Author: UCR

Luke Grimes • Carter Faith • December 13, 2024 • The Complex

Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall

The Complex was filled with cowboy hats and stopping cowboy boots when Luke Grimes and Carter Faith took the stage on December 13^th, 2024.

Carter Faith  

The up-and-coming Carter Faith started the show with a bang, immediately causing the crowd to be shouting and swaying about. The North Carolinian moved to Nashville after college to pursue country music and was met with overwhelming success. Faith was named as “the future of the next 10 years of Nashville” by the Whisky Jam founder (a music venue in Nashville that hosts artists before they become household names) along with being named a “Rookie of the Month” by Billboard in March of 2022. Spotify also put Faith on their “Hot Country Artists to Watch” list, a huge accomplishment. 

Carter Faith’s energy warmed the crowd in a dreamy manner. The flow of her dress and songbird voice were immaculate, adding to the atmosphere of her performance. Funnily enough, Faith said that she wrote one of her most popular songs, “Lasso,” while watching the TV show Yellowstone, which made the crowd laugh as the headliner for the night, Luke Grimes, played a major role in the show. 

The song “Grudge” also really got the crowd moving, based on how “When you live in a small town, word gets around… and every time after you find out, you’re going to find out about it” stated Faith, while also prefacing the song with how “It’s a joke y’all, Jesus has a sense of humor” this song had the crowd cheering and singing along by the end. The  passionate Carter Faith opened the night wonderfully, bringing a level of energy to the  crowd for Luke Grimes 

Luke Grimes  

Luke Grimes came out on stage met with excited cheers from the audience, with the stage  completely dark, Grimes began to play “Innerbloom Intro”. As the song ended, all the lights  came up in warm reds and oranges, and Grimes asked how the crowd was doing. He was  met with enthusiastic shouts and cheers, just before saying how “the crowd seems so  supportive” and he’s so grateful to be able to play for the audience tonight. 

Grimes grew up in Ohio, before moving to New York to pursue acting. Through the years he has had many roles on various TV shows and movies, however, the one that most of the crowd at the concert knew of was “Yellowstone”. While a very popular show, he probably drew a few more fans to the Complex since a few seasons of the television show were filmed in Utah. During the concert, Grimes said “How Salt Lake was a second home for a while, I did a lot of work out here. We were in Park City for this little TV show I did for a bit. I  really miss this part of the world” meaning when he was out here filming “Yellowstone”.  

While performing, Grimes had this warm and inviting energy that he brought to the stage.  Even during his “slow and sad” acoustic set, he brough this passion and warm nature to the  forefront of his performance. The crowd was swaying along to the music the whole show,  and there were even a few couples in the crowd slow dancing to the songs. 

The majority of the songs played during the show were from Grimes’ debut album “Luke  Grimes” which was released earlier this year. Before the song “Black Powder” Grimes said how this was a good dancing song, and he wasn’t wrong, the whole crowd was dancing and jumping along. In the middle of the song, Grimes also took a minute to introduce the band,  even saying “how sorry he was to the ladies in the audience as his bassist was taken, as he recently got married a few weeks ago, how the only thing thicker than his groove was his mustache, in regards to his drummer. Along with how his right-hand man and guitarist has  the fastest fingers in the world.” Grimes also said “how much he appreciates the band and  how they make him look good every weekend”  

Before the end of the night, Grimes said how he had one more song and told the crowd  “Thank you for being so supportive and coming out tonight” and how “sometimes I just  have to look around and pinch myself because he can’t believe this is happening.” He then left the stage seemingly for the end of the night until the crowd begged him to come out and play one more song. Grimes excitedly ran back onto the stage and stated how the encore is his favorite part of the night because it made everyone turn around and come back to see the final song. That night, his final song ended up being a cover of the Nirvana song “All  Apologies” which caused the crowd to go wild.