Jimmy's restaurant. Not so fast, super chef. The gal holding the party platter of margs asked Lagasse for his I.D.

"You want to see my I.D.?" said Lagasse. After searching in vain for his wallet, Lagasse was denied the drink.

Elway schmelway: Elway's chefs Tyler Wiard and Cory Treadway slaved over the steak tartare they served in the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau booth inside the grand tasting tent. But who got the credit? Colorado's favorite former quarterback.

"Is this John Elway's recipe?" Wiard must have been asked 100 times.

Wiard and Treadway finally tired of telling the truth that the Hall of Famer was nowhere near Aspen. "I started saying, 'Yeah, he's in the back cutting up the steak,' " Wiard said.

MELLOW MELO: Denver Nuggets star forward Carmelo Anthony says, "I do consider myself mellow," in a story that ran Sunday in The New York Times Style section. "But on the court, I'm not too laid-back," said the 23-year-old father of 3-month-old son Kiyan.

"Fatherhood is more than I expected," Anthony said. "In the morning, I always have something to look forward to."

Will the child of Anthony and fiance La La Vazquez follow in daddy's big footsteps? "I joked to someone that I'll put a baseball, basketball and football in front of him and see which one he reaches for," he said.

THE SEEN: Yankees third baseman Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez and pitcher Andy Pettitte dining Monday night at the Denver ChopHouse.

EAVESDROPPING at the Market on Larimer: "If we could figure out how to run our cars on stem cells, the research would be much more popular."

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