The Fray Comes Home To Rock Red Rocks

MORRISON, Colo. (CBS4)- The Fray is a Denver original that formed 10 years ago. The band is back to rock Red Rocks on Friday and Saturday.

The Fray is playing the outdoor concert venue as part of their Scars and Stories tour, the band's third album.

For the Colorado band, coming home can be a little anxiety-provoking.

"I don't know what it is about Red Rocks. All I can figure is that it is some kind of ancient, spiritual place that resonates. It's some kind of thin cosmic mashing of worlds. And it doesn't hurt that EmmyLou Harris and Ella Fitzgerald and company have all played here," said The Fray lead vocals Isaac Slade.

"I'm sure every artist that walks onto the stage is like, 'Okay. I better bring it because I don't want people to remember the actual venue more than the actual show," said The Fray guitarist Joe King.

The Fray said they won't ever forget their roots.

"We have some really important people in Denver who have helped, definitely, get us where we are now so that makes hometown shows a little more nerve-wracking," said The Fray drummer Ben Wysocki.

"The Westword was huge for us, we had no press, no buzz, no nothin', said Slade. "We met Dave Herrera the music editor, who's actually still the editor, and he said, 'Alright, alright. Let's go back to the studio and see if it's any good.' So we played it for him and he put it in the paper that next week for oru song "Vienna" it was the best song to listen to while stuck at a red light or something like that."

The band also remembers some less-than-stellar moments including an incident where they were so proud of their success, they thought it would be a good idea to sign their record deal while playing a gig at the Fox Theater in 2004.

"We wanted to sign our record deal on stage at the Fox, we've kind of grown up playing the Fox and so we brought out our A&R guy on stage and brought out the record deal and we're like, 'This is for you!' It was probably overly dramatic but we were 22 years old, so we're like, 'Look at this paper! We're going to sign the paper!'' said King.

The band also said they've grown a lot in the past decade.

"We're playing a hell of a lot better than we did then, we've grown up and played a lot of shows and played a lot of different places. I think we're able to deliver a lot more on a simpler platform," said The Fray guitarist Dave Welsh.

The Fray plays at Red Rocks Amphitheatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, rain or shine.

RELATED LINK: redrocksonline.com