7 Peaks Music Festival Not Returning to San Luis Valley

Seven Peaks 2023 in the San Luis Valley (Image courtesy of Live Nation)

According to the Colorado Sun, Dierks Bentley’s 7 Peaks Music Festival will not be returning to the San Luis Valley in 2023.

Last year’s Labor Day festival drew about 12,000 concertgoers for three nights of camping and music in the San Luis Valley, just outside Villa Grove. In May, Saguache County commissioners were officially notified by Live Nation that the music festival would not be returning in 2023. No specific reason was given.

After starting the festival in Buena Vista back in 2019, Live Nation canceled the country music concert in 2021 after Chaffee County commissioners refused to raise a 5,000-person cap on events. That year, even as tickets were already being sold, Live Nation abruptly pulled the plug and said it was looking for a new home. They found that home in Villa Grove in 2022, but according to festival creator Dierks Bentley, it was a bad decision.

“It was kind of a hard place to do it,” Bentley said on the May 3rd “Taste of Country” podcast. “We lost millions of dollars. And I think Live Nation was like ‘we need to find a way to make money.’” Bentley added that “there’s a possibility” of the event moving to Red Rocks.

Terry West
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