Weekday shows are always a bit uncertain. People seem likely to go out and see a band on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights…but Monday or Tuesday? Maybe. Maybe not. Luckily, things worked in our favor this time, and we had three fun shows in Utah!
On Monday (Sept. 28), we drove from Ft. Collins, Colo., to Provo, Utah. Most of our nine-hour car trip was spent on I-80 in Wyoming. We showed up at Footloose House in Provo not knowing what to expect. It’s a pretty normal-looking house, with a garden and some backyard chickens (yep, the “emblem of extreme foodie street cred,” according to the NY Times). We also learned later that the movie Footloose was literally filmed inside this house.
The show started with Brent from The Awful Truth. During his opening set, people poured into the house. I can tell you that there are not many things better than packing 40-50 people in a living room! As a side note, while in Provo we observed this — a room full of Brigham Young students can make for an intimidatingly good-looking bunch. From stage, Nic noted that this was the sexiest crowd we’d played for so far. They laughed as he assured them they looked classy… thrift-store classy.
Tuesday (Sept. 29) we had a short drive, so we spent the afternoon at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. It was quite warm — 87 degrees and sunny. We walked, ate lunch, and laughed at Sadie as she went into the lake after some geese. Our LPs also arrived Tuesday. They were shipped to our friend’s house in SLC.
Later in the day, we drove to Logan, Utah, for our show at WHY Sound — a small, but very cool space. It is a 49-person capacity listening room with a stage and several rows of chairs. Our initial thoughts were, “This place looks awesome… if people show up.” Again, Tuesday nights can be questionable. But people came, and we had a fun show, including lots of dialogue with the crowd. Several comments and questions came from an enthusiastic audience member wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that read, “I shaved my balls for this?”
Wednesday (Sept. 30) turned cold in Utah, with highs in the 40s and snow on the mountains. We stayed inside most of the day, and that night found us at Kilby Court in SLC. We had heard that Kilby was a great venue, but we had never been there. Turns out, it’s basically a warehouse/garage-like space with a sound system and a fire outside. It definitely exceeded any expectations we may have had.
Utah has been good to us, though we are ready to breathe some air with more moisture. Staying hydrated in the desert is a full-time job.