American Authors Frontman on Playing Free Show at Breckenridge

Breckenridge Ski Resort, CO, launched the Five Peaks Music Series this spring and is now excited to kick off this summer with a free concert at the base of Peak 8 featuring 'American Authors' on Saturday, July 20.

The band will perform at 1 PM. MST The opener is a local band called Frisco Funk Collective. American Authors is known for hits such as 'Believer' and 'Best Day Of My Life'.

We called up Zac Barnett, the lead vocalist and guitarist of American Authors, to hear more about what this event means to them and why they're so stoked to be playing at Breckenridge this summer.

This isn't American Authors' first time playing at Breckenridge. The band has ties to Colorado. "We played Breck once before, but in the winter season, which was awesome because I got to go snowboarding the morning before the show," says Barnett.

"It was actually rad 'cause we were doing closing weekend, and that night, before the concert, it just absolutely dumped. They let me go out there first run even before the lifts fully opened to the public. It was just a super good time riding fresh powder."

Barnett explained, "Our management is based out of Colorado, so we just got those good ties out here. [We wanted to] go back to Breck in the summer."

Barnett snowboards and mountain bikes in the summer, so he feels right at home playing a show at Breckenridge any time of year. I asked him what the band was most excited about.

"I know how fun the village is, so I'm looking forward to getting back in the mountains and having a good time."

"It's an early show too, which is always kind of fun. It's a different vibe and I feel like people just come to party when it's those early shows. At first you might be like, 'oh, people are gonna be sleepy or whatever.' But early mornings on the mountain... people are partying more than at nighttime."

"Even when I go snowboarding with my friends and we woke up at like 5:00 AM we're pulling up at like 7:00 AM and we're still cracking beers in the parking lot."

"If it's a Saturday on the mountain and it's at 1:00 PM, I would assume people have already been up like hiking and biking since way before, so that's a happy hour, right?"

I asked Barnett about the typical crowd playing in a mountain town.

"I don't care if it's a blizzard in the middle of winter or a beautiful, clear day in the summer. It's always fun. It's always the best people. It's always such good energy all around."

"I've been part of this culture for my entire life. These are my people, these are the kind of people that I like to chat with and go out after the show with. We have so much in common 'cause we all do the same things."

This time around, the band only has about a day to hang out around the concert schedule. Barnett told me this trip is pretty short, because they are planning to spend the rest of the day at Breckenridge, and then fly out the next day.

"I'm going to Thailand next week, so I don't have much time to chill up in the mountains, unfortunately."

Travel is part of the musician's repertoire, and Barnett admitted the band has had a good time over the last decade.

"It's been an awesome 12 year run for us now. We've been really fortunate to see the world and I've gotten to do a lot of incredible adventures. Snowboarding around the world, shark diving in South Africa, playing amazing villages in Mexico and just really great stuff."

"This show at Breckenridge is gonna be super fun. It's a rad set. All American uthors classic jams, that maybe you've at this point grown up with. Plus, we got a new album coming out in October, so we're playing a lot of the new songs that we've already released from that next album too. So it's just super fun. Good indie folk vibes."

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