Utah will not be lacking in good music this summer, with some 200 shows and festivals playing at major venues around the state — mostly along the Wasatch Front.
Trying to boil the summer down to a handful of interesting shows, we picked five concerts that look to offer something extra. (Ticket prices could fluctuate, as the secondary market does what it does.)
(Courtesy Red Butte Garden) Guitar legend Slash is scheduled to bring his touring S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival to Salt Lake City's Red Butte Garden on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.
S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival
It’s a given that Slash knows guitar. So when the top-hatted guitarist (best known for his work in Guns ‘N’ Roses) launches the S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, a touring event celebrating the blues, you can bet there will be guitars. The Salt Lake City tour stop — Tuesday, July 16, at Red Butte Garden — will feature guitarists Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish and Jackie Venson. (Tickets, at $95 for the general public, at redbuttegarden.com.)
(Nick Walker | Geffen Records) Olivia Rodrigo is scheduled to bring her "Guts World Tour" to Salt Lake City's Delta Center on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Olivia Rodrigo
The 21-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo is returning to Utah — where she wrote songs on her first album, “Sour,” while co-starring on “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” — in the middle of a world tour behind her second album, “Guts.” At Delta Center on Wednesday, July 31, performing songs like “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?”, Rodrigo will be staking her claim to the title of heartbreak queen. (Currently sold out; check deltacenter.com for secondary-market tickets.)
(courtesy photo) Martin Fry, frontman of the New Wave band ABC, is scheduled to co-headline with Howard Jones, August 16 and 17, 2024, at Sandy Amphitheatre in Sandy.
Howard Jones / ABC
Utah loved the New Wave in the ‘80s, and that love never went away. So there should be appreciative audiences at Sandy Amphitheatre on Friday and Saturday, August 16 and 17, when two of the acts who sprung from that era — Howard Jones and Martin Fry’s ABC — headline. The novelty is their opening act: The British band Haircut 100, which hasn’t performed in North America since 1982, when the New Wave was happening. (Tickets, starting at $59.50 plus fees, at SandyAmp.com. The Saturday show is nearly sold out.)
(Andy Pollitt | BBR Music Group) Country singer-songwriter Jelly Roll is scheduled to start his "Beautifully Broken" U.S. tour on Aug. 27, 2024, at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Jelly Roll
The country sensation Jelly Roll (real name Jason Bradley DeFord) isn’t just coming to Delta Center to perform on Tuesday, August 27. Like Bad Bunny did in February, the country singer-rapper is starting his North American tour, “The Beautifully Broken Tour,” in Salt Lake City. (Tickets, starting at $56, at deltacenter.com.)
(Mom+Pop Music) The musician Goth Babe is scheduled to perform Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the three-day Kilby Court Block Party, at the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City.
Goth Babe / The Aces
Goth Babe — whose show on Tuesday, October 8, at Granary Live comes near the end of the outdoor concert season — is, in fact, an alt-rock dude named Griff Washburn, originally from Tennessee but now making his home in the Pacific Northwest. Utah music lovers will remember that Goth Babe played at the 2023 Kilby Court Block Party. The other draw for Utah fans is the opening act: Orem’s own The Aces, who are working their way up the ladder of indie-pop success by supporting Washburn on his national tour. (Tickets, starting at $37.50, at granarylive.com.)
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