“I don’t feel the heat—I’m like a friggin’ lizard who’s been hibernating all winter.” So said Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch between songs at day two of the 2024 Kilby Block Party on Saturday. As for the rest of us? It’s fair to say we felt the blistering temps, marking a big change from the often-overcast opening day, and requiring nearly hourly sunblock applications and multiple trips to the water stations, all for the love of the music.

Speaking of which, Saturday was a more uneven day than its near-universally excellent predecessor, proving that even the great curators and tastemakers at Kilby Court can fumble once or twice or, in one notable example, can choose an important and beloved band that simply didn’t bring the goods. More on that later.

My day started with the tail end of New Zealand’s Fazerdaze, in a rare appearance as part of their first American tour in six years, and I wish I’d made it for the entire set; they produce shimmery shoegaze at its best. I made it through all of Water From Your Eyes’ afternoon set, an accomplishment not without its struggles. The Brooklyn band opened with a taped noise assault, as if to weed out the faint of constitution before the first proper song. This was, indeed, a harbinger of most of the group’s bludgeoning set, complete with distorted and mostly incomprehensible vocals, which I’ve noticed is a trend these days, because vocal clarity is for squares, I guess? At its best the band conjures Sonic Youth at its most experimental, and can lull its listeners into a kind of hypnosis through sheer repetition. But a little goes a long away.

Next up on my docket was Wisconsin’s Slow Pulp, of whom I was only passingly familiar, and I left the set a fan. Their sound is rooted in scrappy ‘90s indie rock like Velocity Girl, Superdrag and early Built to Spill, all hallowed touchstones, played with two, and sometimes three guitars and led by a singer, in Emily Massey, who can really wail. This was their first festival show of presumably many to come.

Then came a couple of bewildering late afternoon and evening sets, the only extended stretch of Kilby where it seemed like things were going south. I had little patience for Yellow Days, which came across, in the admittedly scant time I gave it, as a swollen and affected ‘70s psych-rock throwback complete, with annoyingly reverbed vocals and an onstage dancer dressed as a TWA flight attendant with a cigarette. Charitably, perhaps I just didn’t get it.

As for Dinosaur Jr., the legendary indie-rock progenitors, hopes were high but quickly dashed through sloppy execution—even by Dinosaur Jr.’s shambolic standards—and audio problems resulting in weird fluctuations in volume, and the occasional disappearance of J. Mascis’ vocals. The shells of great songs were there, and Lou Barlow ferociously attacked his bass as if it owed him money, but this was a mess. In summary, I overheard a fan in a Dinosaur Jr. shirt offer this assessment: “They sound like shit.” He wasn’t wrong.

Any disappointments from the sagging middle of day two were forgotten by the time Belle & Sebastian delivered a jubilant set spanning most of the albums in their storied career of nearly 30 years. Bangers like “Nobody’s Empire” and “So in the Moment” sounded like they beamed in from some dancehall in Ibiza, while early staples like “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” and “Expectations” let Stuart Murdoch’s witty writing take center stage atop more minimalist arrangements.

This was my fourth time seeing Belle & Sebastian, and so I’ve gotten to witness Murdoch’s evolution into the consummate entertainer he presented at Kilby, whether he was dancing on his piano or singing “Piazza, New York Catcher” from the audience, in the stretch of space between the GA and VIP areas. Belle & Sebastian may be a nonet, with much interesting instrumental color, from trumpet to recorder to cello to harmonica, but in some ways it’s the Stuart Murdoch show. Sporting a fedora, he resembled Leonard Cohen and brought a similar patrician panache to the proceedings, especially when calling fans onto the stage to dance through “The Boy With the Arab Strap” and “I Didn’t See it Coming” and then interacting with them onstage, almost like an old-fashioned lounge act. Belle & Sebastian is the best of a legacy band, one that honors its past while moving forward in new directions.

After catching a few songs from Santigold, who looked and sounded excellent (despite some self-consciousness on her part due to the acoustic dynamics of the Lake Stage) in a theatrical show complete with costumed, choreographed dancers, it was on to the dual headliners: Two of singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard’s enduring projects, Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service.

For more than a year, Gibbard and his bands have been playing their seminal 2003 releases Transatlanticism and Give Up in full, in honor of their 20^th anniversaries. Both releases have enjoyed a sprawling shelf life and garnered new generations of fans; I overheard one fan saying that they were the soundtrack of her middle school years, which aged me pretty quickly; for me, they came out when I was in college, and the CDs earned endless airplay in my (aging me again) Discman.

By this point, these concerts are note-perfect and down to a science, from the band’s flawless execution to Gibbard’s classic frontman charisma to the lighting array, often bathing the singer in cones of orange, the color mirroring the album’s iconic artwork. The LP’s spacious and slow-building title track was a highlight, with countless fans waving their smartphone flashlights in the air, as was “Passenger Seat,” as a drone flew overhead to capture the scene, perfectly timed to Gibbard’s lyrics about looking upwards at shooting stars or satellites. It was great to see how those synth spasms in “They Looked Like Giants” are created live, while drummer Jason McGerr was the band’s secret weapon, his beats providing a metronomic foundation for the group’s layered excursions.

As for the Postal Service, I’m sorry, reader, but I didn’t take any notes during the set, because how could I interrupt nirvana? From memory, the group, complete with the joyous presence of Jenny Lewis on guitar, vocals, and percussion, performed in all white, with similarly streamlined monotone lighting, again capturing the album’s visual aesthetic. As fine a performance as Death Cab For Cutie gave, Gibbard certainly ordered the tour correctly: The Postal Service was mesmerizing from the first second to last. I associate the LP as a work primarily of synthpop, but it was exciting to watch the variety of live music that flowed seamlessly in and out of Jimmy Tamborello’s electronic arrangements. I teared up easily during the duet “Nothing Better,” and like everybody else, I went bonkers went Gibbard sidled over to the drum kit to hammer away at a couple of tracks.

The Postal Service encored with a beautiful “remix” of “Such Great Heights,” performed in the stripped-down Iron & Wine style, with only Gibbard and Lewis onstage, then sent us home with an electrifying cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.” Judging by the rapturous reception for the song, perhaps Kilby could consider some new-wave bands in the future?

See you on day three!

Read More:

• 2024 Kilby Block Party: Day One Review
• 2024 Kilby Block Party: Day Three Review
• Kilby’s 2025 Lineup Drops

Photography by Natalie Simpson @beehivephotovideo

---

Read our day one 2024 Kilby Block Party review, and find all our previous coverage of last year’s festival here!

“This is the best view from a stage we’ve ever seen,” said Peach Pit singer Neil Smith during his band’s Friday afternoon set from the Lake Stage on day one of the 2024 Kilby Block Party. He was referring to the snow-capped Rockies just beyond the horizon, and for an out-of-towner like me, the majesty of the location rings just as true. I came from Florida to review Kilby, but Smith’s acknowledgment prompted me to actually gaze beyond the stages and festival grounds for the first time all day and recognize that, indeed, I was not in Boca Raton anymore.

Just as mountains are rare to a Floridian like me, so too are these bands, most of whom rarely see the rays of the Sunshine State. Hence my traveling 2,500 miles to see some of the most exciting names in indie rock’s past, present and future.

When I first entered the festival grounds, I was quickly struck by the atmosphere, which had whimsy to spare: colorful fuzzy animal sculptures emerging from the grass for photo ops, table tennis and cornhole set up throughout the grounds to encourage play, a rest area that resembled a geodesic dome. I also appreciated the compactness of the setup, with all four stages visible if you’re positioned in the middle of the layout.

My Kilby journey started with Gustaf, a New York quintet that seems to have teleported directly from its city’s downtown avant-punk scene circa 1981. With jagged guitar and bass lines that could cut through steel, Gustaf makes angular music you can dance to, and derives much of its gonzo intensity from vocalist Lydia Gammill, an androgynous frontwoman with an unorthodox charisma. Dressed in a business suit with a long tie and towering platform shoes, Gammill spoke or, perhaps, barked most of the lyrics, often slapping the side of her head for effect.

Gustaf’s music and approach couldn’t be more different from its immediate follower on the adjacent stage, Joanna Sternberg, who played an acoustic guitar set of their deceptively simple, heartbreakingly honest material. An outsider artist who conjures such brilliant singer-songwriters as Daniel Johnston and Randy Newman, Sternberg may just be the most likable—and un-jaded—person in music today. “So I’m gonna sing now,” they said, before launching into “I’ve Got Me.” They were visibly taken back when many of us starting singing along to every lyric. “This feels like a dream come true,” they said, of this recognition. I myself was so emotionally moved that I teared up by the second song, “People Are Toys To You,” and remained in a sublime place for the rest of the set. For those of us in the sizable crowd that were tuned into Sternberg’s wavelength, this was a concert neither the performer nor the audience will forget.

Yot Club was next on my list, delivering a tight, driving set of indie-rock bangers that improved as it went along, with convincing forays into psychedelic and stoner rock. Peach Pit followed soon thereafter, infusing their performance with rock-star showmanship from telegenic frontman Smith, who galloped across the stage, sometimes on one foot, and waved his glorious ‘90s grunge-rocker hair to and fro.

I don’t have a great deal to report on Alvvays’ set, other than the direct high praise it deserves: Dream pop of the highest order, it came across as perfectly executed as a studio recording—soaring synths and big guitars interacting in honeyed harmony. Courtney Barnett, for whom I left Alvvays a little early to catch, was the day’s biggest surprise. I expected to love the show, but I didn’t expect it to land as hard and viscerally as it did. Barnett absolutely shredded on guitar as part of a muscular trio of first-rate bass and drums, proving she’s as much an ace instrumentalist as she is a distinctive vocalist and a witty and gifted songwriter, the definition of a triple threat in music.

Serving as a palate cleanser between the high-energy sets of Courtney Barnett and Vampire Weekend, Joanna Newsom played her first concert in more than a year, and on paper, and perhaps in practice, her inclusion is an odd fit for Kilby. An obviously visionary but generically undefinable artist, she creates baroque, alien music from a galaxy in which rock ‘n’ roll never happened, playing sprawling story-songs on solo harp and piano. She should be touring century-old cathedrals more than outdoor indie-rock festivals, and the obnoxious chatter from some of my less respectful fellow-attendees did mar the experience a bit. Her music demands undivided attention; watching her fingers gracefully glide over the harp strings, combined with her angelic voice, it’s pretty clear she’s channeling the sounds of heaven. Clad in a frilly red dress and ruby slippers straight out of “The Wizard of Oz,” Newsom commented, rather funnily, on the “freezing” temperatures of this comfortably breezy evening. While I departed the set early to stake out a decent position for Vampire Weekend, her show was a singular Kilby highlight.

As night fell, Vampire Weekend took the stage to an absolutely massive audience and performed a jubilant 90-minute set culled pretty equally from their five studio albums. I’m a big proponent of their latest LP Only God Was Above Us, and was delighted to discover that the group’s increasingly expansive instrumental vocabulary, so apparent on that album, has also enhanced their earlier material in a live setting, with saxophone, fiddle and two drummers playing prominent roles throughout the set. I was enraptured with the slower, druggier version of “Sunflower,” complete with fiddle and sax solos. Their cover of SBTRKT’s “New Dorp, New York,” which included dueling saxes, settled into an experimental, elliptical groove that conjured Headhunters-era Herbie Hancock: If jazz-funk fusion is in this band’s future, I’m all for it!

Toward the end of the set, the band honored a fan’s request to play the opening bars of “Connect” on piano, and he did a great job; kudos to Ezra Koenig for indulging the young lad. I wasn’t crazy about the group’s other invited guest, Heather Gay of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” who played some cornhole onstage to try and win Vampire Weekend merch. Nothing against Gay, but this felt like a frivolous time suck during such a time-limited set.

Koenig mentioned that Vampire Weekend first played the tiny Kilby Court in 2007, prior to the release of their self-titled debut. Their riveting headlining set was a testament to both their growth and the evolution of Kilby itself, and was a perfect day-one send-off. See you out there for day two!

Read more Kilby Block Party Coverage:

• 2024 Kilby Block Party: Day Two Review
• 2024 Kilby Block Party: Day Three Review
• Kilby’s 2025 Lineup Drops

Photography by Natalie Simpson, @beehivephotovideo

---

Find all our reviews from last year’s Kilby Block Party here!

Music fans from across the city and beyond gathered on Friday, May 3, 2024 at The State Room to celebrate the record release of Daniel Young’s Leave It Out To Dry, and The Hollering Pines Here’s to Hoping, two masterful new works from Salt Lake City’s finest musicians. 

The Hollering Pines played their record from start to finish. They began with the first track, “Tender Heart,” and followed with “Olive Branch,” featuring Marie Bradshaw’s expressive vocals and dueling electric guitar licks by M. Horton Smith and Dylan Schorer. Julianne Brough lent her impassioned back up harmonies to the radio-ready “Bitter Sweet.” 

Daniel Young at The State Room. Image credit Stephen Speckman.

It’s been five years since we were treated to a fresh batch of Hollering Pines songs. “One Too Many,” by M. Horton Smith, is the lone song on the album not written by Bradshaw. Nevertheless, it fits perfectly into The Hollering Pines repertoire. The final track, “Before I Die” is a beautifully written tune played to perfection. The band, consisting of Bradshaw, Smith, Schorer, and Marcus Bently on bass and Jagoda on drums played a tight set, featuring their new nine-song LP. Then, they performed a sweet cover of Emmylou Harris’s “Where Will I Be,” before ending with two classics, “American Dream” and “Bad Feeling” from their 2019 Moments in Between album. The 12-song set ended much too soon. The band has amassed a robust catalog of great songs over the years and they could have played all night. 

Daniel Young assembled the Rambling Roses, an all-star line up featuring M. Horton Smith, Dylan Schorer, Marcus Bently, Ryan Tanner, Joshy Soul, and Ronnie Strauss, to help him bring his stellar new record to life on The State Room stage. A few guest artists joined him throughout his set too. He started us off with “Desert Air” and proceeded to play the record in its entirety. I particularly liked “Slow Mornings” with Julianne Brough on harmony vocals. “Help Us Get Along” came alive with the three-piece brass (Denney Fuller on trumpet, Patrick Buie on trombone, and Candido Abeyta on saxophone). M. Horton Smith’s guitar work on “Here Comes The Flood” infused the number with an epic psychedelic feel. In a special moment, Bradshaw joined Young on stage for “What About The Questions Now.” Young blended gospel and rockabilly on the spirited “Have You Ever Died.” He concluded his 10-song album set with the pensive “Wade In The River.”

The entire ensemble, a baker’s dozen, took the stage for an energetic encore. Bradshaw began singing “Well, they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night” and the packed house went wild as she and Young traded off versus of “Atlantic City.” They merged the Springsteen version with The Band’s rendition to give it a fresh Rambling Roses bloom. They ended a magical night with Bradshaw and crew rolling the “Tumbling Dice.”

Special thanks to The State Room for hosting this event and showcasing the local talent who make up our robust Salt lake City music scene.  Both these new albums are superb. Check them out here and consider purchasing some vinyl for your collection.

https://danielyoung.bandcamp.com/album/leave-it-out-to-dry

https://theholleringpines.bandcamp.com/album/heres-to-hoping

• Who: Daniel Young and The Hollering Pines
• What: Double Record Release Show
• Where: The State Room
• When: Friday, May 3, 2024
• Info: https://www.danielyoungsongs.com/, http://www.theholleringpines.com/

---

Dig out the camping gear—it’s time for a musical staycation. The 16th annual Ogden Music Festival is back at Fort Buenaventura on May 31-June 2, 2024 with a stellar all-star lineup. The three day concert is the signature event of the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM) organization, a non-profit group who really knows how to put on a show. 

It’s not all string bands (though there will be world-class bluegrass acts). OFOAM balances the lineup with other genres of the American roots canon like soul, blues, R&B, Afro-Mexican rhythms, folk, mariachi, funk, and disco. The festival includes 27 musical acts over the three day event.

Find the full schedule here

Friday, May 31

Kicking off the festival is the Utah-based, goodtime band Pixie & The Partygrass Boys. Their unique “partygrass” music blends bluegrass, newgrass, pop, punk, and rock ‘n’ roll into a spirit-soaring sound that’s sure to get your feet moving and hips swaying.

Say She She is a soulful female-led disco-delic band from Brooklyn that will transport you back to Studio 54 with their hypnotic tri-vocal harmonies and infectious beats. 

Friday night’s headliner, Celisse, is a relative newcomer to the soul/gospel/blues music circuit. Her artistic ambitions took her to Broadway before she plugged in an electric guitar and channeled Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As a go-to guitarist for Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, and Joni Mitchell, Celisse’s musical career is just lifting-off. Her debut album is forthcoming and she’s already made her presence known. I can’t wait to hear her shred her guitar and belt out some soulful gospel blues. I’m stoked to catch her up-close before she hits the stratosphere.

In between the featured artists, “tweener” acts will play a short set to keep the music flowing during set-ups. 

Saturday, June 1

An insane schedule of great acts from noon till the wee hours are on tap. The Pickpockets, Wyatt Ellis, The Slocan Ramblers, and Twisted Pine rock the daylight (and don’t forget the tweeners who often leave you wanting more.) As the sun begins to dip over the horizon, that’s when a run of headliners come out, and on Saturday night there’s a trifecta of hugely successful acts.

Hayes Carll–The Grammy-nominated Texas storyteller sings whimsical, well-crafted songs with the swagger of rock ‘n’ roll, the saccharine sentiment of country, and introspection of folk. Carll occupies that middle lane between James McMurtry and Ray Wylie Hubbard. His fun, often irreverent songs will put a smile on your face and a dance in your step. His latest single with The Band of Heathens, released just in time for 4/20, is “Nobody Dies From Weed,” an upbeat honky-tonk celebration of mother nature’s gift.

Sarah Jarosz– The multi-instrumentalist and multi-Grammy winning Americana artist just released her seventh full-length album Polaroid Lovers. The record shifts the musical winds of Laurel Canyon toward Nashville to create a pop-adjacent masterpiece: diverse love stories told with a breezy country-pop sound. 

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway– Headlining the coveted Saturday night spot is the winner of the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for City of Gold (she also won the award last year for Crooked Tree.) Tuttle & Golden Highway is the hottest ticket in Bluegrass today. For those who caught her magical performance at The Commonwealth Room in 2023, I’m sure you’re ready for more ( I know I am). For those who haven’t seen this troupe of virtuosi, this is a don’t-miss opportunity in a fabulous location.

Sunday, June 2

Let that late morning coffee kick in. The final festival day begins at noon with Utah’s own Mariachi Aguilas de la Esperanza, approximately 30 children from Esperanza School and 20 youth graduates start us off with Mariachi, Banda, Norteno, and Sierreno music.

The Birmingham, Alabama jamgrass band Mountain Grass Unit will get you kickin’ up some dirt before Hayes Carll returns for a bonus solo show! Don’t miss the electro-folk musical collective Las Cafeteras, the East LA troupe that blends Cumbia, punk, hip hop, and Afro-Mexican beats. Of course there are several great tweeners that’ll keep the rhythms flowing all day. The exclamation point on this year’s Ogden Music Festival comes from the local supergroup Josie O and the Big Six, a gathering of familiar faces from the Salt Lake City music scene who’ll hit us with a foot stomping honky-tonk finale.

Here’s a Spotify playlist to get you festival ready. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20xOlebH3LkUvBfBIsZjxy?si=fsK4xK8aTVCCsRXStb4Frg&pi=u-U1ZEeOMzTCid

Tickets and camping info: https://ofoam.ticketspice.com/2024-ogden-music-festival

It’s just a short drive (or FrontRunner trip) from Salt Lake City, so whether you choose a three-day camping adventure or a couple of day excursions, you won’t want to miss the great vibes at Fort Buenaventura.

What: 16th Ogden Music Festival
Where: Fort Buenaventura (2450 A Ave Ogden)
When: May 31–June 2, 2024
Info and tickets: https://www.ofoam.org/

---

Read our complete review of the 2024 Ogden Music Festival here.