Festivals in Utah

Wedged between the snow-capped peaks of the Wasatch and the vast red sweep of its canyons, Utah grows a festival scene in its own image: intimate, set against spectacular backdrops, and deeply rooted in indie rock. It all starts in Salt Lake City, where the tiny Kilby Court venue gave rise to Kilby Block Party, now the state's flagship gathering and one of the finest indie lineups in the American West. A few miles away, on the salty shores of the Great Salt Lake, the Saltair amphitheater shakes to Das Energi Festival, an electro high mass where bass and lasers answer the sunset over the water.

But Utah is just as much a land of roots and wide-open spaces. In Ogden, a former railroad crossroads, the Ogden Music Festival celebrates bluegrass and Americana along the riverbank, while Park City — the ski town world-famous for Sundance — hosts the Park City Song Summit and its devotion to the singer-songwriter craft at altitude. Further south, Fort Desolation Fest pitches its stages out in the open desert, in a setting straight out of a Western. FestT works out your FestiScore — how closely a lineup matches your favourite artists — and keeps dates, headliners and ticketing up to date.