Boulder's Folsom Field enters new era in music history as Mumford & Sons take stage

More than 40,000 fans packed Folsom Field this summer to see Mumford & Sons take the stage, but for the band, the concert was about more than playing to a massive crowd. It was about becoming part of Colorado music history.

After selling out Red Rocks Amphitheatre the year before, Mumford & Sons brought its first stadium tour to Boulder, choosing Folsom Field as one of its stops.

"We absolutely had to come here. It was like pretty much first on the list," Marcus Mumford said before the show.

For the band, playing Folsom meant stepping onto a stage with a long history of its own.

"I mean, we've experienced that kind of feeling a lot in Colorado," Mumford said. "These feel like hallowed halls and pretty well-trod paths by musicians we really love and admire. So getting to be part of that story means a lot to us."

Folsom Field's history goes far beyond football

Folsom Field has been part of Boulder for more than a century.

The stadium is best known as the home of University of Colorado football, but over the years it has also hosted graduations, Buffalo runs and some of the biggest names in music.

Concerts became part of Folsom's identity in the summer of 1969, when music fans began filling the field for performances. The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Phish and Dave Matthews are among the artists who have taken the stage.

For Don Strasburg, who has more than 6,000 concerts on his resume and now leads AEG Presents in the Rocky Mountains, Folsom represents something bigger than a single show.

"I mean, some of the iconic artists that we think about, as you know, the Mozarts of our generation, all performed right down there, and now the future classic artists are gracing the stage right now," Strasburg said.

Strasburg has spent decades working in Colorado's music industry and says Boulder has long played an outsized role in the state's music scene.

"Boulder's always had a history of being a really important place, not just for Colorado, but for the whole country for music," he said.

That history, he said, is still being written.

"It's really fun for me as I've gotten older to not only watch the younger people working at the Fox and the Boulder Theater at this moment, but also being able to reflect, like, you know, and being able to stay consistent in the community," Strasburg said.

Folsom Field looks toward a new era of concerts

Folsom Field's latest chapter comes after what Strasburg describes as a 15-year concert hiatus, during which he says the campus also paused alcohol sales. In recent years, though, the stadium has been rebuilding its place in Colorado's live music scene and joining the conversation around major stadium tours.

"Folsom Field is right now… at the beginning of this, you know, new arc," Strasburg said. "It's just getting started."

Mumford & Sons' Boulder concert was part of that new chapter, as the band said Colorado felt like the right place to perform during their first major stadium tour.

"I mean, we've experienced that kind of feeling a lot in Colorado... These feel like hallowed halls and pretty well-trodden paths by musicians we really love and admire. So, getting to be part of that story means a lot to us," Mumford said. Band member Ted Dwane added, "Sharing this chapter of our music in front of this many people is something we could only have ever dreamed of, you know, as you said, it's a privilege."

The show brought tens of thousands of people to Boulder for a night of music and gave the band the chance to play in a venue whose history stretches far beyond its walls. For Strasburg, that's what live music is supposed to do.

"What I want people to take away from going to the show is that it was an experience of a lifetime that I will never forget," he said.

"Whether it's a good experience or even a bad experience. People never regret it. They always go, I'm so glad I went. I hung out with my friends. The music was unbelievable. I had memories, and those memories you cherish."

And for Mumford & Sons, those memories now include Folsom Field.

"We've never been more grateful for what we get to do," Mumford said. "And I think being in Colorado at the launch of this Prize Fighter tour just feels right as a moment of gratitude for us."