SLC Twilight • Japanese Breakfast • Ginger Root • Tomper • September 5, 2025 • Gallivan Center
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
Japanese Breakfast played an amazing set at the last Gallivan Center SLC Twilight show of their 2025 season, as part of their Melancholy Tour, accompanied by openers Ginger Root and local band Tomper.
Tomper
SLC local band Tomper’s jazz-pop feel had the crowd grooving from the beginning of the evening. Tomper played a lovely cover of the song “Without You” originally by Wings, and said, “We have shirts that are kind of Paul and Linda bootleg shirts, so you should buy a few of them.” This made the audience giggle at the fun merch they created.
The large band, consisting of 7 members, was all multi-instrumental artists. Piper and Tom Peterson are the lead singers (Tom also plays guitar and Piper on percussion), Denney on trumpet and tambourine, Josh on the keys, Ben on percussion, Robert on the drums, and Joe playing the bass.
It was great to see this local band playing a show at Twilight at the Gallivan. Immediately after their set, the entire band came into the audience from backstage so that they could all say hello to their family and friends who came to watch their performance. It was a super sweet moment to witness all the hugs, love, and support.
Ginger Root
This was the second time I’ve covered Ginger Root for UCR, but also the third time I’ve seen Ginger Root perform, the first time being when the band was playing at Kilby Block Party in 2024. Every Ginger Root performance I’ve seen has been stellar, from the storyline to the actively moving cameraman on stage, creating an engaging show. Ginger Root’s performances are some of the most fun I’ve seen in the last couple of years.
Ginger Root, with lead singer Cameron Lew, came out onto the stage and was met by massive cheers from the crowd. Lew is a fan favorite of the SLC crowds. In true Ginger Root fashion, the band came out silently with a comedic set of slides on the screens saying that “We are the openers for the night” and “we will play for 40~ minutes”.
After playing the song “Karaoke,” Lew said, “How many of you were aware of Ginger Root before coming in today? Wow! I can safely say that is 25 times more than we played in Seattle yesterday. So thanks for hanging out. For those up there, those in the front, those in the back, those who don’t know what’s going on, I want to introduce you to the other half of Ginger Root, It’s not just the music, it’s also visuals, it’s a whole storyline for the latest album, so just pretend like you know what’s going on. This is the introduction to the Ginger Root cinematic universe.”
If you haven’t seen a Ginger Root performance before, there is a whole storyline to the latest album where Lew gets fired from a production company and decides to create his own. The music is tied to this cinematic universe, and each music video is an episode of the story that makes up the album. It’s super cool and creative, so I encourage people to watch as it’s an interesting way to interact with the music.”
Ginger Root’s retro-feel had crowds in Utah wanting more; the crowd was even chanting “One more song!” at the end of the set. From the wired telephone microphone to the pink flip phone that Lew used to record a video, adding to the storyline. Ginger Root is always a performance to remember.
Japanese Breakfast
The lead singer of Japanese Breakfast, Michelle Zauner, ran out onto a darkened stage with a vintage-looking lantern and a lighter. When she lit it, the whole stage lit up in warm orange lights, highlighting the wave cutouts on the sides of the stage and giant pink seashell platform towards the back of the stage. After playing a few songs while sitting inside the shell, Zauner said, “It’s so crazy there are so many of you here. We’ve come a long way from the many years that we have passed through playing Kilby Court. Thank you so much for being here. We have a great show planned for you tonight. Suddenly, the flame in the lantern and stage lights started to flicker, “scaring” Zauner. But soon after, a magical, fairy-like audio starts, and then it becomes the intro to “Honey Water”.
The crowd was obsessed with Zauner, with some fans having buttons that said “I heart Michelle Zauner” in the classic “I heart NY” font. There were lots of long-time Japanese Breakfast fans in the crowd, and they cheered wildly when Zauner said, “We’re gonna play some old ones from Kilby Court days! Was anyone here at those Kilby Court days? Thank you so much for sticking around.
Every time we used to play Salt Lake City, we would be driving around in the minivan, and it was always a really, really long drive. And we were always really tired, and the altitude was always messing with us. It was always a day where we wanted to give up, and it was always a night where you guys really, really, showed up for us, and so I just want to thank you for loving music and showing up for that. It means a lot.” Tons of people in the crowd had attended those smaller shows in the past and were excited to see the band play at the sold-out Twilight Series show.
Japanese Breakfast fans screamed the lyrics of the songs like everything in their lives came down to that moment. It was clear that everyone truly felt the lyrics to their core. Others in the crowd were dancing, groups of friends in the back of the crowd were forming huge dance circles, and having the best time. Zauner’s energy hyped the crowd up even more; her fun dancing and encouragement to have the crowd sing and clap along to the beat made the performance very interactive. It was very clear that Zauner was having a ton of fun performing.
Towards the end of the night, Japanese Breakfast played one of their latest hits (popularized because it was the song playing at the end credits of the movie, “Materialists”) titled “My Baby”, another song loved by the crowd. The crowd couldn’t get enough of Japanese Breakfast, asking for one more song even after the encore was over.
