Vail turns up the volume: ILLENIUM and Ian Asher headline a winter music season built around Dobson Arena

Vail Mountain is betting that this winter, the music will be as much of a draw as the skiing. In an announcement issued Oct. 16 through PR Newswire, the resort unveiled the first wave of artists for what it calls its biggest music season yet, headlined by two arena shows at the transformed Dobson Arena and seven performances staged on the mountain itself. The announcement arrived the same week as the first snowfall on the mountain's peaks, with snowmaking under way, the resort said.

The season kicks off Dec. 11, when ILLENIUM, the GRAMMY-nominated, multi-platinum electronic artist, headlines at Dobson Arena with special guests St Mary and Paws. Discover Vail's event listing puts doors at 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time, and the show falls during the women's race weekend of the Stifel Birds of Prey World Cup festival. The Vail Valley Foundation's Birds of Prey site confirms the Dec. 11 date, the special guests and a public ticket sale that began Friday, Oct. 9 at 10 a.m. Mountain Time on AXS.

There's nothing quite like live music in the mountains, and we're excited to bring even more of it to Vail this winter

Shaydar Edelmann, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Vail Mountain, in the Oct. 16 announcement

A rebuilt arena at the center of the season

Dobson Arena is the anchor. The resort describes the freshly transformed venue as more than 56,000 square feet with state-of-the-art production capability. The Birds of Prey festival site puts the Town of Vail's renovation at $55.4 million and notes the ILLENIUM concert will be one of the first performances at the arena following the renovation. The second announced headliner, Southern California DJ and producer Ian Asher, follows on Jan. 16, 2027, with doors at 7:30 p.m., according to Discover Vail, which says tickets went on sale Oct. 2. The resort credits Asher's viral electronic and house remixes, including the billion-stream Makeba remix that it says earned Remix of the Year honors.

Seven shows on the mountain, two new venues still unnamed

Beyond the arena, Vail plans seven on-mountain performances this winter, three more than last season, plus two brand-new music venues whose names and locations have not yet been announced. Last season's on-mountain lineup featured SOFI TUKKER, Dillon Francis, Chris Lorenzo and John Summit, and the resort points to last season's first-ever sunrise concert beneath the Legendary Back Bowls sign as the kind of format it wants to repeat. Additional artists, venues and mountain activations will be unveiled throughout the season, the resort said.

The apres calendar grows with it

The programming around the shows is expanding too. The reimagined Vail Ice Bar returns next to the Legendary Back Bowls Gate. Apres All Day at Express Lift, at the base of Gondola One, will feature more than 50 performing artists, nearly double last season, with live DJs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in collaboration with Outer Range Brewing, starting opening day. The Chasing Rabbits nightlife program returns to the Rabbit Hole, and Stoke Sessions will bring live music every Friday for the first month of the ski season. The lineup described here is the resort's own announcement; readers should confirm dates, doors and ticket availability with Discover Vail and the venues before traveling. The Vail Tribune is an independent publication of Tribune Publications and is not affiliated with Vail Resorts, which owns and operates Vail Mountain.