Kilby Block Party 5 @ Utah State Fairpark 5/10-5/12

The crowd is going wild at Kilby Block Party.

The crowd braved the sun to go wild for their favorite acts at Kilby Block Party. Photo: Ashley Christenson.

Image: Ashley Christenson, Jess Gruneisen, Jovvany Villalobos

Music

Kilby Block Party 5, in celebration of the titular local venue’s 25th anniversary, was the festival’s biggest iteration yet. Acts such as LCD Soundsystem and Vampire Weekend brought fans from around the country, donning plenty of glitter and vibrating off of the free Celsius energy drinks offered. Though the festival is known primarily for its pull with indie fans, this year’s lineup contained sprinklings of shoegaze, post-punk and experimental pop. KBP hasn’t typically hosted bands known for aggressive mosh pits, but mosh the younger crowd did. Allegedly, shoes were thrown during at least one performance, which may explain the disturbing quantity of bare toes out on the asphalt. There were also a few alleged physical altercations for which the gentle tunes of Death Cab for Cutie provided the background music. Musical festivals—the excitement, booze and heat stroke—bring out the far-too-often-untapped feral side of each of us, and we’re grateful to be home to an environment that brings that out of folks in our stereotypically sheltered state.

KBP deserves props for bringing so many incredible acts and so much national media attention to SLC, as well as for boasting an above-adequate bathroom situation and plenty of free water stations for a crowd of thousands. Waiting in line forever is what I often dread most about events of this size, but that proved to be a non-issue here, despite the masses of people flooding in. The second thing I dread with festivals of this nature is a no re-entry policy that holds attendees hostage, forcing them to either cough up a full day’s wages for a plate of something hardly edible. This concern was also quickly dismissed by the way KBP was run, with re-entry for all and a plethora of genuinely delicious food. The impressive lineup of local food vendors included Vegan Daddy Meats, whose vegan rendition of the Arby’s Beef n’ Cheddar regenerated my life force following hours of standing in the sun surrounded by intoxicated influencers.

For those who missed out this year, allow our testimonials of the festival experience to guide you into making the right call when next year’s lineup gets announced—we’re already anxiously awaiting it. Kilby Block Party has something for everyone, regardless of taste in music, food, drink or social battery, and is not to be missed. Check out photos from the SLUG team’s personal favorite performances of the rowdy weekend!