ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
“Welcome to the 2029 Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen!”
Those words are now expected to ring out of Rio Grande Park in February 2029 thanks to the Aspen City Council’s 3-2 decision on Tuesday to grant Belly Up a five-year lease of Rio Grande Park for the fledgling festival, which was started in 2023 and returned early this year for its second appearance.
The event was approved with a contingency that festival partner Belly Up produce a free, annual, outdoor concert for the Aspen community.
“We are very excited and humbled that we are going to be able to put on the Palm Tree Music Festival for years to come,” said Belly Up’s David Goldberg, who appeared before the council with his father Michael, the longtime proprietor of the downtown Aspen music club.
Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen is one of several Palm Tree festivals held around the world. This summer, festivals will occur in the Hamptons, Lake Tahoe and Oahu. Past events have been held in Dana Point, California; Egypt; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Croatia and Australia.
In 2022, Palm Tree Music set its sights on Aspen and teamed with Belly Up, along with C3 Productions in Austin, Texas, to produce the inaugural Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen. The Goldbergs initially wanted to produce the festival in the summer. However, out of respect for Theatre Aspen’s performances in the summer season, the Goldbergs decided to try and pull off a winter festival and settled on the last weekend of February as the least disruptive date to other events occurring within the winter cycle.
The first Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen featured festival founder Kygo and Jack White as headliners of the two-day event. This past February, the Goldbergs pulled a veritable turntable out of a hat when they brought David Guetta, voted the No. 1 DJ in the world by his peers in 2024, to headline the weekend. It was completely sold out.
The Goldbergs appeared before council yesterday for the third time in three years, this time seeking a five-year lease agreement for Rio Grande Park in hope of securing the festival’s future until the end of the decade.
“A five-year deal is crucial for us because the music business plans far out in terms of both talent, production crews and right down to the vendors," David Goldberg said. “Continuity is a very important piece of the puzzle of putting on a music festival.”
Mayor Torre opened the proceedings by questioning the five-year approval. He took particular umbrage with the fact that locals have to pay service fees on ticket sales.
Michael Goldberg pointed out that in the first two years, over 10% of tickets have been offered up to locals at a 50% discount, costing the festival over $100,000 in revenue.
“We give those tickets away to locals happily and would never acknowledge how much money that was costing us but we felt it was important in light of the circumstances to point that out,” he said.
The mayor said he felt the event did more for Belly Up than the town. Councilman Sam Rose was quick to counter the mayor’sopinion, saying, “I respectfully disagree. I believe what you do is a tremendous benefit to the community.”
Rose cited the “euphoric happiness” the event brings and said Palm Tree “makes Aspen especially special.”
Councilman Bill Guth echoed Rose’s sentiments, saying, “I want to commend the Goldbergs and the whole team on an unbelievable, professionally organized event. I have been super-supportive for five years. You’ve been great partners to the city of Aspen.”
Councilman Ward Hauenstein also was supportive of the lease.“It's not my thing but that doesn’t mean I should deprive the rest of the community from enjoying it. From a business side the economic benefit to the community is pretty substantial. Seventy percent of the attendees were from out of town, and 70% were in Aspen for the first time. I commend the whole Palm Tree staff. It couldn’t be done any more professionally.”
However, Councilman John Doyle said he was disappointed the event was produced by Palm Tree Music Festival and not Belly Up. Michael Goldberg clarified that by pointing out that while Palm Tree and C3 are Belly Up’s partners, the festival is produced by Belly Up.
Michael Goldberg told the council an economic analysis showed most businesses agreed that Palm Tree weekend brought more business than Presidents Day weekend.
“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve been able to provide for the city of Aspen,” Michael said. He also mentioned there were only 10 noise complaints.
As part of the agreement, Belly Up produced a free Fourth of July concert last year. Hauenstein had recommended that the five-year lease be approved with a free community concert contractual requirement.
“We were proud to produce the Fourth of July show for the town last year,” David Goldberg said. “We’re doing it again this year and hope it will become an Aspen tradition.”
In the end, the motion passed 3-2 with Rose, Guth and Hauenstein voting in favor of the extension and Doyle and Torre opposing.
“We’re looking forward to a great future with Palm Tree and the city of Aspen,” David Goldberg said. “We are very appreciative of the compliments from several of the councilmembers. I know we can improve. There’s always a way to do better and that’s what we plan to do.”