Legendary in Five Years
Michael Goldberg
Danger Kitty
Has any Aspen business achieved legendary status faster than Belly Up? Doubtful. Upon hustling to open for a Jan. 27 Danger Kitty show (pictured at left) to kick off 2005’s X Games, Belly Up promptly established itself as the ski world’s premier live-music locale. Big-name shows have contributed to that rep—Jimmy Buffett, Seal, Chris Isaak, Snoop Dogg and The Wu-Tang Clan are but a tiny sampling of the large-venue acts who’ve played the 450-capacity Belly Up—but so, too, have the half-full performances. Sufjan Stevens’, Femi Kuti’s and the Cowboy Junkies’ under-attended shows each demonstrated Belly Up’s commitment to great music (as well as pointing to Aspen’s sometimes stunted musical tastes). It’s fair to say that almost every concert-going Aspenite has a lifetime top-10 show born of Belly Up’s relatively brief existence. Not bad for five years.
