Festivals near Salt Lake City

Backed against the wall of the Wasatch mountains, Salt Lake City hides one of the most endearing indie scenes in the American West behind its Mormon calm. It all began in a garage: the tiny Kilby Court club, tucked down a downtown alley, eventually lent its name to the Kilby Block Party, now the city's great guitar weekend and one of the finest indie lineups in the country. Twenty minutes west, where the ground turns to white, the Art Deco Saltair amphitheater sets its stages on the shores of the Great Salt Lake for the Das Energi Festival: two nights where electro bass and lasers answer the sunset over the salt flats.

The hunger for beats doesn't fade once summer ends: come autumn, the Utah Valley crowd packs out Breakaway Utah, an EDM-and-hip-hop date built for the student scene, while the city sees newer indoor festivals like Redwest spring up. And when you leave the valley to climb toward Park City — the ski town that hosts Sundance — the mood flips entirely at the Park City Song Summit, an intimate celebration of singer-songwriter craft at altitude. FestT works out your FestiScore — how closely a lineup matches your favourite artists — and keeps dates, headliners and ticketing up to date.