Kilby Block Party Day 2 Recap • May 16, 2025 • Utah State Fairpark
Reviewed and Photographed by Kevin Rolfe
After a memorably epic day one at Kilby Block Party, I wondered how the rest of the festival would hold up compared to what I had witnessed. Day one was the lineup I was the most excited about. My anticipation for that date was overwhelming. It was such an incredible experience. The thing I have learned since KBP has been in our lives is this festival does not disappoint.
As I’ve mentioned many times, I love how well-organized this festival is. There are so many things that I’m sure go unnoticed that make this festival as pleasant an experience as it is. Not only in infrastructure and that kind of boring stuff, but how well they put the lineup together. While I knew and looked forward to multiple bands on day one. I was excited to see a few bands I liked while having the opportunity to discover some great bands that I had up to this point been unfamiliar with.
Built To Spill
I was really excited to see Hovvdy and Perfume Genius, but as things go sometimes, I wasn’t able to make it to the Utah State Fairpark in time. Despite my disappointment, I was glad to be back at KBP. From all the people I asked, both bands put on great sets.
Built to Spill put on a strong mid-day indie rock set. Doug Martsch, band founder and guitarist sounded great. Teresa Esguerra was steady and impressive on drums. Melanie Radford was the most entertaining to watch on the stage. Her high-energy performance had the crowd going.
The audience enjoyed the band from Boise Idaho. Songs like “Big Dipper”, “Twin Falls” and “Broken Chairs” had the crowd engaged with every word and beat. I had never seen Built to Spill live until this point. They were a great addition to the KBP lineup.
hey, nothing
The fun part about rushing from one stage to the next in order to photograph every band I possibly could, was running into people I’ve known throughout my life. Friends from old jobs, friends of my sister, friends from my hometown were all over the fairgrounds. I was surprised to see that happen to me, but to other people attending. It felt like every time I walked over to another stage I’d hear someone saying, “Hey didn’t we go to high school together?” or “Aren’t you so and so’s friend?”. Who knew Kilby Block Party was the place to reconnect with so many people?
I stopped by the Mountain Stage and caught a bit of hey, nothing’s set. This was a band I was unfamiliar with. But I enjoyed what I heard, and they clearly have a solid fan base. The attendance and participation during their set was strong.
Car Seat Headrest
Car Seat Headrest was a band I had never seen before. When I saw they were on the Kilby lineup, I marked them as a band I was determined to see. As I awaited their arrival to the Lake Stage, fans in the pit told me that I was in for a great show. I enjoy their music and was excited to get to hear how they sounded live.
The band took the stage, but before Car Seat Headrest played a note, a masked Will Toledo, (lead singer and guitarist) addressed the crowd. He basically encouraged the audience to be respectful to one another. To have fun, but to look out for each other. It made me wonder if fans sometimes got too rambunctious at their shows and he had to regulate. The audience cheered in agreement and their set was underway.
Car Seat Headrest opened their set with “CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You). This was great choice for a set opener. Their fans were so into it. You’d think it was the last song of the set. I heard one fan yell out “Killer set opener!”. I’d have to agree. “Drunk Drivers/ Killer Whales” was another song that had people feeling the music. People were swaying and singing along. Another fan exclaimed, “My head is so rested right now!”. Is that a thing Car Seat Headrest fans say? Or did this guy just make that up? Either way, I thought it was pretty great.
Car Seat Headrest has put out some really good music over the past 15 years. I’m glad I finally got to see them. I hope they keep coming back to Utah. From what I can tell they have a large fanbase here. They were one of the major highlights for me on day two.
Slowdive
Do you ever hear a band and think, “I love these guys. I’ll definitely be listening to more of them.”? You think you’re going to become a big fan and somehow, they slip through the cracks and you don’t spend as much time on them as you thought you would? Well that’s the case with me and Slowdive. I remember hearing them and feeling like I would for sure become one of their biggest fans. For whatever reason I missed out on years of enjoying these guys. When they took the Kilby Stage for their 6:50 PM set, I first regretted not listening to them more over the years, and second becoming very excited to get to spend the next hour being reminded of how great they are.
Slowdive opened with “shanty”. Their shoegaze music style on full display right off the bat had the audience entranced. Rachel Goswell’s voice was delightful. That along with her bright royal blue dress and bleach blonde hair drew attention from the crowd immediately. Nick Chaplin on bass had a captivating stage presence. There’s a lot I can say about Neil Halstead musically. But I think my takeaway was wondering if I could ever pull off a mustache as well as him. The answer is no. He was meant for that stache, and that stache was meant for him.
The audience seemed to really perk up when 1991’s, “Catch the Breeze” was played. It seemed as if they were taken back to a certain place and time in their lives when they heard the song. It was immediately obvious that this was going to be a good set. Slowdive sounded outstanding. The visual effects only added to what we were hearing. It was all so good.
I’m not sure if this British band frequents Utah on their tours. If so, well then I’ve really missed out. If not, they need to come back soon.
Vacations
If there is a negative to Kilby Block Party, and there aren’t many, it would be, So many bands, So little time! There are so many bands and so many options. While KBP does a great job of spacing the bands out to where you can catch as many as possible, some did fall through the cracks for me. One of them was Vacations. I stopped by for the end of their set. I wished I had seen the whole thing because they were one of the bands that really impressed me. I liked what I heard and I hope I get to hear more of it again.
Youth Lagoon
I also didn’t get much time to see Youth Lagoon over on the Desert Stage. They had a cool sound and they brought a solid crowd over to the stage to see them. I’m assuming they’re a band on the rise and someone to pay attention to.
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was the band I wanted to see. Reunited after 15 years! That’s exciting in itself. But I remember seeing that they were added to the Kilby lineup. I was determined to see them. When bands go on hiatus or break up, you never know if they’ll reunite. And when bands do reunite you never do know how long it’ll last. So I wanted to see them at Kilby Block Party so I could finally say I saw them and check them off the list.
Now, lead vocalist Jenny Lewis is no stranger to the Kilby Block Party. She actually joined us last year. Not only was she in the lineup last year, but she was the headliner as part of another reunited band, The Postal Service. They were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album Give Up. It was great to have her back.
Rilo Kiley opened their set with “The Execution of All Things”. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see a band perform after they’ve been away for a long time, I hope you get it. There is something special about being in that moment. Hearing songs live when you weren’t sure you’d get that experience again. The looks on the faces in the crowd told me all I needed to know about how meaningful this set was to them.
The band sounded excellent. They could have played another hour. I hope they stick together and come back to SLC on their own tour. I’ve seen Jenny Lewis perform as a solo artist multiple times. Her concerts are so good. So I knew this would be a good set. But the nostalgia of a band and their music is hard to beat. This was my highlight of day two. Rilo Kiley was excellent.
Beach House
It was hard to believe that day two of Kilby Block Part was coming to an end. The weather for the most part held up. Temperatures dropped as the sun went down but I never felt like it was too cold. And any threats of rain were more like mild mist than anything too severe. With all the other bands done with their sets, festival attendees turned their attention to the Kilby Stage for the day two headliner, Beach House.
The music box melody of “Lazuli” began and the crowd went wild. The atmospheric tones of Beach House moved through the audience and people seemed instantly moved. A normally aggressive photo pit seemed to be memorized if for a moment by the music. Victoria Legrand’s vocals were as smooth as always. I wasn’t sure what I was in store for with Beach House. I enjoy their music, but what would it be like in a live setting? The subtleties of their live performance made for a special headlining set.
If you were expecting a high-energy performance like that of a rock concert or an EDM show, then you may have not known where to place your energy. Beach House is backlit pretty much the entire concert. You rarely see their faces. It’s silhouettes for days on that stage. They don’t say a lot. They’re not out there yelling, “How’re you doing SLC???” That’s not their way. But if you allowed yourself to become part of the show and internalize the music, there was no way you wouldn’t have come out of that set not feeling fulfilled.
Now if you were worried that this wouldn’t be like a regular concert, have no fear. Even in a more mellow ambient concert apparently there are still those who can disrupt a show. Beach House stopped the concert during their performance of “Somewhere Tonight”. I was not close to the incident. So I don’t know if it was a medical thing or if someone was being aggressive and disruptive. From the tone I took from Legrand’s voice, it sounded like someone was causing problems. Things were straightened out rather quickly and the show proceeded without further incident.
Day two of Kilby Block Party was a day of discovery, rediscovery, and reunion. I loved learning about new bands. Rediscovering old bands I had forgotten and seeing the reunion of an old favorite is something I will definitely remember. If you put together a one day festival and the lineup was just day two of KBP, people would be rushing to buy tickets. I’m glad I got to be there. On to day three! Weezer!!!
