Leftover Salmon cranks again at State Bridge

By Courtney Riley

criley@vaildaily.com

State Bridge is rocking. The newly remodeled venue has been celebrating its grand reopening this weekend. Today the venue will host a sold-out concert by Colorado native jam-band Leftover Salmon.

“You can never bring back the character and the charm, but with the new creation, the spirit is alive and well,” said Scotty Stoughton, the general manager of State Bridge. “The spirit is stronger than ever. The soul of the place is intact.”

Drew Emmitt, the vocalist and mandolinist of Leftover Salmon, said he is excited to see what the new venue looks like.

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“Way back in the day we used to have some really great times there,” he said. “It’s a good tradition for us.”

Stoughton said the feedback for the new venue has been overwhelmingly supportive, positive and thankful.

“It exemplifies all things Colorado,” he said. “It’s out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mother nature. There’s abundant wildlife, abundant activiities, great music, lots of sunshine. What really can be better?”

Emmitt said, “I’m excited to see what they’ve done to it. I heard they’ve turned it into a fantastic venue. I think it’s going to be a throwdown.”

Salmon ‘cranks again’

Leftover Salmon has not been very active since they got back together, Emmitt said.

“Salmon’s just been kind of an occasional thing,” he said. “We’re just kind of starting to crank Salmon back up again.”

Lefotver Salmon performed at the Fillmore in Denver for Halloween and did a run in February around ski towns and Salt Lake City, but the band members have been focusing on other bands they have going.

Emmitt is involved with the String Cheese Incident, as well as his own solo band, the Drew Emmitt Band, and Vince Herman, the vocalist and guitarist of Leftover Salmon, plays in Great American Taxi.

But Leftover Salmon will be performing in Aspen July 2 and is looking at making a new record in the fall.

“We’ve been a band for 23 years,” Emmitt said. “Our fanbase is definitely still out there.”

Whenever the band plays on stage, it’s still fresh because they’re not touring as much, Emmitt said.

“When you’ve played so much as a band, it comes back really fast. It’s really fun every time we get on stage together,” he said. “I love to play musi. If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I’d still be doing it.”

Courtney Riley is an intern at the Vail Daily. Comments can be emailed to criley@vaildaily.com.