Last month, a woman in the beer line at the Paramount Theatre confessed that she had never heard of the band X. She was there to see co-headliner Los Lobos. Their somewhat anachronistically conjoined tour was cheekily dubbed “99 Years of Rock ‘n Roll.”

(It’s cheeky because X pretty much took 35 years off between producing original music.) 

“Please just tell me this is not Elon Musk’s band,” she said. After spit-taking my Stella, I assured her that X the band is largely considered the second-most influential American punk band of all-time, behind only the Ramones. They pretty much put L.A. on the punk map.

In fact, it was X and Los Lobos’ common L.A. origin that put the amps in motion for this spirited (presumed) farewell tour of seventy-something rockers.

X co-singer Exene Cervenka told us the story: “I just thought since Los Lobos had 50 years and we have 49, that was 99, and that would be like ’99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘Hmm. That’d be a good title for a tour: ’99 Years of Rock and Roll.’

Granted, 99 just sounds cool. A hundred sounds like, oh my back, it’s time for bed.

Cervenka’s musical partner, John Doe, is 72. Smiling, Chucky-like bass player Billy Zoom is 77. Los Lobos’ Louis Frausto Pérez is 72.

Mere spring chickens on a Colorado concert itinerary that in 2025 is laden with septuagenarians. Cyndi Lauper joined the list Tuesday with a rousing appearance at Fiddler’s Green. We’ve already seen Philip Bailey, Sting, Ric Springfield and many other seniors this summer. Still headed our way are Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, the forever young 83-year-old Paul McCartney, and a whole lot more.

What’s with the surge in stamina among our greatest (and thankfully not yet latest) musical generation? It’s nostalgia, it’s a passion for performing. For some it’s surely a financial necessity at a time when performing live has become any musician’s most reliable and significant income stream.

But there is no question that fans are showing up – as evidenced Tuesday, when Lauper brought out an distinctively all-ages crowd that probably fell only a few thousand short of filling 17,000-seat Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Greenwood Village.

The Beach Boys, led by 84-year-old Mike Love, just filled Red Rocks with a 28-song set a full 13 years after doing very the same for what all of us were sure would be for the last time – back in 2012.

Hey, never say never!

Certainly some of these greatest-hits shows can seem like they are running on autopilot. But for musicians like Lauper who clearly still genuinely love performing live and connecting with fans, a night out at a show can still be both a joy and a jolt.

And sometimes it’ll rip your heart out.

For decades, Denver fans of Dick Dale could count on “The King of the Surf Guitar ” showing up at the Bluebird Theater every few years, leaving the stage mid-song and leading the crowd outside for a traffic-stopping walk down Colfax Avenue. You hoped he’d go on doing that forever. But as a Fortune article pointed out a decade ago, Dale was a relentless tourer only because he had to be. Through two bouts of rectal cancer, he had to keep playing to cover his $3,000 monthly medical supplies. He played on in excruciating pain wearing a colostomy bag. (Dale died in 2019.)

But on the Red Rocks/Fiddler’s Green side of the celebrity scale, touring in 2025 is the equivalent of a retirement nest egg. Consider that McCartney’s one-off at Coors Field will bring in a minimum of $20 million, with face value for all remaining sweats somewhere between $300 and $2,000. Stadium shows are what led what one trade magazine to call 2025 “the year of the supersized concert” after the concert industry generated $56 billion in 2024 revenue. That was a year-to-year spike of 2.6%.

That’s proven to be true in Denver, where Red Rocks is in use – and sold out – pretty much every night of the week. Meanwhile, Mile High Stadium has turned to the glory days of the 1970s and ‘80s as the king of the concert venue. In June, Metallica shattered Mile High’s two-day attendance record by drawing more than 152,000. Now, let’s just say they each paid $300 for tickets, parking, merch, food an booze. … That’s a calculated guess of $45.6 million in overall revenue. 

Even a show like Neil Young, which will not sell out, is on sale for $75-$243, which stands to bring in about $2 million by showtime.

Safe to say, 85-year-old Grace Slick will not be among them. She famously said. “I don’t like old people on a rock and roll stage. Me included.”

Talk about a quote that has not aged well.

70 and counting

CONCERTS UPCOMING:

• Danny Elfman (Oingo Boingo), 72, with The Colorado Symphony, Aug. 17 at Fiddler’s Green
• Heart with Todd Rundgren, Aug. 19 at Red Rocks (Ann Wilson is 75; Rundgren is 77)
• Chicago, Aug. 24 Fiddler’s Green (Robert Lamm is 80)
• Neil Young, 79, Sept. 1 at Fiddler’s Green
• Bonnie Raitt, 75, Sept. 25 at Red Rocks
• The Sex Pistols, Oct. 10, Mission Ballroom (Steve Jones will be 70)
• Paul McCartney, 83, Oct. 11 at Coors Field
• Marshall Tucker Band, Oct. 26 at the Paramount (Doug Gray is 77)
• Boz Scaggs, 77, Nov. 1 at the Paramount
• Daryl Hall, 78, Nov. 4 at the Paramount
• Devo, Nov. 13, Mission Ballroom (Mark Mothersbaugh is 75)

 2025 CONCERTS SO FAR:

• Cyndi Lauper, 72, Aug. 12 at Fiddleer’s Green
• Rick Springfield, 75, Aug. 7 at Fiddler’s Green
• ZZ Top, Aug. 4 at Red Rocks (Billy Gibbons is 75) 
• The Beach Boys, Aug. 3 at Red Rocks (Mike Love is 84)
• X and Los Lobos, July 19 at the Paramount (John Doe is 72, David Hidalgo is 70)
• John Williams, 93, with the Colorado Symphony at Fiddler’s Green
• James Taylor, 77, June 13-14 at Red Rocks 
• Earth Wind and Fire, June 14 at Fiddler’s Green (Philip Bailey is 75)
• Pure Prairie League, June 1 at the Paramount (John David Call is about 80)
• Sting, 73, May 19-20 and 22 at Red Rocks
• Air Supply, May 1 at Paramount (Russell Hitchcock is 76)

TRIBUTE BANDS

• Rocky Mountain High Experience: A John Denver Christmas, Dec. 17 at Paramount (John Denver would be 81)
• Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Aug. 8 at the Paramount (John Bonham would be 77)
• Killer Queen, July 28 at Red Rocks (Freddy Mercury would be 79) 
• Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, July 6 at Red Rocks (Jerry Garcia would be 83)