Palak JayswalTelling people that Lorde is performing in Utah for the first time — at the Utah State Fairpark of all places — has almost felt too good to be true.
For months, since the lineup of the seventh annual Kilby Block Party was announced, there’s been a sense of disbelief (and equal parts excitement) that the indie pop artist would be headlining Utah’s homegrown music festival.
“She’s all the way from New Zealand, so it’s cool to see somebody from the other side of the world come to my backyard,” Kylei Quinones, a Utah fan in attendance on Sunday evening, said.
Quinones grew up listening to Lorde as a high school student.
She’s of the era of indie music fans that flocked to the most glorious corner of the internet in the early 2010’s: Tumblr. It’s where Lorde and another Kilby headliner, The xx, along with the likes of The 1975 and the Arctic Monkeys, collected a cult following.
These fans dealt heavily in doses of brooding. Their walls were plastered with album covers and band posters. For them, this festival, this lineup is an indie mecca.
It’s also a culmination of years of work from local concert production company S&S Presents, which runs several local music venues.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lorde performs at Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
Seven years ago, Kilby Block Party was just that — an actual block party to celebrate 20 years of Salt Lake City’s longest-running (and most iconic) all-ages music venue, Kilby Court. In 2019, there were two stages and a bill of just 12 formidable artists. In 2026, there were four stages and 70 artists.
Each year, its headliners are a bit more impressive: from Phoebe Bridgers to The Strokes, Vampire Weekend to Beach House. But none more impressive than Lorde. And in their chase for the big, the festival still highlights local artists, too.
When people entered this year’s festival, the reminder of how it came to be is the first thing that greets them. Signs advertise the history of the block party and introduce Kilby Court, the venue. A recreated version of the iconic red bench in front of the garage venue, covered in flyers, is the perfect photo op.
Leo Fulwider is a Utahn who now lives in Chicago, but came back for the festival. They were admiring the bench and attended the first block party when Death Cab for Cutie headlined in 2019.
“Back then, it was just a block party. It was a lot more local; it was just people kind of celebrating Kilby as a venue,” Fulwider said. “It’s kind of f---ing amazing that it’s grown to this size. … They’ve really created such a beautiful space for people to listen to music.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lorde performs at Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
And late Sunday, Fulwider said, they were still in disbelief that the festival booked Lorde.
“It speaks to [how] it is turning into one of the best places to hear music in the West,” they said.
When Lorde takes the stage around 9 p.m. in baggy pants, a white T-shirt and a jacket that has “Scorpio” bedazzled on the back, the Utah sky is a dusky lavender color and consistently drizzling.
She’s not bothered by the weather, though.
“This is my first show in Salt Lake City and I am so psyched to be here,” she said. “And I love a rain show. We’re getting wet, we’re getting feral. Let’s f---ing go.”
Cigarette smoke and petrichor linger in the air. In the crowd, people time-travel. They take low-quality flash photos on flip phones. They dance, free, in rain-soaked ponchos, while Lorde’s voice, a mystifying, timeless thing, echoes around them.
“You are dancing a hell of a lot for some people who are soaked to the bone right now,” Lorde tells them, halfway through the show.
She has silver glitter streaking down her hands, her elbows, that doesn’t budge even when she performs “Supercut” lying in the rainwater pooling on the stage. It soaks into her hair, drenches her skin, but she keeps going.
The crowd is consistently loud, but it’s her older tracks, like “Team” and “Green Light,” that really resonate.
Sonder Akina, a local who attends shows at Kilby Court, said seeing Lorde at the festival makes them excited to see if more diverse musicians come to the city, even if it means there will be more competition for locals to snag tickets.
“Utah itself is growing, Salt Lake City is growing, so the festival is gonna grow with it,” Akina said.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lorde performs at Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
When Lorde performs her encore song “Ribs” — an ode to the fear and joy and messiness of growing up — it’s with rain droplets on the cameras making a bokeh effect around her face. It’s with the audience jumping in unison, making the soaking, muddy floor of the fairgrounds shake.
“Thank you for the best first trip to Utah I could ever ask for,” Lorde said, ending her set.
An artist of Lorde’s caliber, coming to the Beehive State for an indie music festival, is a perfect snapshot of Kilby’s success.
Only one question remains: How will they top it in 2027?
Palak Jayswal is an award-winning journalist who covers culture/music at The Tribune. She graduated from the University of Utah and has lived in Utah her entire life. Her work spans areas of coverage in the cultural world. She loves writing about how culture —and the people who create it— shape life in Utah. She aspires to write for Rolling Stone.