VAIL, Colo. – Sept. 24, 2018 – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and Shakey Graves will headline Vail Snow Days, in two nights of free concerts. Bud Light presents Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018 and Shakey Graves on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Vail Snow Days is the signature kick-off festival to the winter season Thursday, Dec. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018.
“Vail Snow Days is back and bigger than ever this winter with a four day festival and two nights of free concerts at Ford Park,” said Doug Lovell, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Vail Mountain. “The schedule of events for Vail Snow Days is more robust this year and brings the whole community together with live music, family-friendly events and new traditions that will kick off the season in style.”
The Vail Snow Days concerts on Friday and Saturday nights are free of charge and will be held at Ford Park. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. and the shows start at 6:30 p.m. The schedule of activities for Vail Snow Days 2018 will feature new events including, the Pray for Snow Bonfire and pub crawls on Thursday and Bloodies and Bluegrass on Sunday.
The launch of Savor Vail will debut with early season offerings from local restaurants, bars, retail locations, galleries and spas.
Snow Days LIVE! will showcase live music all weekend long between Vail and Lionshead Villages, as well as on-mountain.
Take a snow day and stay with the Vail Snow Days Lodging package, offering up to 20 percent off lodging rates with an optional purchase of special rate Private Reserve VIP tickets for Friday and Saturday concerts.
Vail Snow Days is presented by Town of Vail, Vail Mountain, Bud Light, Pepsi, and brought to you in part by Verizon and Helly Hansen.
Vail Mountain will open for winter operations on Friday, November 16, 2018.
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Growing up in Hermann, Missouri, Nathaniel Rateliff started his music career playing in his family’s band at church. Music became an obsession for him and his friends. In 1998 Night Sweat bassist, Joseph Pope III and Rateliff moved to Denver where they worked nightshifts at a bottle factory and a trucking company while testing out their songs at open-mic nights. Rateliff released an album on Rounder Records with a backing band called The Wheel, but despite the critical success of that and subsequent albums, he was still trying to find the right sound, the right outlet for what he needed to say.
Those demos eventually developed into the band’s 2015 self-titled debut, which became a massive hit and pushed them out on the road for two long years. In May 2017, they brought that same boundless energy to their follow-up. The result is the aptly titled Tearing at the Seams, a vivacious and inventive full-band record, with significant contributions from all eight members of The Night Sweats. These songs are grounded in old-school soul and R&B, but are far too urgent for the retro or revivalist tag. There are familiar elements of soul and garage rock, but also jazz, folk, and even country.
Shakey Graves
Back in December 2017, Shakey Graves proclaimed on his Twitter page, “Next album. New sound. Sell your suspenders.” The tweet was tongue-in-cheek, but Alejandro Rose-Garcia, the Austin native who’s been plying his trade as Shakey Graves since 2007, was making a dead-serious point about his latest album, Can’t Wake Up. This ambitious, audacious work heralds an artistic metamorphosis for the 30-year-old veteran, whose risk-taking in painting outside the lines has been rewarded tenfold. “This record is the most I’ve ever intentionally worked on a project, musically speaking, in terms of the scope of it and how much thought went into it,” he says. “It’s a dense album; there’s a lot of information going on”.
For more information and to purchase Private Reserve VIP tickets, visit vail.com/snowdays or call 970-SKI-VAIL (754-8245).
About Vail Mountain
Under blue skies more than 300 days each year, Vail is the world’s premier mountain resort. The year-round alpine experience is exceptional, from the vast terrain and natural grandeur of the surrounding Gore and Sawatch Ranges to world-class events, shops and spas, and the abundant culinary options and luxurious accommodations that line the pedestrian-friendly streets of Vail and Lionshead Villages. Vail is where outdoor pursuits meet village sophistication. Offering more than 5,200 acres of developed ski and snowboard terrain including seven legendary Back Bowls in winter, and flourishing with new summer activities after the debut of Epic Discovery in 2016, the options for year-round adventure are endless. Coupled with the vision inherent in the spirit of Vail’s founders, and an unbreakable commitment to excellence in all aspects of guest service and operations, Vail is like nothing on earth.