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The Road To Red Rocks
by Jesse Fahnestock
Photos courtesy

and Jesse Fahnestock

"Are you guys here to see Harry Connick Jr.?"

The girls in reception at the Lakewood, CO Sheraton are cute, but I don't get the feeling they're on our wavelength.The Chemical Brothers"Um, no," Pete responds, managing to hold back any condescending laughter. Fatboy Slim"We're here to see Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers." He looks in vain for a sign of recognition in her face, then goes back to filling out the security deposit form. A few seconds later, the same girl looks up from her keyboard, all quizzical-like.

"Who are The Fratboys?"


Welcome to Middle America, where electronic music goes to die. Suburban Denver is a surreal place to be, especially after a 22-hour drive across the desert and over the Rockies. America's mid-sectionBut The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim chose this beautiful (if largely funk-free) setting to play their first-ever show together in America, and my compatriots and I were left with no other choice. There was only one place to be on July 17, 1999, and the Lakewood Sheraton was as close as we were going to get.


Hotel clerks notwithstanding, this show is a sure sign that Fatboy and the Chemicals have made inroads into the American musical consciousness that would have been unfathomable just five years ago. For all the talk of 1997's failed "electronica revolution," these two titans of dance music are about to play to a crowd of 8,000 lily-white suburban kids, 8,000 miles from Brighton, in a five-bucks-a-beer venue usually reserved for the Allman Brothers and Phish. Things have changed, and tonight, courtesy of MTVOnline, the revolution will even be televised.


Road Rule No. 1: Bring some comedy CDs/tapes. Driving music is essential, but not as essential as a human that can keep your driver awake after the rest of the car has gone asleep. Books on tape are good, but laughter is the best stimulant. We're loaded down with comedy CDs, and right now Denis Leary's "Lock 'n' Load" is getting Pete through a long stretch of desert driving.

"...I’m gonna open my own bar. It’s gonna be the most retro bar in the history of New York. We’re gonna serve coffee, donuts, beer, cigarettes, and whiskey, and that’s it. We’re gonna play the Rolling Stones 24 hours a day. All Stones all the time. No house, no techno, no rave...no Chemical Brothers, no Chemical Sisters, no hipskiptrip fuckin’ hop. Stones. 24 hours a day..." --Denis Leary

Unfortunately, Denis Leary is not very funny. He tries hard to be this tough, anti-PC smoker icon, but his bile sounds phoney - a third rate Bill Hicks without the vision. But apparently Denis knows who the Chemical Brothers are, and he clearly believes his audience does too. And if reactionary America has taken the Chemical Brothers as lingua franca for techno, perhaps this won't be the last time they fill one of Middle America's amphitheaters with their glorious noise.


Of course there is the matter of new album Surrender. It's filled with hard, psychedelicTom and Ed techno that will likely throw the American industry and press - who had the Chemicals pegged as a dance music starter kit for rock fans - for an unpleasant loop. But that's not to say their popularity is going to suffer at all. You see, the Brothers know a secret: Journalists don't buy records. Kids do, and the kids apparently want hard, psychedelic techno in the water supply as soon as possible.


Road Rule No. 2: No normalcy allowed. Eliminate expectations. Avoid sleep at all costs, overdose on caffeine and become one with your inevitably odd surroundings. As the great Bill Hicks once said: "Squeegee your third eye."

On our first night in Denver we decide to capitalize on our total, delirious exhaustion by venturing out to a grotty after-hours club called, auspiciously enough, Amsterdam. An hour here, surrounded by Denver's most dedicated party people, and the case for Surrender is virtually closed. There's not a breakbeat or house track in earshot - 130 bpm techno is on the evening's menu - and virtually everyone in attendance has tickets for Red Rocks. Here we go.

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