Conversations with Peter Ore

Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Ore.

Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It was late 1995 and I was waiting tables at a restaurant in Boulder called The Harvest and the kitchen manager, Paul, said I should get a job at the Bluebird Theater because I would fit right in. I had graduated from CU Boulder and moved to Denver but was still going to Boulder to work every day since I had been at that job for a while and settled in. I never really thought about working at a club or music venue but I needed a job in Denver and this seemed like a great way to see live music and meet people. So one day I walked in off the street one day and asked for the manager. A woman named Colleen came and told me they weren’t hiring. As I was walking out the door I mentioned that I had been an event security supervisor for Program Council (the student run events group at CU Boulder) while in college and she hired me on the spot. That was the moment my life changed forever. I almost walked out the door and missed the ride of a lifetime. This was early 1996.

I took the bus every day to Boulder to wait tables and then rode the bus back to Denver each night to work the door at the Bluebird. Eventually I moved to bar back which was better since I made more money and was behind the bar. Then a job in the office during the day came up and I quit waiting tables and took the office gig for way less money, but at least I was now working only in Denver and only at the Bluebird Theater. I answered the phones, printed posters, went and got Chris Swank’s laundry and did basic office work. The guy who was booking local shows was burnt out so I said I’d give it a try. After all, all I was doing was working at a music venue and when I wasn’t there I was out every night at other shows around town. It came pretty naturally to me. And I did a pretty good job. Soon I was booking smaller regional bands and smaller touring bands as well. And I was pretty good at that too.

The big next step came when The Bluebird Theater merged with Doug Kauffman at Nobody In Particular Presents (NIPP) who owns the Ogden Theater. That was when the booking opportunities really opened up for me. I now had the Bluebird and the Ogden as well as Doug Kauffman’s small dive bar, The Lion’s Lair. At NIPP we also did BIG shows. Red Rocks shows. Pepsi Center shows. Magness Arena shows. So I got to cut my teeth at all these venues, watching how bigger deals worked, how these massive venues operated and actually put on some bigger shows than just the club shows.

I spent a total of about 10 years at the Bluebird Theater / NIPP. Old school independent to the core.

But the Titanic had hit the iceberg and the ship was sinking. I won’t go into what led to that, but the ship was going down and I was one of the last rats off the ship.

I was asked to go work for Live Nation and while I never wanted to work for a corporate giant, it was safe harbor. I worked at Live Nation for over 5 years. And I got to book some amazing shit. Bruce Springsteen. Stevie Wonder. Roger Waters. Iron Maiden. It was an amazing experience but at the end of the day all I want to do is listen to music and book shows without all the bullshit. But it was the gig I had so I kept doing it. Live Nation went through a restructuring and I wound up getting moved to Las Vegas to help run that market. That lasted 6 months before another restructuring led to layoffs and I was a casualty. Vegas was a nightmare and I really didn’t like the way it operated for live music. So I wasn’t sorry. After going to Thailand for a while I came back to Colorado to snowboard and see what was next.

What was next was a 7 year stretch (2011-2018) booking The Summit Music Hall and Marquis Theater in Denver and the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. During that time, in 2013, I helped start a brand new music brand in Dallas, TX called Gas Monkey. We opened a venue called GMBG and conjured a niche for ourselves out of thin air. It was and has been an absolutely amazing experience. In Denver we were major players in the music scene and I had been doing concerts here for years. To create a whole new brand in a whole new city was unreal.

The Denver situation imploded and I started my own company called Anchors Aweigh and teamed up with some long time independents at the Oriental Theater to bring all my bands there. After a successful 2018 there I was able to get a piece of ownership in 2019. We were going strong and having a record year and then the pandemic hit.

In the middle of the pandemic one of the other Oriental owners, Scott Happel, and I were able to acquire a venue space at 60 S Broadway that had been on a steady decline over the past few years and had then went under during Covid. Scott and I jumped on it and in June we did what was either incredibly stupid or incredibly smart: we signed a 10 year lease on a live music venue during a worldwide pandemic where live music was totally and completely shut down. We spent the summer pouring money into a total remodel / updating of the space, hoping one day we would actually be able to open. Fortunately we survived and were able to open HQ in January of this year.

It’s been an unreal ride. Good times. Bad times. Terrible times. And times that have been pure magic.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No it’s been a rollercoaster. The main struggle was dealing with other people running the business and having to deal with their terrible decisions that in turn affected my life. And in music you deal with a lot of egos and that’s always difficult. But I guess you get on the rollercoaster for the ride, right?

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a concert promoter. I book concerts. It’s all I know how to do. Well that and goof off. I’m known for both 😉

While I did work for a corporate giant for a while I am best known for being a fierce independent promoter. In a market like Denver which is home to AEG as well as a major Live Nation hub, I have been able to promote hundreds of concerts a year in independently owned and operated venues. I try very hard to be ethical, all inclusive and put on great shows that are not only fun but also safe for everyone. I care about ticket prices and the fans as well as the bands and venues. It’s not all about the money. It’s about the love of music. The fact that I make money doing what I love still baffles me.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Tough question. If you’re interested in the music industry go to concerts and festivals locally. Try and meet people involved and open lines of communication. Join local music oriented organizations like Colorado Music Association. Attend any music oriented panels, discussion groups or conferences that you can. Keep trying. Keep Trying. Keep Trying.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anchorsaweighconcerts.com

Image Credits
Peter Ore