Show Reviews
The Lone Bellow @ Red Butte 07.14
The late afternoon summer light illuminating the red rocks of the desert combined with the lavish garden complemented the performance that this Brooklyn-based trio had to show us. … read more
Crucialfest Day Four @ Shred Shed and Wasted Space 06.29
It’s Year Three, Day Four of SLC’s amazing musical orgasm CrucialFest, and I step off the Trax stop at Courthouse to get myself some delicious pizza and beer from The Pie Hole before the festivities start. Heat’s in the triple digits, and I pity the poor fools even more who chose Warped Tour over CF. … read more
Crucialfest Day Two @ Killby Court 06.27
On the second day of Crucialfest 3, the music gods looked upon Kilby Court and decided, “This is where the rock shall be.” A little slice of all-ages paradise, Kilby Court is a great venue tucked away in the back of an alley. The only downside is a serious lack of air conditioning, but fantastic lighting and sound makes up for it. Besides, it’s the summer—if you’re not sweating, then you’re not trying hard enough. One of the most fun things about Kilby Court that doesn’t really translate to a lot of venues is also the easygoing, casual vibe. “Casual” is the best way to describe Kilby all the way around, with the open garage door in back and courtyard full of stickers with a firepit flanked by park benches. Not a half bad way to catch some tunes and make some new friends. … read more
Crucialfest Day One @ The Woodshed 06.26
On a warm and muggy Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to cover the first night of Crucialfest 3 at the Wood Shed. While technically starting at Kilby Court earlier that day, I was stoked to get in and get some of that sweet Crucialfest vibe. If you’ve never heard of Crucialfest, now is a good time to catch up before next year. A huge, local festival, getting bigger and bigger every year, Crucialfest is literally a crucial part of the Utah music scene in a big way. Taking place over several days and several different venues, with mostly local acts peppered with a few touring bands, it’s a great way to dive in and get a grab bag of new tunes.
SLUG Journalist Needs Water Badly: A Warped Tour Story
On Saturday, June 29 of the year 2013, I set out into the arid wasteland of Warped Tour with little more than a camera, a bottle of water, and the cheapest bottle of suncreen that I could find. … read more
Cayucas with JBM @Kilby Court 06.21
It’s a desirable thing to go to a show with no worries. Why did I have no worries for this show? Cayucas just barely released an eight-track LP that’s drenched with summer vibes via catchy bass riffs and laid-back tales about beach life. All I knew about the opener, JBM, was that he was a multi-instrumentalist out of Montreal who makes folk music. This was destined to be an easy night, and the music I heard was authentic enough to take me where the artists were mentally when they wrote the music. Those places were anywhere but the city. … read more
Battle of the Bands @ Velour 06.15
I arrived at Velour about 30 minutes before show time on Saturday night. A week earlier, the venue’s Number Two, the lovely Kaneischa Johnson, had asked me to help out with judging the competition. Kaneischa briefed us, the esteemed judges, on the judging criteria and what she expected from us. I looked at the paper with the criteria that she had given us all, appended to a clipboard: Musicianship, Songwriting, Crowd Response, Stage Presence and Vocal Performance, all out of 10. … read more
Miss May I, Killswitch Engage, Darkest Hour, The Word Alive,...
I love shows at Saltair. Even the drive, which would normally be an inconvenience, can be a wonderful relaxation if you take the right route. So it was Friday evening as my friends and I piled into a few cars and chased the sun out to the Great Salt Lake, ready to have our earholes sweetly penetrated by Killswitch Engage and their tour brethren Miss May I, Darkest Hour, The Word Alive and Affiance. My last show out here was the Coheed and Cambria tour, and memories of that show and its massive swarm of humanity were still fresh. The night was warm, the lake wasn’t stinking too much, and in between sets, you could enjoy a beer on the back porch and watch the sun set. Only a heartless fool wouldn’t have enjoyed himself here. … read more
Camera Obscura @ Urban Lounge 06.26 with Marissa Nadler
Camera Obscura began with “Do It Again” and “Break It To You Gently,” two new pop tunes that prove that they’ve still got a vitality to their songbook, a feeling that evolved with confidence as they delivered half of their newest album. … read more
Ballyhoo! with Authority Zero, Versus The World, Racist Kramer @...
On this particular Saturday, Bar Deluxe was the stopping point for the Summer Sickness 2013 CD release tour for Ballyhoo! and Authority Zero. Not overly familiar with either band’s catalog, although a fan of what I’ve heard, I was excited to get a chance to see both of these bands up close and personal and get a real idea of what they’re all about. … read more