After our crew rolled into town at 3am through snowstorms and multiple deer encounters, Frankie, Hugo, and myself settled in for some rest. We woke up to a perfect fall morning in Denver, grabbed some coffee, met up with Reska, and went about some business before loading into the Gothic Theatre this afternoon. Still riding on our high from the success of the Boulder shows last weekend, we rallied through the setup and soon found ourselves face to face with a crowd lined up around the block. The masses filed into the theater one by one, greeted by the one and only Hugo Harrisson.
Energy in the building was high before the live show even began. Saucerboy contestants clinked and clanked throughout the place in snowlerblades while the rest settled into place with eager anticipation of the show to come. Frankie and Hugo did their part to stoke out the crowd with raffle prizes from Helly Hansen, Salomon, Smith, and MSP before opening the floodgates and tossing piles of free gear to the crowd. Taking it up a notch, they introduced the seven ably-equipped Saucerboy contestants to a rowdy audience, leaving it to the crowd to decide the victor... in the end, the winner took home a pair of Oakley goggles and a customized MSP / Dakine collaboration backpack.
With cheers filling the room and the formalities out of the way, the house went dark and "In Deep" took over. Oohs and aahs were followed by round after round of applause for each segment throughout the film, but nothing could top the response to McConkey's tribute. There was barely a dry eye in the house following the retrospective of Shane's career with MSP, but those emotions were quickly replaced with celebration during the funny / quirky / outrageous montage of Shane's best highlights. Most of the crowd chimed in with the chorus of "Bro Hymn," courtesy of Pennywise, toward the end. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little choked up at the sight of that many people joined in celebration of the life that Shane lived.
Special thanks to the DU Alpine Club as well as Dave, Jameel, and everyone at the Gothic Theatre for making this show a huge success. We've got crews in Crested Butte and Whistler tomorrow, as well as Aspen and Whistler (again) on Saturday, so stay tuned for more updates coming soon!
For more photos from the Tour click HERE