David Goldberg on Belly Up’s improbable business model, the responsibility of being a local venue, and why a 450-person room still matters in a town that keeps changing.
Interview by Bryan Welker and Stefan le Roux | For The Aspen Times
For 20 years, Belly Up Aspen has done something that still feels improbable on paper: book major talent into a 450-capacity room in a seasonal mountain town.
David Goldberg grew up in Aspen and now runs Belly Up alongside his brother Danny and father Michael, and he speaks about the venue less as a nightlife operation and more as a local institution. What follows is a conversation about music, margins, off-season stewardship, and the strange business of keeping a town lively year-round.
Bryan: What’s your Aspen origin story?
David: I was born in Miami, but grew up in Aspen. My parents moved here when I was somewhere between three and five years old, depending on which one of them you ask. Aspen is home through and through. I grew up here, went to school here, and now I have a child I’m raising here, too.
Bryan: You’re putting national talent into a 450-person room in a seasonal town. How does the math work?
David: Before COVID, we were doing more than 300 shows a year. Now it’s more like 250 on average, which is still a lot of music for a seasonal town. It all balances out in the end, but the margins are razor-thin, and the math is difficult.
The market has also told us over 21 years what it wants and what it doesn’t want. In the off-season, we are much more careful and much more risk-averse. We still want to bring in quality music, but we have to be smarter about where we push.
Bryan: But a lot of that off-season programming is really for locals, isn’t it?
David: Absolutely. With the free or cheaper shows, the math usually doesn’t work to be blunt. We do it because we think it matters that locals have things to do here in the off-season.
We scale back to maybe two to four shows a week during those quieter stretches, but we try to stay open every weekend if we can.
Bryan: What changed after COVID?
David: Music and entertainment changed dramatically. Insurance changed. Liability changed. The risk tolerance of everyone involved changed. Belly Up was closed for 473 days, and that was a dark period.
When we did reopen, there was this initial surge where everybody wanted concerts again. Then that trend corrected, and maybe overcorrected. Now concerts are viewed more like a luxury again, and all the economic uncertainty, travel issues, and shifts in habits feed into that.
Bryan: So what keeps it all in perspective for you amidst the uncertainty?
David: I get to live my dream every day. I get to work with my brother and father, raise my son in Aspen, and build my life around music, which has always been one of the great loves of my life.
Bryan: What do the artists say about the room and the experience of playing it?
David: Aspen is a great attractor. It’s why you and I live here, and it’s why artists like coming here. But beyond that, Belly Up has become a special room, not because of me or Danny or Michael, but because of the people in it. The artists and the fans together create that energy.
I hear it from artists all the time. They feel the intimacy. They feel how close the crowd is and what comes back from the room. We’re production junkies too, so we try to amplify every part of the performance. In a lot of ways, we fit a festival main stage inside a 450-cap venue, and that’s what makes it exciting for us.
Bryan: After all these years, what still stays with you?
David: Every show teaches you a little bit. Sometimes about the business, sometimes about Aspen, sometimes about people. But what I’ve learned most is that this is rewarding because you get to share it with people. We don’t do this just for ourselves. It’s rewarding to see people smiling because of what’s happening on stage.
I have zero musical talent, so my way of giving back to music is the organization of it. That’s how I look at it. I’m always learning. We all are. The goal is just to keep improving year over year.
And then there are those moments you never forget. Chris Cornell doing “A Day in the Life” solo acoustic in that room is one of those for me. I can still picture exactly where I was standing. That’s the kind of moment you spend years chasing again.
Bryan: Last one. If money didn’t matter, who’s on the Belly Up wish list?
David: Paul McCartney is the end-all and be-all for me. If I ever pulled that one off, I might retire the next day. That would be full-circle in every possible way. So Paul McCartney, if you’re reading this, come play Aspen.
After that? Kendrick Lamar. Foo Fighters. Muse. Fred again.. I could do that list for an hour and a half, but if we’re talking pure dream bookings, that’s the territory.
David Goldberg has kept Belly Up going through quiet stretches and on margins thin enough to test anyone’s resolve. What comes through in speaking with him is that he does it out of a love for music, for the exchange between artist and audience, and out of a belief that Aspen still needs a place for locals to go, even when it doesn’t make sense on paper.
Bryan Welker lives and breathes business and marketing in the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. He is President, Co-founder, and CRO of WDR Aspen, a boutique marketing agency that develops tailored marketing solutions. Who should we interview next? Reach out and let us know bryan@wdraspen.com
