Above: Union Peak Festival and the large crowd on day one: Friday, Aug 28, 2026
This past weekend, Copper Mountain's Union Peak Festival returned to downtown Copper Mountain for three days, Friday Saturday and Sunday. Despite incoming rain showers on both Saturday and Sunday, the weather mostly coroporated, with Saturday featuring the Turnpike Troubadours behing the highlight of the whole festival.
The festival was completely free as it had been for the past half dozen years or so at Copper Mountain. Headliners The Revivalists graced the stage on Friday night with Turnpike Troubadours performing Saturday. Each day grew large amounts of people, with around 4,000 attending on Friday and 6,000 concert goers on Saturday. Friday was a lukewarm experience with a rougher crowd and slightly off balance musical performances by both Magic City Hippies and the Revivalists, but Saturday was much better, with both acts The Sheepdogs and Turnpike Troubadours giving excellent performances.
However, the free festival wasn't all about music. There were lots of local and Colorado art at the booths with attendees selling framed photographs, clothing and other items. Throughout the festival there were also outdoor activities, including a giant swing machine and a large indoor playground for kids and teenagers. Attendees could bring in dogs, so there were lots of dogs in attendance as well.
It rained both days of the festival, however Saturday saw the most rain with a down pour in the afternoon. Luckily it cleared up by the time the opening band, The Sheepdogs came on stage.
It was a great experience for fans of both bands to experience their favorite groups for free. Both the Revivalists and Turnpike Troubadours typically sell out Red Rocks every year, so for the Union Peak Festival to have both bands this year were fantastic. They both drew very different crowds, with a more rougher crowd attending on Friday and many more cowgirls and cowboys in attendance Saturday. Mostly all the concert goers were coming up from Denver or front range cities on both days, with few being actually from Copper Mountain or nearby mountain towns.
During Turnpike, the entire crowd was singing along to every song, and the band performed all their greatest songs, including 'Feeling Good Again', 'Diamons and Gasoline' and 'Long Hot Summer Day'. Canadian rock group The SheepDogs were also a great warm up for the country western headliners that day.
Overall, the festival was good and the sound was fantastic both nights. However, parking is always an issue at Copper Mountain which plagued the festival this year as usual. In order to get a spot at the free inner lots you had to be there well in the morning hours of both Friday and Saturdays. The rain also dampened the outdoor festival a bit during the early afternoon hours. However, Turnpike Troubadoors made up for all this with their energetic and crowd singing along performance Saturday night, with many fans coming all the way from Oklahoma where their originally from.
Turnpike Troubadours setlist on Saturday, Aug 29 at Copper Mountain:
1) The Bird Hunters
2) Gin, Smoke, Lies
3) Kansis City Southern
4) Be Here
5) On the Red River
6) A Tornado Warning
7) Brought Me
8) Whole Damn Town
9) Good Lord Lorrie
10) 7&7
11) Every Girl
12) Unrug
13) Before the Devil Knows were Dead
14) Heaven Passing Through
15) Mena Old Sun
16) Ruby Ann
17) Diamonds and Gasoline (acoustic)
18) Feelin Good Again (acoustic)
19) Long Hot Summer Day
20) Pay no rent
21) Easton & Main
22) Something to hold onto
B+
All photos by Jessica Lewis
Friday, Aug 28, Day 1 Featuring Magic City Hippies & The Revivalists
Festival:
Magic City Hippies:
The Revivalists:
Day 2: Saturday, Aug 29, 2026:
Festival:
The Sheepdogs:
Turnpike Troubadours:
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