‘Political Pollution’ of Country Music Festival Alarmed Some Guests
Sources have reported that the Friday night ambiance at the Sept. 2-4 Seven Peaks Music Festival, this year held in Villa Grove, had instances of right-wing demonstrators on the Live Nation grounds and a political overtone that it had never had before. The concert was shut down earlier than scheduled on Friday night. But according to law enforcement, the official reason for the early closure wasn’t politics or violence, it was lightning.
An Airbnb guest who stayed in Chaffee County, and who is also a long-time U.S. military personnel attended the concert. She reported that on Friday evening there were demonstrators on the concert grounds chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” (a version of an obscenity directed at President Joe Biden, as well as more graphic chants); they were waving Trump signs and confederate flags. The guest, who asked not to be identified, said she viewed it as interrupting the ordinarily peaceful, non-political, family-friendly country music event. She reported that from her military perception of the situation and the tension in the area, she sensed that violence could break out, and she left early.
The Seven Peaks concert headlined by county music star Dierks Bentley was reportedly one of the largest Live Nation events held since the November 2021 Astroworld Music Festival in Houston. At that Houston tragedy, 10 people died and scores of others were injured after a crowd surged during a Travis Scott performance.
Other Chaffee County residents who had been at two earlier Seven Peaks events held in Chaffee County attended the event on Friday night (as well as other days). They reported that on Friday, the camping areas of the grounds were filled with political flags and banners with obscene comments the like of which they had never seen at past Seven Peaks events.
“There were political flags and banners all over with things like ‘Save America 2024’, and ‘Trump 2024’ and more,” said one camper. “We wondered how did those flagpoles get in here? And there were disgusting signs full of obscenities.”
She added that not only did the Live Nation staff seem less than professional (she and her friends observed staff asleep at checkpoints, appearing drunk, and ignoring unruly behavior), but that “we felt this uncomfortable vibe that we’ve never felt at Seven Peaks before. It was just off. It didn’t feel like the family-friendly event it’s been in the past.”
On Saturday morning, the Airbnb guest said she talked with some of the vendors on the concert grounds and one confirmed regarding the Friday situation that “‘Things were getting strange’.” He said “we had to cut things short because these guys were waving confederate flags. It was the Let’s go Brandon folks.” According to this vendor, “We weren’t ever prepared for anything like that.”
On Saturday this person said that it appeared that flags and banners were banned from the actual concert area, but she did not know if they were still allowed in the camping areas.
Dierks Bentley was one of several headliners for the Seven Peaks Music Festival on Labor Day weekend. Courtesy image.
Concert organizer Live Nation reportedly met on Saturday morning, Sept. 3 with county commissioners, the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado State Patrol, as well as citizens and business owners, to review the concerns that arose over the Labor Day weekend event. But the prospect of politically motivated disturbances and violence, has not been something that has occurred in the past, and certainly not at a family-oriented event.
Calls to the Seven Peaks Site Manager have not been returned.
This is the first year Live Nation has held this Labor Day Weekend concert in Saguache county. For the past few years, it has been held on the edge of Buena Vista, at The Meadows in Chaffee County. Last year a disagreement occurred when the concert organizers sold more tickets than Chaffee County Public Health allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 festival was canceled and Live Nation announced it would move it out of Chaffee County.
Over the years of large concerts on the edge of Buena Vista in Chaffee County, the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Dept. the Colorado State Patrol, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and Chaffee EMS learned quite a lot about how to plan for and execute a major concert. Transportation and traffic are major community disruptions, as well as people driving under the influence (DUIs) or acting out under the influence of alcohol or drugs. But the prospect of political violence or demonstrations has never occurred. At least not until now.
This year Live Nation said it expected around 13,000 fans to attend; in prior years the concert has attracted a crowd of 20,000. Saguache County residents had expressed growing dissatisfaction with their county commissioners, some saying the commissioners made the decision to approve the festival for the San Luis Valley without telling residents.
The Saguache Commissioners claimed that notification about the 2022 Seven Peaks Music Festival was the job of Live Nation. They added that it was Live Nation who was to send letters to Saguache County residents about the Labor Day Concert.
Early on, it was reported that Villa Grove and Saguache County had planned for peak times (translation — traffic into and out of the concert site) with up to 50 additional officers, deputies, and troopers on site. But this included the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service Agents, as well as law enforcement from places as far away as Fountain. The speed limit on U.S. 285 was temporarily lowered to 35 mph through Villa Grove.
Chaffee Sheriff John Spezze confirmed that no Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office personnel were asked to assist, although they and other Chaffee County law enforcement agencies obviously have the most experience in the area with concerts of this size, and with this specific concert.
The Seven Peaks Music Festival ran from September 2 – 4. For more information go to: SevenPeaksFestival.com.
Editor’s note: several Ark Valley Voice reporters contributed to this news piece.
Wow! Is all I can say. Yes, I attended the concert for the entire event and went to all the concerts there. Yes, there were “Go Brandon” flags as there are just about every where you go. NO, there was absolutely no violence about to break out. We had a group of 20 there and none of us saw or experienced any of what the authors of this article are referring to. My guess is these are people just trying to make a name for them selves or to get their five minutes of fame. If i were them I’d be embarrassed for completely be bending the truth about what was going on there. Just another example of journalists with no integrity.
Jan, I also believe your statement, “Last year a disagreement occurred when the concert organizers sold more tickets than Chaffee County Public Health allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.” to not be factual. The event organizer was informed that the could have the event and sold the tickets and then Chaffee County Public Health changed the criteria in the months leading up to the event. Just pointing that out for a factual statement and not opinion based journalism.
Correction for you Michael — the Chaffee County Public Health Dept. did NOT change the criteria for the concert — the concert limit was NEVER more than 5,000 attendees for any event in the county – LIve Nation or anyone else. Live Nation was told that in public meeting, which Ark VAlley Voce covered, and they agreed. Then they opened ticket sales and immediately sold more tickets to the event than the county public health limits allowed. This is FACT, not opinion.
I did see a few flags/banners to include ones other than cited in the article. However, I did not see or hear any actions or behaviors that concerned me or that I Interpreted as a possible threat. Every guest/ camper/ vendor and support staff were respectful
Hello Chip, We’re glad you didn’t feel that you were threatened. But if others did, particularly women, that does not make their truth less real. The LIve Nation staff in the past has been very professional, which is why observed actions by some staff were pointed out. The standards necessary tor un a safe event should be taken seriously.
After reading this article,it appears the writer is a liberal Democrat that was very sensitive to the political tilt of the Country music crowd. We attended and saw nothing offensive with the flags or the crowd. Everybody we met were awesome, well behaved and enjoying the vibe of the great festival. The staff was all shipped in to work the event and seemed out of place , and could have done a better job with traffic control, the drinks and food were way over priced, which bordered on gouging . The setting was great but not as good as it was in BV. We won’t be attending next year if these things are not fixed. This writer is very bias and should have focused on the positive side of the festival more.
Confederate flags aren’t offensive to you I guess, but they are to me, and I was raised in the south by a couple of hard-core confederate apologists. Political flags and banners shouldn’t have been there either. This event was NOT a T$@mp rally. Everyone knows, after the Jan. 6 insurrection, how unhinged those crazed treasonous grifter worshipping cult followers without even 2 brain cells to rub together think. Would you expect a bunch of Biden banners at a Rolling Stones concert? Plus, all festival food is ALWAYS overpriced. Duh.
The flags and racism and ani-American sentiment should have been expected given the nature of the concert. The concert was already a danger to residents and fest-heads due to the greed and lack of planning and what appeared to be intentional ignorance on the part of the planners. They are all lucky nothing worse happened as they risk locals and flirt with the inevitable at the cost of our communities for their profit. Inviting 20K people with a very large % of likely violent, anti-democratic bigots who want to start a civil war to a small, diverse community without any way to protect itself is criminal in my opinion.
Anti American sentiment? Joe Biden and the liberals in this country are Anti American. Sorry they didn’t have a cry room for you.
Hello Jose, At no place in the article about the Seven Peaks festival were the words “anti-American” used. We reported that political displays on the grounds made people feel uncomfortable at a country music event which would normally unify people around the music. Having covered prior Seven Peaks Festivals, AVV has never seen this kind of political demonstration at the festival, which was pointed out.
There is so much false information in this article. This article was written to slander Live Nation and Seven Peaks. This is a perfect example of irresponsible reporting.
Hello Chris, You don’t say if you attended this event. You are entitled to your opinion, of course. But this article was written to report the facts. Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true. AVV has covered Live Nation concerts since 2018 and we have nothing against Live Nation. These are first-hand reports of what was observed by attendees, and how the situation made them feel.
The fact that Live Nation does not come off looking the best is their responsibility, not ours. You might be just fine at a concert among banners that support controversial political opinions, but others just want to hear the music. In this case, pushing a political agenda into what had here-to-fore been an a-political event made some attendees uncomfortable.
I was there and Chris is spot on, while we saw passive displays of peoples political or social proclivities (both right and left) there was nothing disrespectful and it seems as the only purpose of this article was to grind an axe by the same people who said this would be a disaster and since it was a success they now have to find a new reason to complain. BTW were you there Karen? If not then stfu
Hello Thomas,
We’re glad you didn’t witness anything threatening at the event venue, but if others did, that does not diminish their experience. AVV has never criticized the Live Nation folks and we have covered three prior concert events (two which happened, one which was canceled.) Please do not confuse factual reporting with criticizing
Perhaps there should have been more people questioned that attended. The post was very biased. I also attended with friends and family including children. While there were flags flying as said, during the four days we were there (and we camped on the grounds) we never witnessed any of the negative claims made in this article.
We never encountered any problems with noise or traffic during the seven peak concert . We live 2 miles east of the concert area .