Kilby Block Party • Day Two Recap • May 16, 2026 • Utah State Fairpark
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
Day two of the Kilby Block Party is the day when festival goers start to hit their stride. Their “festival legs” have been acclimated to walking what turns out to be miles and miles throughout the day. They know where everything is. Bathrooms, food, merch, charging stations, and stages are familiar. All there is to do is take in another great day of music.
Wilbere
Salt Lake City locals, Wilbere, opened up day two of Kilby Block Party with some of their new hits. They drew quite the crowd for one of the first bands of the day! They brought out friends, family, and new fans to the stage to hear some of their unreleased more synth/pop songs.
Kilans
The Kilans put on an amazing set on the Desert Stage. This band, also from Salt Lake City, are recent graduates from the University of Utah. They had the crowd chanting “Go Utes” to show their pride for their accomplishments. Their high-energy set had their fans jumping around and clapping along, and drew in a very large crowd, proving how much they deserved to play that stage! The crowd loved their new song “Cherry Please” and their songs off their upcoming album, which will be released in October. Before ending their set, they told the crowd that playing Kilby Block Party was “A dream come true!” It was a sweet moment to see the success of the local band.
FightMaster
Fightmaster took the Mountain Stage with a powerful presence, commanding the crowd’s attention from the moment lead singer E.R. Fightmaster took the stage. The actor and artist told the KPB crowd that they were “Cute as f*ck,” to which the crowd was awwing at. Fightmaster had the audience dancing along to every single song.
Lyn Lapid
Lyn Lapid had a whole crowd waiting ecstatically for her as she took to the Lake Stage, with many of her fans literally jumping for joy the second they saw her performing. The ethereal sound of her vocals and melodies is very reminiscent of Laufey and Suki Waterhouse. Lapid shared with the KBP crowd that she’s been working on her sophomore album, called “As Good As Dead,” along with asking someone from the crowd to come up on stage and be her “Poster Boy” for her Salt Lake City set.
A guy named Mattew excitedly came up onto the stage to be that poster boy, during the song “Poster Boy,” where it’s an interactive bit of the show that’s been circulating on social media for some time now, and created a memorable moment for Mattew and the crowd.
Jane Remover
Jane Remover had the crowd moshing and crowd surfing all around the rodeo arena at the Mountain Stage. The rapper ran out onto the stage with a high-energy set, pumping up the crowd and had them screaming along.
Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller was very grateful to be playing the legendary Kilby Block Party again and glad to see some old friends from SLC. The crowd was definitely excited to see Kweller perform, with a bunch of people sprinting over to see him play. Not only was the crowd watching him perform, but on the side stage, artist Briston Maroney and influencer Emma Chamberlain were watching his set. The indie-rock performance perfectly captured the vibes of the Kilby Block Party.
There was another familiar face that was a part of this show. Turns out Ben’s bassist is none other than actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse. You may be more familiar with his infamous character’s name in the 2007 comedy, Superbad, the one and only McLovin. It made me wonder what other familiar faces were among us.
Briston Maroney
The “Small Talks” artist Briston Maroney had an energetic performance to which Maroney had proudly said was his first show being completely sober in a while, and how much more he was enjoying it. After seeing a Kermit the Frog puppet in the audience, Maroney had said “I want our energy to be chosen by that amphibian right there”. It was a funny and silly moment that captured the spontaneous energy that KBP is all about. Maroney also shared that his dad was in the crowd watching the KBP performance, and had the camera people show the dad on the big screens to say hi! It was very sweet. Not only did the band play all of their hits, but they also played a cover of “Champagne Nova,” originally by Oasis.
The Last Dinner Party
The Last Dinner Party drew a crowd so large that they could have been a headliner! The operatic vocals from lead singer, Abigail Morris, and the high energy the band had the crowd singing along and dancing to every song. The indie, English rock band had traveled a long way to play KPB. The crowd had definitely been excited to see them play in Salt Lake.
The stage presence that The Last Dinner Party carried through their performance was immaculate, really giving the crowd a burst of energy. At one point in their set, Morris jumped down into the pit to go hold onto the fans as she was singing, to which the already excited fans were losing their minds, rushing to get as close to her as possible!
The Moss
Kilby Block Party was the final stop on the 6-week tour of The Moss. To which the homegrown band had said that “Salt Lake City had always treated us well”. A little game of Simon Says at the beginning of their set had gotten the crowd up and moving, dancing, and bopping their heads to the beat. “Kilby is such a great place, it’s great to be playing here,” lead singer Tyke James shared, before bringing out his sister to play violin for a couple of their songs. It was a very sweet moment to watch the siblings play together.
Alex G
Alex G drew quite the crowd to his set on the Lake Stage. Even with his more somber and mellow songs, there were crowd surfers galore loving the songs. Alex G shared that he was “Happy to be here” and thanked the crowd for coming out to see them play. The crowd loved hearing the songs “Advice” and “Sarah.” I especially loved it when he played “Harvey” after there were a couple of people in the audience holding up signs asking for the song.
The XX
It may have been the first time in 8 years that The XX has played together as a band, but they had one of the strongest comebacks I’ve seen from a band. The London-based rock band had the crowd swaying from side to side and jumping up and down all night long. The XX were very grateful to be playing Kilby Block Party, and told the crowd, “The view from the stage is beautiful, thank you Salt Lake”. It was clear that they were glad to be playing shows again, both as a band and performing to an audience.
The XX consists of singers and guitarists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, with percussionist Jamie XX. Their slightly more techno rock set had people bouncing all around, absolutely loving their set, and the vocal power that came from Croft and Sim had the crowd singing and cheering along to every word and song.
The production of the set from The XX was next level, the camera work of the camera team was energetic and helped pump up the crowd, and the lighting design added a whole other visual element to the performance. The stage matched the band’s vibes perfectly, adding to the aesthetic the band created through their music. Fans of all ages were excited to watch The XX play, whether they had been listening for years or had just started to listen. It was a great way to close out night 2 of Kilby Block Party 2026.
