JAS steals the show at Labor Day Experience | Arts & Entertainment

When Lawrence finished its set Saturday on day two of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Experience, the sun began to set. The light was in “the magic hour” and festival attendees whipped out their phones and took selfies, even asking strangers to take pictures of their crews. 

Because if you don’t have a photo, did it really happen?

One major happening during the four-day musical weekend was that I got to see Lenny Kravitz up close on Thursday night at a private event that benefited his Let Love Rule Foundation and the Glo Good Foundation. I reported Saturday that the event raised over $300,000. In fact, it raised more than $500,000, providing the two groups with a great start toward improving oral health and overall medical care in the Roaring Fork Valley. 

At the Thursday show and his headlining set on Saturday (following Lawrence) at Snowmass Town Park, Kravitz brought the rock’ n’ roll heat. The band is a poster child for the rock genre — the looks, the outfits, the attitude, the music, the poses, the performance.

There may be a band that symbolizes rock ’n’ roll as much as Lenny Kravitz and his band, but it’s hard to think of one that puts the rock in the roll more than them, which is why it is absolutely beyond absurd that Kravitz is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Clearly the people who make the decisions have never seen him live because it’s hard for me to imagine they would walk away thinking, “Nope that just doesn’t cut it, let’s go see Kate Bush (inducted into the HOF in 2023) and really get down.”

Not only does Kravitz bring pure, unadulterated rock ’n’ roll heat, he has the stats to back it up — four consecutive Grammys for Best Rock Performance (never done by another performer) and more than 40 million albums sold.

Big miss by the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Kravitz delighted audiences at both shows with his hits “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over (the song that sounds most like an Al Green song that isn’t one), “Fly Away,” “Are You Gonna Go My Way” (Exhibit A for the Hall of Fame), his cover of The Guess Who’s “American Woman” and more. He played some solid new material from his most recent record, “Blue Electric Light.” 

Kravitz introduced his encore by saying, “This is our song, this is our anthem, our prayer. Let’s put some love out into the universe.” He then launched into a 10-minute version of “Let Love Rule” in which he connected with the audience by performing on a runway that jutted out from the stage. He hugged some toddlers and spread good vibes all around.

With “Let Love Rule,” Kravitz invoked the spirit of Prince playing “Purple Rain.” His set was the perfect closing for Saturday’s festival. For even after his last notes reverberated through the park, his love will indeed permeate the valley through the good work he did and will continue to do for the two foundations. 

Star in the making

Sunday’s festival started off with Grace Bowers, the 19-year-old guitar phenom with the big hair, big guitar and  big vocal chops  — and an even bigger future. 

I’m filing this set into the “I saw her when” category, as in when Bowers headlines JAS Labor Day 2032. I’ll tell everyone I saw Grace Bowers when she was 19 back in 2025. 

Bowers has got it. She is going to be a star. I saw Samantha Fish, another woman guitar phenom who puts on a great show, when she was just starting out and thought she was headed for stardom. But Fish is still playing the 4 p.m. slots at festivals because she has not written a great song that has broken through the ether. 

Bowers is already writing great songs, with excellent melodies and catchy hooks and she can’t even legally have a drink at the bar. I see hit songs in her future and festival headline slots down the road.

Smooth as whiskey

Marcus King played a fantastic set of southern rock, complemented by his blistering guitar playing and silky vocals.

He opened up with ”The Well” from his album “El Dorado,” which was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. It has the great line, “One for the money, two for the show, three for the father, son and holy ghost.”

King finished with the Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’Man” and everything in between was as smooth as a shot of Bill Macy’s whiskey.

Hall of Fame inductee

Next up on the Sunday program was the induction of Jim Horowitz, founder and CEO of JAS and the festival itself, into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

JAS is the first festival to be inducted into the CMHOF. The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has been around for 53 years. It was recognized by PollStar as the best music festival in the world in 2018. Still, JAS beat Telluride to the Hall of Fame. Why? 

While Telluride Bluegrass, Telluride Blues and Brews, Rocky Grass and other festivals have put on great events, none of those events have had a charitable component that comes close to what JAS has done for the Roaring Fork Valley and the state of Colorado. 

“Jazz Aspen Snowmass was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame as a music nonprofit organization, not only for their world-class music festivals but for all of their contributions to Colorado’s music ecosystem,” Karen Radman, executive director of the CMHOF, said. 

“Using music festivals as a revenue stream to raise funds for music education — to the tune of $10,000,000 and counting — is truly the best of both worlds. Music fans get to experience the joys of live music and kids across the Western Slope get to learn about the joys of music. JAS’ continual evolution is also something; we cannot wait for the opening of the Paul JAS Center this winter,” she continued.

The megastar everyman

The weekend ended with mega country star Luke Combs. I dig Combs’ everyman vibe — and the message that you need to believe in yourself and persevere — but his music not so much.

I didn’t bring a sweater to the park and I might have been able to stay for the whole set in spite of my indifference to the music to see if there was something I might dig, but I wasn’t willing to do it and be cold at the same time. 

I really wanted to see him play “Fast Car” as I dig Tracy Chapman. Her retirement from music was a gigantic loss, and I would have loved to have seen him cover it. Also, I missed a Marcus King sit in during the encore. I went home and watched Combs perform “Fast Car” with Tacy Chapman at the Grammys, which cut down on my FOMO.

The music was great at the 2025 JAS Labor Day Experience but the big winner of the weekend was the festival itself. Not only did it become the first music festival to be inducted into the CMHOF, it got a gigantic assist in the raising of $500,000 for Let Love Rule and Glo Good.