Drive-By Truckers • Deer Tick • Thelma and The Sleaze • June 17, 2025 • Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
In the warm summer air, surrounded by mountains and good vibes Drive-by Truckers played at Red Butte Garden Amphitheater. They are currently on the Charm & Decadence Tour with Deer Tick, and Thelma and The Sleaze. The last time we were set to see them at Red Butte Garden Amphitheater there was a crazy downpour and the show had to be canceled. With the sunny skies and warm temps, we knew we were going to have a show. A great show at that.
Thelma and The Sleaze
The all female rocker group Thelma and the Sleaze engaged the crowd from the moment they stepped onto the stage. Their headbanging performance had the crowd clapping along to their songs and jamming out throughout their set.
The audience was definitely matching their energy after lead singer and guitarist, Lauren Gilbert, said “This is the beginning of what will be a magical, exceptional, night of music for you in Salt Lake City. First off all i want to put you mother f*ckers to work, I want you… exactly exactly. I didn’t even have to say anything to these guys in the straw hats; they just knew what to do. Yeah make it clap Salt Lake… Oh hell yeah. I just know that in my heart if yall clap hard enough that my lord and savior Tanya Tucker can maybe hear it from her ranch in Texas, what a beautiful thought Utah!”
Thelma and the Sleaze, originally from Nashville, Tennessee, has been playing off and on since 2010, having released two albums together and a handful of EPs and singles. Before playing the song “Hot Steam” Gilbert shared “Hey we’re going to do a song right now about a crackhead roommate I had from Chattanooga, now that’s not to say that everyone from Chattanooga is a crackhead. I like Chattanooga, it’s nice” The audience laughed at this comment and loved the song. The crowd loved Thelma and the Sleaze, they were a great choice to open up the night.
Deer Tick
Deer Tick was instantly a new favorite band for the crowd, with some people even going over to the merch tent to go pick up a Deer Tick t-shirt midway through their set because they liked the band so much. Deer Tick was a great segway in between Thelma and the Sleaze and Drive-by Truckers. Their music combined rock elements of Thelma and the Sleaze and the folky elements of the Drive-By Truckers.
The guitarist John J. McCauley said, “I wanna thank Thelma and the Sleaze for opening up the show tonight and each and every night of this tour, they are awesome. You know who else is awesome? They’ll be up next, the Drive-By Truckers! But for right now you’re stuck with the meat and cheese between the two slices of bread, called Deer Tick” The audience appreciated the comparison to a sandwich almost as much as Deer Tick’s music.
Deer Tick loves to play in Utah saying how they will definitely go enjoy some Red Iguana later after the show, and how the crowd is great here. McCauley also shared how his ten-year old daughter helped the venue staff catch a snake before the doors opened. This made for a funny moment and had everyone feeling so happy to be out in nature hearing this incredible music.
Before playing a few more songs the band shared, “we got a couple of older ones. We’ve been a band for a while, our band turns 21 this year.” This made the crowd cheer very loudly as that’s a very long time for a band to stay together consistently. As Deer Tick’s set went on, more and more of the crowd was up on their feet and dancing along to the songs. The whole band was clearly having fun on stage both performing to the audience as well as just hanging out with each other. They were all cracking inside jokes and all very in sync with each other while performing.
Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers had the crowd dancing all night long. People were clapping along to the songs, singing along to their favorites, and a group of girls in the back of the crowd were swaying along with their flashlights out every time the songs slowed down. Drive-By Truckers lyrics about current day issues with their backing music really had the crowd fired up. One song in particular that the crowd loved was “Buttholeville and State Strooper”. The entire crowd was on their feet dancing along. The storytelling through the songs had the crowd really feeling the emotions of the songs and invested in the tales.
If Deer Tick’s age wasn’t impressive enough, the lead singer of Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood, shared, “About a week and a half or so we celebrated our 29th birthday as a band! Happy birthday Drive-by Truckers! Everyone said we wouldn’t make it past 27 but f*ck all of those people that said that, were 29 now!” This had the audience cheering wildly, before Hood followed this up by saying,
“Anyway our band started off as like, I wrote a bunch of songs, and I had this kinda evil plan to try to put together this band and play em. I saved up some money, to buy some studio time, at Andy Baker’s little studio in Athens, Georgia. 200 dollars and ordered a pizza and a case of beer, and had the people who were my dream band at the time. That included Cooley (guitarist), who I played with 3 bands already and I was trying to lure him back in and it included some folks in Athens that he had never met and we all just kinda met and recorded 5 songs that day. This was the first song we recorded, the very first Drive-by Truckers song, and I urge you to sing along if you know the words.”
The audience definitely did know the words and sang them loudly to the performance of “Bull Dozers in Dirt”.
Drive-By Truckers’ performance was so much fun to members of the audience, and it was clear the band was grateful to be able to perform in Salt Lake City, Utah. They changed some of their lyrics to be Utah specific and posted to their instagram their love of Red Iguana as well. At the end of the night, the stars could be seen across the sky as Drive-by Truckers ended off their set by singing “A World of Hurt” and taking a group bow and thanking the audience.
