Let’s go back a year; I was in Colorado making my way up to the top of Red Rocks Amphitheater. The sloped entrance to the outdoor venue was covered in ice, and the only way to reach the top was by pulling myself up by the railing to watch the sunrise from the top. As I arrived I said “I have to see The Fray here, they’re my favorite band and hometown shows are always the best.” Well, last weekend my dream came true. I traveled with my family to the small town of Morrison, Colorado to see The Fray’s second to last date of the Scars and Stories tour.

Covered in ponchos and multiple layers of clothing, we waited in the 30-degree freezing rain and slight snow. The warm up bands were Colorado locals Churchill and Utah solo artist Dia Frampton (originally in the duo Meg & Dia), with each playing about 8-10 songs. The Fray finally took the stage around 9:30 to entertain the sold out crowd of almost 10,000 fans, many of whom had traveled far to get to the show, proving to be a very dedicated fan-base. Opening with the song “Fighter” which is off their most recent release, Scars and Stories, the show finally started and at that moment the rain stopped. As they continued to play, Issac Slade (lead singer) said “Well here we are, this night’s for all of you, enjoy yourselves,” as well as shouting out “303” which is the Colorado area code.

About half way through the set, Slade made his way through the crowd. After finishing the song, guitarist Joe King and drummer Ben Wysocki made their way up to join Slade. Slade began talking about how Colorado was responsible for putting the band on the map and thanked them for making the past 10 years so incredible. He ended his speech by saying “for every guitar we borrowed, every band we opened for, here’s to another 10 years.” The crowd roared. The speech was followed by an acoustic rendition of the popular song “How To Save A Life” from still in the crowd. Isaac ended the song with his microphone stretched out to the crowd, stood back and heard the echoes of almost 10,000 fans singing their lyrics back to them.

The band continued the rest of the set playing almost every song from their latest CD Scars and Stories, as well as older songs like “Over My Head (Cable Car),” “You Found Me” and “Look After You.” Near the end of the show, Slade asked the crowd to repeat lyrics after him. To get the crowd louder, he jumped off the stage and ran up the side stairs of the amphitheater, through the crowd and back down the other side. He jumped back on stage and continued singing, not even out of breath.

After leaving the stage, and being cheered back on for an encore, I made my way down to the front row to watch the last three songs. I can now say that I’ve crossed off the number one thing on my bucket list and that no concert will ever top what I saw on May 11. If you haven’t seen The Fray live, I highly recommend you purchase tickets for their summer tour with Kelly Clarkson at Jiffy Lube Live, because you won’t regret it.

Setlist for Scars & Stories

1. The Fighter
2. Syndicate
3. You Found Me
4. The Wind
5. Never Say Never (Rihanna’s “Umbrella” remixed in)
6. Rainy Zurich
7. Here We Are
8. Happiness
9. Be Still
10. How To Save  Life
11. Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
12. Munivh
13. Run For Your Life
14. Turn Me On
15. All At Once
16. Over My Head (Cable Car)
17. Heartbeat

Encore:

1. Look After You
2. We Build Then We Break
3. Ungodly Hour