Salt Lake City Concerts Archives - Page 19 of 24

October 11, 2019

Vampire Weekend October 6, 2019, The Complex

Photo Credit: Logan Sorenson @lmsorenson

When I found out that Vampire Weekend was playing The Complex, I envisioned them playing in the biggest of the two rooms, The Rockwell. But it wasn’t until I arrived at the venue that I realized this show wouldn’t be taking place in either of them. I walked up to where security usually checks bags and scans their metal detectors and found that there was actually a tent in front of that gate for Will Call and that the security checkpoint was now where you enter the show. The big lot that will usually house the tour buses was now the venue where Vampire Weekend would be performing. I have to admit I was a little confused. A stage had been constructed for this show and instead of a typical concert at The Complex, we were treated to one of the last albeit unexpected outdoor concerts of the year.

October 10, 2019

Robert Plant October 1, 2019, Eccles Theater

By: Kevin Rolfe

Photo Credit: Kevin Rolfe @utahconcertreview

Robert Plant. When you just read that name, how many things came to mind? Led Zeppelin, of course. How about, legend, rock star, songwriter, singer, amazing singer, legendary rock star singer of Led Zeppelin?! In just writing his name, so many thoughts instantly come to fly through my brain. You can’t see his name without instantly hearing his voice. Just in the short time you’ve been reading this, how many Zeppelin songs have run through your mind? Now imagine getting to see this man in concert and getting to hear that voice in person. Right? Crazy! Then imagine trying to write down the experience to share with everyone. Not so easy, is it? I gotta be honest with you fine readers, this review was one of the hardest for me to write. Robert Plant is just so massively huge in Rock music lore. How do my words do this show justice? I’m not sure if they will, but you’ll definitely get a sense of just how epic the evening was. It was one I won’t soon forget.

October 9, 2019

AJR October 3, 2019, Maverik Center

By: Evelyn Salazar

October 8, 2019

Cold War Kids October 4, 2019, The Depot

By: Erica Fasoli

October 8, 2019

Dropkick Murphys October 6, 2019, The Union

By: Alex Wardell

What a night. What a line-up. What a crowd! Not since Warped tour in 2005 have I witnessed such an amalgam of people and music lovers; hardcore fans, old school punkers and die-hard Irish circle mashers. This diverse crowd swamped the bar lines around the dimly lit ambiance of The Union Event Center’s balcony; a tour de force of a show about to take place and I have a front of house pass to the hammering guitar riffs and spitting vocals of Wayne Lozniak, and Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed; the jamming smooth bass lines and pure American gravel that come with the classic rockers in Clutch and last but not to be left “tossed a lily,” the prolific Irish ensemble that is ever pervading, consuming and inclusive: Dropkick Murphys. The energy and palpitation flowing around the throngs of mid-generation butt-rockers was nothing short of soul shaking. If I could flashback to 2010: the last time I witnessed The Dropkick Murphys in concert. What a day of hardcore and death metal enormity that my then developing psyche just could not comprehend. This show had much of the same feeling and overpowering hunger for a sense of comradery and community. Everyone there had been listening to the same punky and essential hardcore ballads for years, letting it combat the inevitable yuppie growing within all of us; here they are, ready to melt faces and transport all of us right back into 1997.

October 7, 2019

Kishi Bashi October 3, 2019, Metro Music Hall

By: Tiffany Mull

Kishi Bashi’s new album, Omoiyari (which roughly translates as “empathy” or “having compassion”), is a concept album that draws inspiration from the lives and experiences of those Japanese Americans sent to internment camps in the xenophobic hysteria that swept the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Kaoru Ishibashi traveled to the internment camps—Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Rohwer—to get a sense of the place and ordeals through physical surroundings and photographs. He reached into that history, those stories, and found a sort of aching beauty in all that sadness and injustice, as expressed by the resilience of those people whose lives were wrongfully upended. Early 2020 will see the release of a documentary about the making of Omoiyari.

October 3, 2019

Band of Skulls September 28, 2019, Urban Lounge

By: Katie Barber

Exactly ten years and one day after the release of their first album, Band Of Skulls returned to Salt Lake City to play Urban Lounge on a rainy Saturday night. Psychedelia took over the house music before the band took the stage with 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever” cinematically blasting through the speakers. In Sean Connery’s stead appeared bassist Emma Richardson, guitarist Russel Marsden, and drummer Julian Dorio. Dorio promptly applied the Bond vibes with a shimmer of cymbals to “Love Is All You Love,” from the group’s newest release. Church-bell chimes highlighted Richardson’s vocals as Marsden smoothly navigated the majority of the lyrics and teased the audience with a loud guitar skill that hinted the psychedelic energy was going to be converted to that of some good old rock and roll.

October 1, 2019

TOTO September 24, 2019, Eccles Theater

By: Kevin Rolfe

Toto brought their 40 Trips Around the Sun Tour to the Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake City on September 24, 2019. I felt like I was running late so I ran into the theater. However, when I got inside the Delta Performance Hall I could see the crew still working on the instruments so I knew I had more time. As I made my way down the aisle to the front of the stage I could see and feel the excitement among the people.

September 29, 2019

Surf Curse September 21, 2019, Kilby Court

By: Katie Barber

“We have a security question…we’re asking if everyone can take one step back.” Such was the plight of Surf Curse, whose gravitational pull was just too strong for their own good during the Salt Lake City stop of their Heaven Surrounds You tour. The room was packed enough that only when the audience detached themselves from the front of the stage did one suddenly notice the air start to recirculate, which probably only fed the unceasing cycle of near-moshing, crowd-surfing, and lyric-shouting that accompanied their set.

September 29, 2019

Tash Sultana September 23, 2019, Red Butte Garden

By: Erica Fasoli

WOW…

When I sat down after the show to write this review, I honestly didn’t know where to start or how to put into words the way that this performance made me feel. How do you begin to describe an experience so uniquely itself that there’s nothing to compare it to? How do you help someone who wasn’t there understand just how much this experience moved you or inspired you? I’ll try my best, but if nothing else, what I will say is that if you ever get the chance to see Tash Sultana live – take it. I promise it will be an experience you’ll never forget.