Blind Pilot and John Craigie performed at Red Butte Garden & Arboretum on June 28, 2026, giving every person within listening distance a reason to pull out and wear their long sleeves and pants. It was brisk, but each band’s songs were warm. Funny how that works out.
Blind Pilot is a pair of old, comfortable tennies. They’ve been in your life for years. They form around your feet like gloves. And they kind of feel like they’ve always been around. They’ve been back and forth to our state so often, they feel local, offering us dependably solid music we all know well enough to sing along to. And, thank the mighty heavens, what they offer up never feels like a copy of much else. It’s folk sometimes, indie at others, but it comes with beautifully sad horn solos. And a stood up (and slapped around) bass. And, sure, why not? How about harmonizing, too? When they opened for John Craigie, there was at least a little debate that it should have been the other way around, but no matter. One didn’t best the other. They were each others’ fans, and it wasn’t hard to figure that out. May “The Story I Heard” and “3 Rounds and A Sound” and “We Are The Tide” echo forever in your ears and, if you were there, always remember how the sun hit the mountains as they played. Red and golden and just right.
There are many who’ve witnessed John Craigie before I ever did. Curious thing, though: they always spoke more about how funny he was than they did about his tunes. Still, he was hilarious in both his songs and the long interludes he took to riff and try out new jokes in between. At least those who told me about him told no lies. He is funny. He is a showman. And he’s a smart songwriter, too. I especially dug his “I Wrote Mr. Tambourine Man.” For a good time, look it up.
Photo by Natalie Simpson, @beehivephotovideo
When a band opens for the other — each outdoing the other with charm — it’s kind of a longstanding audience half-hope that they end the night testing how many of them will fit on the stage so they can all join arms and sing together. They did that and then some, as Blind Pilot covered a John Craigie song, and he did one of theirs, and it kind of cemented the notion that each held deep respect for the other.
Nobody even had to cheat and look up lyrics. That doubles as high praise.
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