SLC – The Cosmic Clash

The DLC stage courtesy of Concert Archives

Live music preview: Five bands to see at The DLC’s first Pogo Fest

June 15, 2026 Greg Ackerman 545 Views Backhand, Bonethrowers, Boyfriend Sushi Town, Fiig, folk rock, live music, music festival, Pogo Fest, post-punk, preview, psych-rock, punk rock, rock n roll, Salt Lake City, SLC, The DLC, The Gontiks

One of the cooler spots to check out live music in Salt Lake City is The DLC, a small-capacity live music venue situated inside Quarters Arcade Bar downtown in the heart of SLC’s nascent live music corridor. The room is intimate, cool and you can battle your homie at Mortal Kombat after the show. This Saturday, June 20 the venue is hosting their first ever Pogo Fest to highlight the great psych-rock and similar acts the venue is booking. Aside from The DLC the area includes venues; International Artists Bar, and SLC Pub . Those locations along with a an outdoor stage at Exchange Place will serve as the four stages for Pogo Fest which is highlighting psych-rock and psych adjacent acts from Salt Lake City for the most part. We picked out five bands to see from the 20-plus artists line-up for SLC concertgoers. The mini-fest is an ideal way for local fans to get to know some of the better up and coming acts playing the growing Salt Lake music scene. Advance tickets are available via 24 Tix.

Greg Ackerman Interviews Live Music

Interview: Austin artist Shakey Graves is coming to Utah Arts Festival with a great new record

June 9, 2026 Greg Ackerman 575 Views alt-country, Austin Music, Fondness Inc, Interview, live music, music festival, new music, preview, Shakey Graves, singer songwriter, SLC, UAF, Utah Arts Festival

When The Cosmic Clash got to Salt Lake City one of the first annual events we heard about was the Utah Arts Festival. We were duly impressed that a city SLC’s size, invested so heavily in visual art, music and literature. There were panels, live music and tons of visual artists represented. It seemed like the story of Salt Lake’s Mormon monoculture was exaggerated fiction. In town, at least culturally it kind of is. The city founded by Mormons has more similarities to Austin, Texas than it does to the Vatican; Blue dot in a red sea, state capitol, big public university north of downtown? Sounds like ATX. We learned the UAF is celebrating its 50th Anniversary, doubling down on quality musical headliners including Austin’s own Shakey Graves. The singer and songwriter performs June 20 (Saturday) early on in his recently launched tour supporting his new record, Fondness, Inc.

Greg Ackerman Live Music Review

Live music review: Ty Segall played Metro Music Hall with Primitive Ring

May 1, 2026 Greg Ackerman 1127 Views Bert Hoover, Charles Moothart, garage rock, Jon Modaff, live music, Metro Music Hall, Mikal Cronin, Primitive Ring, psych-rock, punk rock, Review, rock n roll, SLC, Ty Segall

When Los Angeles supergroup Primitive Ring reached out via their PR rep to premiere their new single and video, we quickly realized this power trio touring with Ty Segall signaled the veteran garage rocker’s return to power rock n roll after touring acoustic, solo material on recently. Thus was the case at Metro Music Hall April 17 when Segall and his band brought their tour to Salt Lake City. Fans were there to rock out and Segall delivered with a career-spanning setlist that seemed to please everyone in the room with punk, psych and garage rock themes throughout the performance. Segall’s full range was on display.

Thr Groanies 1 SLC Urban Lounge Ryan Wesley Odom

Greg Ackerman Live Music Preview

Live music preview: SLC act The Groanies dropped new EP, album release show April 10

April 5, 2026 Greg Ackerman 1060 Views album release, album review, Church and State, garage psych, garage rock, live music, Musor, new music, psych-rock, punk rock, Salt Lake City, SLC, SLC music, The Groanies

One of the first Salt Lake City acts we saw after dipping into the SLC underground music scene was The Groanies who played Urban Lounge a couple years back. The garage punks impressed with a hard hitting set that had us coming back for more the next time the group played at International Bar. Then we caught ’em again at Urban’s Psych Lake City event. We were hooked. This up and coming band, hit us right in our garage-psych sweet spot. Naturally we were thrilled when The Groanies dropped a new EP this week and announced an album release show with Musor and Skrude on Friday, April 10 at Church and State. Advance tickets are available in the link or click the poster to grab your $10 ticket to what promises to be a fun night. The band let us know they organized a taco truck along with ice cream and coffee vendors.