Ogden Twilight • Band of Horses • Blind Pilot • July 30, 2025 • Ogden Amphitheater
Reviewed and Photographed by Marlo Matamoros
Band of Horses performed at the Ogden Amphitheater with Wet World and Blind Pilot on July 30th. I was really excited to cover this show. I have been a fan of their music for a while but have yet to see them live. In 2008, my favorite artist, Kid Cudi, released his debut mixtape. This mixtape includes a song titled “The Prayer,” which is a sample of “The Funeral” by Band of Horses. Through this mixtape, I discovered the band, which led me to purchase Everything All The Time on vinyl.
In a Pitchfork interview, Kid Cudi mentioned that he was supposed to get into the studio with the Band of Horses. Ben Bridwell, frontman of the band commented and said “We’re psyched about the possibility of working with Cudi. We haven’t had a chance to discuss anything yet, but I’m all for it. I love what he did with our melody on [Cudi mixtape track] ‘The Prayer’, and super humbled he’d even use a bit of the vocal. I hadn’t up to that point heard any shit so real. Or since.”
Blind Pilot
It was a warm day, and I arrived just in time to photograph Blind Pilot’s set. The streets were filled with fans walking to the amphitheater. When I walked into the entrance, I noticed there were already tons of fans enjoying the food and drinks provided by the many vendors inside the venue. Blind Pilot started in Oregon and has since expanded the number of group members. Their music has been on the Billboard 200, has been played on The Late Show with David Letterman, at Lollapalooza, and has been featured on TV shows such as One Tree Hill.
As I prepared in the pit, I noticed how packed the VIP area began to get. I overheard a fan talking to a friend, mentioning that Blind Pilot is one of his favorite bands. The stage began to fill with smoke as Blind Pilot walked out on stage. The crowd cheered as they began playing “Packed Powder” and “One Red Thread”. Blind Pilot had supporters show up for them as they sang every lyric from the crowd.
One thing that I had noticed from their set was the variety of instruments being played on stage. They had positive energy throughout their set, supported by smiles from the band. After I photographed the first three songs, I headed back towards the lawn to get a feel of the crowd and to see their reaction. People were dancing from all ages on the lawn as Blind Pilot continued their set. You could tell that Blind Pilot was excited to be on stage performing here in Utah. Lead singer Israel Nebeker told everyone to have a good time and to enjoy Band of Horses as the band exited the stage. Shoutout to Blind Pilot for including Utah in their song “The Story I Heard”.
Band of Horses
Besides Band of Horses having a big influence on my favorite artist, they have done a lot for music and the industry. They have also performed on TV, had their music played in a variety of TV shows, and have toured around the world performing in countries such as New Zealand and Japan. We have been fortunate to have them perform in Utah recently. It was time to get my equipment ready for Band of Horses.
I remember hoping that they would play “Funeral” early on. The crowd cheered as Band of Horses hit the stage. The first three songs they performed while I was photographing are also big hits and known here in Utah, titled “Is There A Ghost” and “The Great Salt Lake”, which is another song off the same album as “The Funeral”. I recently learned that the song “The Great Salt Lake” has no relation to the Great Salt Lake here in Utah.
In an interview, Ben Bridwell talked about the song and said, “[‘The Great Salt Lake’] isn’t about the Great Salt Lake at all, it’s about Lake Murray,” Bridwell laughs. “A lot of the imagery is about South Carolina, combined with some incidents we heard about from some hilarious f-ups we knew from Salt Lake City.” Regardless of whether the crowd in Ogden knew that the song wasn’t about our lake that night, it didn’t matter because the lyrics could still be heard throughout the amphitheater.
As their set continued, fans started to move closer to the stage. Smiles filled the crowd, there was a positive energy that could be heard and felt, and you could tell that the Band of Horses were happy to be on stage sharing their music with Utah. It was finally time for the band to perform “The Funeral”. The night sky was out at this point, and the cell phones were ready to record this performance.
If you haven’t been to a show at the Ogden Amphitheater, I highly recommend it. It is a unique experience, and when bands like this are set to perform, they add so much to that experience. Hopefully, we get more of Wet World, Blind Pilot, and the Band of Horses here in Utah soon.