Relive the Utah Concert Experience!
By: Kevin Rolfe
November 30, 2018, was a historic night for Vivint Smart Home Arena. Not only did Metallica make their return to the venue, and Utah, after a ten-year absence, but they also set the arena’s post-renovation attendance record with 17,574 fans showing up for the concert. And I believe it! I don’t think I’ve seen that place so packed!
Continue reading “Metallica November 30, 2018 Vivint Arena Salt Lake City”
By: Kevin Rolfe
We really classed things up over here at Utah Concert Review last night. Vivint Smart Home Arena was transformed into an opera house, and we attended Andrea Bocelli’s first ever concert in Utah. He has such a strong fan base here in Utah that it was surprising that he had never played here before. Well, it was well worth the wait. Bocelli’s fans were out in full force packing the arena for their favorite tenor’s debut in Utah.
Before I get into the concert itself, I have to mention some things about the audience and the venue. While I enjoy attending concerts at Vivint Smart Home Arena the sound isn’t always the best. It’s just the way the venue was built. Some tours come through and the sound techs can’t figure out how to mix this venue. Other times it’s passable and the show is so good no one cares. And other times the sound is good. I was concerned because of the type of show Andrea Bocelli puts on. It’s opera. It’s the type of music that is usually performed in halls created with the greatest acoustics you’ll find anywhere. But I have to hand it to whoever did the sound at this show. As far as shows go at Vivint Arena, this was one of the best I’ve heard.
Now, with opera being performed, this show is an upscale event. A certain decorum and style are expected as such events. But it’s difficult because we’re all walking into a venue where basketball is played, and Metallica is performing the next night. If you’re going to the Capitol Theater to see The Magic Flute, I think you know it’s the type of show where you throw on your best suit or dress. But I think this audience got the idea. People were dressed to the nines! I saw slick suits and fancy gowns all throughout the arena. I saw furs (hopefully synthetic, or really really old!) and ascots. This audience was gussied up! And for whatever reason, that made me really happy.
Continue reading “Andrea Bocelli November 29, 2018 Vivint Arena Salt Lake City”
By: Kevin Rolfe
I have never seen Lindsey Stirling perform live before Monday night. Well, now that I think about it, that’s not really true. I, like many of you, saw Lindsey for the first time at a halftime of a Utah Jazz game. She was then known as the “Hip Hop Violinist”. I can’t remember if it was before or after her quarterfinal run on season five of “America’s Got Talent”. But I would never have guessed the worldwide success she’s achieved since then. Not that I didn’t she had talent. I just can’t remember seeing someone perform at a halftime of a NBA game, then seeing them at a show they’re headlining. I’ve been really happy for her success. It seems she’s worked hard for it, and the work has paid off. Lindsey brought her Wanderland Holiday Tour to the Maverik Center on Monday night. It was a show filled with heart, humor and holiday cheer.
Continue reading “Lindsey Stirling Wanderland Tour November 26, 2018 Maverik Center”
By: Kevin Rolfe
Thirty-four years ago today, the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid was released. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof saw a report on the BBC about the famine in Africa and desperately wanted to help. He recruited Ultravox frontman, Midge Ure, to write a song with him in the hopes of raising $100,000 for famine relief. They wrote the song in a few days, and then they took to their individual assignments in getting this project off the ground.
Midge locked himself in the studio, recording, arranging, and producing the track so that it would be ready when the time came to add vocals. That was Geldof’s job. Bob Geldof went on a mission to form a one-off supergroup by recruiting some of the biggest voices in British music of the day. He didn’t go through managers or publicists. He went straight to the artists themselves. He recruited the likes of Bono of U2, Boy George of Culture Club, Simon Lebon of Duran Duran, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, and George Michael of Wham. These vocalists along with many others agreed to show up and record this song over a 24 hour period. The song was recorded and released the very next day. It was the fastest selling single in UK chart history selling 1 million copies in the first week and has sold almost 4 million copies in the UK to date and about 13 million worldwide. The song did not raise $100,000 dollars. However, within a year of its release, the song had raised $8 million. The success of the song drove Geldof and Ure to put together one of the greatest concert festivals of all time, Live Aid. Continue reading “UCR mini-Interview: Midge Ure on “Do They Know it’s Christmas””
By Kevin Rolfe
You know when you walk into a venue and there’s a sign taped to every door warning of lasers, flashing lights, and pyrotechnics, that you’re in store for quite an experience. And what an experience it was! Trans-Siberian Orchestra is celebrating their twentieth anniversary, but from the looks of things, there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Continue reading “Trans Siberian Orchestra November 20, 2018 Vivint Arena Salt Lake City”
Interview By: Kevin Rolfe
Note from the interviewer:
Justin is a singer songwriter from Aptos, California. He has been performing in bands for years, but it’s only within the last decade that he’s taken to writing/ recording his own music and performing solo shows or with his band The Heavy Hand along the west coast. I’ve known Justin for over twenty years. These are questions and stories that I have wondered about and am now so happy to have answers to. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I had conducting it!
Utah Concert Review: As long as I’ve known you, you’ve been involved with music, whether it be with your former band Moz Eizley, or your current band The Heavy Hand and of course your solo work as well. I guess I’ve never known where you got started with music. I know your dad plays a little guitar and is in a band right now. Is that how you got your start?
By: Kevin Rolfe
If I had to describe Friday night at The Commonwealth Room in three words, I’d have to say, Passionate, Energetic, and Emotional. The Alarm pulled no punches in their return to Salt Lake City. I was exhausted after the show, and I didn’t even perform! I don’t know how Mike Peters and the gang perform at that high a level night in and night out.
The Alarm opened their set with one of their many hit songs, “Rain in the Summertime”. It may as well have been the encore the way the crowd was roaring. They didn’t miss a beat with “Beautiful”, a song off of their latest album Equals, followed by “Strength”. I was impressed at just how well their new song fit with a couple of their classic favorites.
Continue reading “The Alarm November 2, 2018 The Commonwealth Room Salt Lake City”
By: Justin Hicken w/ contributions by Hannah Spencer
Photo By: Kevin Rolfe
While they easily could have played to a much larger sold-out venue, The Goo Goo Dolls chose to keep things intimate Thursday night November 1st at The Depot in Salt Lake City. The 1,200 person-capacity room was the choice for The Goo Goo Dolls and it was extremely cozy. The Depot was jam packed! Chillier temperatures have hit Utah, and while it was tricky to stay warm in line outside The Depot, things really warmed up once you got inside the venue, and especially when the band took the stage.
Continue reading “Goo Goo Dolls November 1, 2018 The Depot Salt Lake City”
Interview by: Kevin Rolfe
If you were to write a screenplay using only actual events from the life of Mike Peters, a Hollywood exec would turn it down and say that it was too unbelievable. The man has had an amazing career with his band The Alarm, fought through the challenges of an aging band in a youth driven music industry, and most importantly, overcome cancer three times. Mike has co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation, the worlds leading rock and roll cancer foundation. They host bone marrow screening drives at concerts across the world hoping to “Save Lives, once concert at a time!”. Along with Jules, his wife/ bandmate and fellow cancer survivor, Mike joins forces with Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms, and Billy Duffy of The Cult to climb to some of the highest peaks in the world to perform the world’s highest concerts on land. They are now taking their treks to the great canyons of the world. This past week they took part in Love Hope Strength Foundation’s Rock The Canyons fundraising event where they hiked through Sedona’s Red Rock State Park, along the famous Bright Angel Trail and the South Kaibab Trail then continuing to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. I was able to catch up with Mike just after this event. We speak about his adventure in Southern Utah, and he shares many career spanning stories. Enjoy!
By: Kevin Rolfe
The last time Noah Kahan was in Utah he opened for George Ezra. Just five months later, Noah played his own headlining, sold out show at The State Room. Things are really starting to happen for Noah and you could feel it in the crowd, and in his performance on Tuesday night.
The room went dark, and above the stage “Noah Kahan” appeared in neon lights. The audience roared and got louder still when Noah appeared from backstage. It seemed difficult for Noah to hide how much he enjoyed the applause. He might not have been trying. Can’t say I blame him. I would be smiling ear to ear if a sold out venue was cheering for me like that.
Continue reading “Noah Kahan October 23, 2018 The State Room Salt Lake City”