Two Colorado concert venues pitted against each other as nominees at the ACM Awards

Last year KYGO was fortunate enough to win one of country music’s most prestigious awards as “Major Market Radio Station of the Year” at the ACM Awards. This year, Colorado is the only state in the country with two nominees for Outdoor Venue of the Year at the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards, with both Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison and Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Greenwood Village earning nominations.

The two Colorado venues are competing against CMAC in Canandaigua, New York; Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, Texas; The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama; and Walmart AMP (Arkansas Music Pavilion) in Rogers, Arkansas. Winners in the industry categories will be announced in the coming weeks, with trophies presented at the 19th Academy of Country Music Honors in August in Nashville.

The main ACM Awards ceremony is scheduled for May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will stream live on Prime Video for the fifth consecutive year.

For Red Rocks, the nomination is familiar territory. The 9,525-seat amphitheatre has won the ACM’s Outdoor Venue of the Year award three times — in 2019, 2021 and 2023 — and five ACM awards overall. It was also nominated in 2025, though it did not win that year; the award went to BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire, which also won in 2022 and 2024.

For Fiddler’s Green, the nod represents a different kind of recognition. The 18,000-capacity amphitheatre in the Denver Tech Center is one of the largest outdoor music venues in the state and a mainstay of the summer concert circuit. But it has historically existed in the long shadow of its more famous neighbor 25 miles to the northwest. An ACM nomination places Fiddler’s Green on a national stage alongside some of the most celebrated outdoor music venues in country music.

The dual nomination underscores Colorado’s outsized role in the country music touring ecosystem. The state’s combination of warm-weather concert seasons, a fast-growing population and a fan base that skews toward outdoor entertainment has made it a reliable stop for major country tours. Red Rocks, in particular, has become a bucket-list venue for artists across genres — its natural acoustics, dramatic geology and 6,450-foot elevation create a setting that no purpose-built amphitheatre can replicate.

But Fiddler’s Green brings its own strengths: a larger capacity, easier highway access off Interstate 25, and a concert-going experience geared toward the kind of large-scale country shows — complete with tailgating culture and general-admission lawn seating — that have defined the genre’s live circuit in recent years.

The Outdoor Venue of the Year award is voted on by industry professionals, not fans, making it a peer-recognition honor that reflects how touring artists, promoters and production teams evaluate a venue’s operations, hospitality and overall experience.

This year’s ACM nominations are led by Megan Moroney with nine nods, followed by Miranda Lambert and Ella Langley with eight apiece, and Lainey Wilson with seven. Lambert, the most decorated artist in ACM history with 33 career wins, received her 17th nomination for female artist of the year — pulling ahead of Reba McEntire for the most nominations in the history of that category.