Saint Motel | Oliver Hazard | March 28, 2025 | The Depot
Reviewed and Photographed by Sam Howard
Friday nights are always a sacred time of the week. It’s the beginning of the weekend, and for most people, it can be the end of a long and hard week. On the night of March 28th, this particular Friday night, the place to be was at The Depot to catch Saint Motel on their Symphony in the Sky tour. With a sold-out show and plenty of fans lining up early to get into the show, there were already signs of this being a fantastic show before the doors even opened. Once doors opened at 7 PM sharp, it wasn’t long until the venue was completely filled. This was going to be a night to remember.
Oliver Hazard
Starting off the show, about an hour after doors opened, was Oliver Hazard. This indie-folk trio, based out of Ohio, took the stage and began their blend of lighthearted granola sounds that make up their music. As the set began, it was very clear that the lead singer, Mike Belazis, loved to address the crowd, giving them fun facts about songs, silly anecdotes about the instruments they played (like the suitcase drum, or the four string guitar), and opportunities for the crowd to sing along with them, even though not all of them may have known the lyrics.
It was the third song that they played that really stuck with me. They introduced it as the first song that the band ever wrote together. They started the song by telling the crowd to do a little yelp, like in the recorded version, then they went right in to playing “Caesar Knows.” From the introduction to the playing of the song, it was clear that they were proud of this piece of art that got them their start. It was this same energy that poured over into the crowd, along with the tight harmonies and sweet melodies of their songs. At one point they even sang Happy Birthday to their singer, Mike, and the crowd made it feel like a very special moment on stage.
Moving through their set, the crowd couldn’t get enough, but eventually, it neared the end of their performance. Ending their performance with their song “Dandelion,” it was a nice surprise, both to the crowd and the band, as this was the song that almost everyone in the crowd knew. With a beautiful ending, it was clear that the crowd wanted more from Oliver Hazard and would welcome them back with open arms. Oliver Hazard is a band whose sounds need to be played with the windows down in the car while driving up the canyon. A sound like theirs and with how the crowd responded, I would love to see Oliver Hazard come back and headline The Depot.
Saint Motel
Now that Oliver Hazard had ended their set, up next was the headliner, and the reason everyone was spending their sacred Friday night at The Depot, Saint Motel. About two minutes before the set was about to start, a voice came over the sound system. It was a narrator letting the crowd know that the show would begin in two minutes. With a funny reaction from the crowd, some cursing the voice as it faked them out, the crowd was on the edge of their metaphorical seats. Finally, the lights turned off, and the narrator came back and announced to the stage our headliner.
One by one, band members took the stage and began playing a medley of sounds until, finally, the frontman, AJ Jackson, joined them with a conductor’s baton in hand. He greeted the crowd as they went wild at the sight of the band, then he turned to face the screen behind them, where a silhouette of string players was portrayed. He began to lead them like a conductor, and the show was beginning. The introductory sounds were swirling and causing the crowd to be entranced with each movement. Finally, they began to play their first song, “Puzzle Pieces,” which was evidently a crowd favorite.
The crowd was now hooked. Jumping, dancing, and screaming lyrics, they were loving the show. The showmanship and energy coming from the stage were exciting to see. The set was a perfect blend of classic Saint Motel and songs from their new album, Symphony in the Sky. At moments, it felt as though I were in a James Bond film with how cinematic and epic the music was.
Throughout the whole show, AJ made the crowd a part of it, as there were many moments of crowd participation. A special crowd moment was when he had the fans lift their lit batons (or flashlights if you didn’t buy one) to conduct the members on the stage. It was a fun little theatrical bit of the show. AJ, at one point even shouted out his Salt Lake City family, saying, “Every time we come here it’s getting better and better and better.”
As the show went on, the sold-out crowd showed no sign of slowing down. There were times when the singer would come out to the crowd to give high fives and sing with the crowd. He even went into the crowd to sing and dance with the fans. Now, reaching the end of their set, they left the stage. After demands of an encore from the crowd, the narrator came back to direct the crowd to raise their lights and batons again. With direction, the crowd moved their batons in unison, a new group of instruments began to play.
Eventually, the band joined back on the stage, playing another medley of symphonic sounds, until they reached a stop, and a spotlight came on to reveal the lead singer up on the balcony of The Depot. They began their encore, starting it off with a song off their new album called “A Bluer Blue.” He made it back to the stage and continued their encore with a couple of Saint Motel classics, “Sweet Talk” and “Van Horn.” He even came out into the crowd again to sing “Sweet Talk” from the crowd. Taking the stage again for what would be the final time, Saint Motel ended their show with their most popular song, “My Type,” in which the crowd would sing every lyric back to the stage.
It was a Friday night to remember, and with Saint Motel leaving the stage with a promise of not waiting so long to come back to Salt Lake next time, the fans of Utah will patiently wait for the next time they get to dance and sing with Saint Motel again.