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Immersive concert series ‘Pink to Black’ brings Triptides to Thunder River Theatre 

Psychedelic rock band Triptides returns to Carbondale for a Pink to Black immersive concert on Friday, Jan. 24.
Courtesy/ Mark Burrows

A black box theater must be activated. It begins as a neutral space, and creative vision is all that’s needed to transform it. 

That’s the philosophy Thunder River Theatre Artistic Director Missy Moore lives by. It’s also what allows Moore to stretch her artistic vision, taking the theater from a venue for classic plays to an arena for aerial performance and back.

“There is no reason why the doors of this theater should be shut,” Moore said. “It is our job, as a nonprofit arts organization in the heart of a creative district, to have the doors open and have this place fully realized.



“It doesn’t always have to be theater, just because we’re a theater company,” she added. “It can be music, it can be aerialists, it can be theater. It can be an open mic night, it can be a speaker series, it can be an improv night. The essence of our craft is to say yes. The moment we say no, we die.”

This Friday, the Thunder River Theatre, in partnership with El Dorado Bar and Lounge Carbondale, will again be transformed into something new — an immersive concert venue catered especially to the psychedelic rock band Triptides



“A year ago, if you were to ask me if I was going to be producing bands, I would have been like, what? Huh? No,” Moore said. “That’s the beauty of ‘What can 2025 bring?’ What happens when a collective group of creatives choose to work together, instead of compete with one another?”

Doors open at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan 24.  DJ Pinto takes the stage from 7-8:30 p.m., and Triptides take over from 9-11 p.m. Tickets, which can be purchased at ThunderRiverTheatre.com/events, are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. The event is 21+.

 “I’ve worked with music for a long time in Los Angeles and I’m just very passionate about music,” Chris Rullet, El Dorado creative director, said. “I don’t know where I’d be, honestly, without it. 

“Having it in the bar, sometimes you just want more space and you want to bring that other creative aspect, which Missy is bringing, into it,” he added. “So that’s why it’s going to be amazing. More people, more room, a better sound.”

The upcoming performance is the first in a new immersive three concert series, Pink to Black. 

“It’s not just a concert,” Rullet said. “We’re trying to create an experience. We of course want the band to shine and all the bands we bring in, but we also want the theater and experience to shine as well.”

Named after the Roaring Fork River run that extends from Carbondale down to Westbank, Pink to Black is an ode to Carbondale, and the organizers hope it’ll refresh the city’s live music scene.

“Since we started having these conversations with so many people in Carbondale, it just felt like this used to go on in Carbondale X amount of years ago, certain concerts and stuff like this,” Roulette said. “I feel like it’s been lost for the past few years. I hope we get to reignite it.”

The Pink to Black team — Mike Arnold, El Dorado owner, Aly Sanguily, booking agent, Dani Taylor-Moxon, Thunder River Theatre managing director, Emily Henley, the theater’s marketing director, Lindsay Jones, graphic designer, Tess Ebert, El Dorado marketing director, Moore and Rullet — decided this Friday’s experience will be a psychedelic dance party. 

“I want to remove the idea of day glow, neon mushroom tapestries from circa 1992,” Moore said. “Go on Spotify, listen to Triptides. Be prepared to come into what I have been leaning into as a bold environment: nice, lovely, saturated colors, a little bit more on the earth tone side, not neon. We’re gonna have lights that will sync with the band and create patterns throughout the space, just leaning into the sound and the vibe of what Triptides is.”

Every aspect of the event is carefully curated to create a cohesive, immersive experience — El Dorado has even created Triptides themed cocktails especially for the concert. 

“You’re not just standing there. You’re part of the show as well. The theater is part of the show. People, they’re part of the show. That’s the way I see it as well,” Rullet said. “We just want people to come out and have fun. I feel like that part of this has been missing in Carbondale for a while.”


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