On the heels of the success of the fifth annual Kilby Block Party, local concert booking company S&S Presents has unveiled its next project: another Utah music festival, set to take place at Library Square on September 27-29, 2024.
Love Letters Festival is the new brainchild of the company — an ode to the indie pop genre — and features national and local acts alike — which stays true to the company’s overall goals.
It just celebrated 25 years of Kilby Court, the all-ages garage music venue in Salt Lake City. “There’s a lot of festivals that don’t include local bands. And we really value that,” said Will Sartain, co-owner of S&S Presents. The company has made it a point to include local acts in its lineups for other music festivals, too, like the SLC Twilight Concert Series.
The new festival is “specifically geared toward Utah music fans,” Sartain said. The name of the festival, he said, was inspired by a love note the group found from a fan to indie-pop band LANY on the floor of The Depot a few years ago.
“A young person wrote a love note to this band, and I was like, ‘That’d be such a fun festival name: Love Letters,’” Sartain said of the idea.
The local artists will include jazz-reminiscent artist Angie Petty, Salt Lake City sibling duo Silver Cup, Mexican-American artist Detzany and electronic pop artist Saysha.
In total, there are 59 artists in the lineup, including headliners Japanese-American lo-fi artist and rapper Joji, Michigan singer-songwriter Quinn XCII and rapper Ashnikko.
Other bigger acts include: Lauv, who performed at last year’s LoveLoud Festival; English actress and singer-songwriter Suki Waterhouse; Chelsea Cutler; Sky Ferreira; TikTok sensation Clinton Kane and Australian Dean Lewis.
(S&S Presents) The complete lineup for the 2024 Love Letters Festival.
For a lot of the artists, “this is like their first festival,” Sartain said.
This event will be “distinctly different” from what the group offers with Kilby Block Party, he said. They’re expecting more of a hometown crowd for this one, even with the national artists, who have following here in Utah, he said.
Tickets for the festival will go on presale on Wednesday at 10 a.m. (MST) — guests must sign up here. General sale starts Thursday at 10 a.m. (MST). A three-day pass costs around $215 and a VIP three-day pass costs around $362.
A playlist of all the artists on the bill, put together by S&S Presents, can be found here.