The Crane Wives • Yasmin Williams • June 26, 2026 • The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
The Crane Wives came to the Rockwell at the Complex in Salt Lake City on their Act 2 tour! The crowd was buzzing from the moment the doors opened. Dozens of fans were sprinting to the barricade, excited to be up close and personal with The Crane Wives. While fans went running into the Rockwell, which was quickly filling up, others rushed to the merch line. Which ended up being a huge line both through the opening act along with the line still being full throughout The Crane Wives’ headlining set. The fans were selling out the merch fast in Salt Lake.
Yasmin Williams
To start the show off right, Yasmin Williams took the stage. The fingerstyle guitarist was joined at the beginning of her performance by The Crane Wives drummer, Dan Rickabus. He wanted to introduce Williams to the Salt Lake crowd for the first time ever. The crowd was cheering so loud as Rickabus said, “Hello, beautiful sea of human beings! It is my honor to introduce you to our incredible opening act, Yasmin Williams! It has been almost three weeks of touring with Yasmin, and I got to say what Yasmin does is just totally unique. You’re not going to see or hear anything like this anywhere else.”
The crowd was roaring with excitement to see Williams. Rickabus continued, “So that’s why I like to come and ask you to please give our opening act the same level of attention and dedication that you would for a headlining set. Does that sound good?” The crowd of course, erupted with cheers, already loving Williams before she started to play.
Williams responded to the excitement by saying, “It’s my first time in Salt Lake City. Thank you so much, it’s so nice to see y’all. So Hi! I’m Yasmin Williams, let’s give a huge shout out to The Crane Wives for having me open for them. They are super super cool people, and I am honored to be on this tour!” The crowd was loving Williams already, and the whole front row had their phones out filming the magic she was creating with her guitar.
It was almost a random chance that Williams discovered how she liked to play and perform, sharing this story to the SLC crowd of her musical beginnings: “My brothers got Guitar Hero, you all remember that game? So I was better than them, so I put it in my room, and I beat the game and all the levels and stuff, and that’s what made me want to play a real guitar. How I beat the game is basically how I play now, so let me explain. SO you have a guitar-shaped controller, and it has different color buttons on it, and when the songs are expert, it’s really fast, so what I did was lay it down on my lap and slamming the buttons as quickly as I could. And it worked with my controller in my lap, and it worked on an actual guitar too.”
The crowd was loving this, especially because many members of the audience related to the difficulty and nostalgia of the Guitar Hero series of games. Williams then went on to tap on her fretboard of the guitar, making sounds and notes fill the room. The crowd was wildly impressed, never hearing anything like this before.
Before the end of her set, Williams told the crowd about another few tricks up her sleeve to create her music, using a hammer on the strings, a kalimba taped onto the top of the guitar, and tap shows to help keep a beat. Her fingers elegantly played the strings, creating one of the coolest musical performances the crowd has ever seen.
The Crane Wives
The Crane Wives set was whimsical even from the start. The stage was set as almost a fairy swamp type of setup with lily pads and Cattail cutouts around the stage, adding to the atmosphere. To start the show, the stage went dark until a mysterious figure with a deer mask, top hat, and suit came onto the smoky stage carrying lanterns that they then placed in front of where each of the band members would then be standing. Once the mythical deer left the stage, it lightened up a bit, and the song “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield came over the speaker. The crowd favorite song had everyone bopping along and got them even more excited to have The Crane Wives come onto stage. Once the band started to walk out, the crowd went wild with excitement! It was finally the time they were all waiting for.
Vocalist and guitarist Kate Pillsbury introduced the band to the SLC audience after their first song of the night, “Never Love and Anchor,” by saying, “For those of you who don’t know us, we’re called The Crane Wives. We’re so excited to be back here in Salt Lake City. Thanks for coming out! We’re gonna be playing some new songs, some old songs. We’re gonna do our best to hit everybody’s favorites.” The crowd was, of course, ecstatic for this, excited to hear their favorite songs live and in person.
The Crane Wives definitely missed playing for the Salt Lake City crowd, saying, “It’s good to be back in Salt Lake City! There’s so many of you! A lot has changed in the last couple of years. A lot has changed in the last 16 years. We have been a band for 16 years. We used to travel around the country and play to like a bartender and sound engineer and nobody else. And now, because of the internet, we go to far-away places that y’all come over to see us play in. We’re gonna play some of your favorites tonight. So this next one is called “Allies and Enemies.”
The crowd shouted and cheered about hearing this song so loud it was so magical. Not only was their set magical, but it also brought out so many emotions from the crowd, whether it was sadness and longing, joy, or rage. The crowd was then also dancing, hugging each other, and stomping their feet to the music, truly taking it into themselves.
The Crane Wives had a very special shout-out to Utah Concert Review. Thanking our editor-in-chief, Kevin Rolfe, for the amazing interview with the band. And started to talk with the crowd about how he had them thinking about their very first concert each of the band members ever went to. The Crane Wives were sharing about the sticky floors and exciting show, but the interview also reminded them about how it was probably some of the SLC crowd’s first-ever concert. It was very heartwarming to see how many excited fans had their hands in the air and were shouting how it was their first concert ever.
The angelic voices from The Crane Wives and the storytelling in their songs are unmatched. The whole set, from songs to stage presence, created a whimsical and fairy-like atmosphere, and the crowd loved the world-building. The Crane Wives also did indeed play all of the crowd favorites, including “Curses”, “The Moon Will Sing”, and “Tongues and Teeth”. It was a wonderful and magical night brought by The Crane Wives.
