The Dare @ Kilby Court 09.18

Concert

What’s a blogger to a rocker? What’s a rocker to The Dare? The answer lies in the sold-out Wednesday night show featuring Harrison Patrick Smith, better known by his DJ persona The Dare, at Salt Lake’s beloved Kilby Court. While Charli xcx may have declared BRAT summer dead, for four pumping hours, The Dare resurrected 2014 club culture like Lazarus rising from his indie sleaze grave—sweaty button-up shirt and skinny black tie included.

The intimate venue was packed with thrashing and writhing bodies, their anticipation so palpable that it suffocated the steamy room. Bold strobe warnings were taped along the walls, highlighting the unspoken dress code of the night: a sea of oversized black sunglasses reflecting back at the stage, each pair ready to sweat it out and sex it up. Once the clock struck eight, opener Avalon strutted through the Kilby doors, her slinky slip dress and pointy black heels oozing confidence and sensuality. With electronic pop beats pulsating through the air, she set the tone for a night that promised to be absolutely salacious.

By the time our headliner slinked onto the miniscule stage, everyone was aching to know what exactly was wrong with New York. “It’s just rock and roll, you won’t die / You can’t spend your whole life inside,” The Dare declared into the microphone, kicking off his first song of the night, very perfectly titled “Open Up”. As blinding lights strobed behind him, he contorted his body into flailing dance moves, the screams of his adoring fans bleeding into the clash of the hi-hat he smashed above their heads. Soon, the signature blazer would come off and the sunglasses would fly off his face to reveal eyes squeezed shut in concentration. It was unhinged, uncoordinated and still somehow very sexy? But maybe that was just the $5.99 perfume clouding everyone’s head.

Either way, with the amount of awestruck faces and pumping fists, no one can deny that Harrison Patrick Smith had the crowd completely hooked. The night came to a climax with The Dare on his knees belting out his mainstream hit “Girls.” For two entire minutes, all of Kilby Court loved the girls with cigarettes at the back of the club.

So, what’s a 2014 tumblr blogger to a rocker? What’s a rocker to The Dare? Maybe you can answer that yourself the next time he’s in town. You’re so invited.