Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has announced Colorado as the first state to offer free musical instruments and access to free music education to all students K-12 living in the state with a new initiative known as Take Note Colorado. As part of the kick off, Colorado's beloved Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats headlined the first annual “Take Note The Concert” last Thursday, May 4 at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado. The benefit raised over half a million dollars toward the new initiative.
Every act at the concert has ties to Colorado. In addition to Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, artists to participate in “Take Note The Concert” included OneRepublic, Isaac Slade from The Fray, Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Bill Nershi of The String Cheese Incident, Tracksuit Wedding and comedian Josh Blue. Every artist came together and performed for free to a packed house, raising funds and awareness. From the stage, Governor Hickenlooper shared his passion for the new initiative saying, “If the kids who are going to get free instruments and lessons from tonight never make a nickel from it, that is fine. Music will change their lives, it has changed my life in a million ways. We all believe in the power of music, but I want you to believe in the power of music that can change the lives of our kids’ future, they are better at math and science if they have music, they are better in getting along with their peers and they without question will have happier lives if they make music. The more music you have the better the world is, the better the economy is, the better your life is.”
The concert featured surprises that echoed the purpose of the evening and the sense of collaboration and state pride shared by all involved. Co-host of the evening and the Take Note committee chair Isaac Slade and Bill Nershi asked their wives to join them on stage for a jaw-dropping rendition of “Angel From Montgomery.” Todd Park Mohr joined Tracksuit Wedding for the Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Virginia,” which quickly morphed into a crowd sing along of “Sweet Colorado.” Ryan Tedder, frontman of OneRepublic, climbed to the top rows of the audience, showing his appreciation to be back in Colorado. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats invited two high school student horn-players from Fort Collins on stage for blistering renditions of their songs “Howling at Nothing” and “I Did It.” Perhaps no moment captured the night more than when Slade backed high school student, Willow Perlick, on “Will There Be Tomorrow” (a song they wrote together) and then brought on the forty-member Fairview High School Choir from Boulder to help him finish his set with The Fray’s song “Happiness.”
From the stage, Nathaniel Rateliff explained, “This is so important to us. It is a blessing to be with you all. We are here to make sure that people get instruments in their hands. This community gave us room to cut our teeth and make mistakes. We have lost so many great musicians in the last couple of years and the torch is being passed. What we are doing tonight may help pass that torch to the next generation. We need to make magic in the world, all of us. Fear and ignorance breed hate and we need to stay away from that as much as possible.” Slade assured, “I am honored to be a part of this. The governor and I are going to make sure, with the rest of the team, that this grows, finishes and sustains for the rest of our kids’ lives.”
