Kilby was a blur this past weekend, one of those good ones. Sunday was our last shot. It was also the day with the hardest music watching weather — what, with the rain, wind, and cold — and everyone collectively shrugged it off. They rallied. They enjoyed harder, danced more; attendees chose to suffer the uncontrolled elements for all they’d come for.
In exchange, Melody’s Echo Chamber served up a welcome dose of dreaminess. Grandaddy donned raincoats, and dutifully shared songs from their catalog I never expected to hear live — tunes like “A.M. 180” and “Now It’s On” — and even gave us a cover of an old radio staple, Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer.” It was hard to not like the charms of Magdalena Bay. It was easy to give into all the emotion American Football tapped into and had on display.
As for the surprise standout? Hayley Williams lived up to the hype I heard all weekend. Yes, she’s had plenty of experience on the stage with Paramore, but Kilby served as her first festival performance as a solo artist. Williams gained nothing but love from new and not-so new fans.
Salt Lake Magazine’s small but mighty photographer crew of two (Natalie Simpson and Nathan Christianson) captured incredible shots from the bands already mentioned, as well as Lorde, Folk Bitch Trio, Blood Orange, and a lot of others, both on Sunday and all weekend long. It’s not easy work doing what they do, and yet they were still smiling Sunday night.
Thanks for giving us all something to smile about this past weekend. National outlets have been calling Kilby Block Party one of the best music festivals in the country, and it’s genuinely easy to agree with that. I’ll add that it’s also one of the happiest. See everyone next year!
Photography by Natalie Simpson and Nathan Christianson, Beehive Photography
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