TUESDAY 3/10
The Wonder Years, Free Throw, Spanish Love Songs, Pool Kids
Devotees of pop punk—the traditional kind that fuses post-hardcore guitars and a specific, earnest-as-hell vocal delivery also utilized in early-aughts emo—need to get out to this stacked night at The Depot. Tuesdays are rarely opportunities to get super pumped, but how could you not while seeing The Wonder Years? The Philadelphia-based band started out in 2005, releasing a smattering of EPs before their first LP—Get Stoked on It!, which is a pretty appropriate title for a first album—dropped in 2007 on No Sleep Records after a UK tour. Get stoked on it people did, as the band garnered fans that carried them to their second full-length, a hit titled The Upsides. Since then, they’ve kept up steady momentum with the release of four more full-length albums, the most recent being 2018's Sister Cities. The Nashville-based act Free Throw, who have been churning out hard-hitting emo tracks about all things dark and personal since 2012, opens along with decidedly more indie pop-aligned acts Spanish Love Songs and Pool Kids. Spanish Love Songs have seen an evolution from a harsh, standard-ish emo sound to a decidedly tighter approach to composition, coming off more like the pop-perfect Japandroids on their recent 2020 release Brave Faces Everyone. Pool Kids are certainly the stand-out among the openers, in that they’re the most friendly to those not totally aligned with an emo sensibility, as their arty guitar parts manage to be melodic against wry vocals. The Depot, 13 N. 400 West, 6 p.m., $23.75, 21+, thedepotslc.com

FRIDAY 3/13
Red Rox Festival Reveal Party
For years, the little blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Torrey has been a hub for the arts and a home for the Women’s Redrock Music Festival. It was a perfect spot for a summer tradition of music and celebration, but with a change in the festival itself, so comes a change in venue. Pivoting to a more inclusive approach to the festival and the music found there, the new festival is now actively working on welcoming not just women artists, but gender-diverse artists as well. They’ve rebranded as Redrox Music Festival, but as for the new locale? While its residence in Torrey will end, the Festival new location in Southeastern Utah remains a mystery until it's unveiled at a very special reveal party at Black Feather Whiskey (916 S. Main). They’ve been dropping hints over the past few days on their social media, including that it will be near a national park, that it’s 200 miles from Capitol Reef, that it’s at 3,898 feet and in a town with a population of 609 (they’re keeping it small, it seems). Sounds like it must be near a border, and while theories may abound, it’s worth stopping in—not just to find out where and when you should be planning to road-trip this summer, but to hear the tunes of the night’s performer: smokey-voiced, 20-year old Courtney Lane. It’ll be just one more peek at what the new festival will look like.

Ode to Tinwell: January 2016 – February 2020
Salt Lake locals lost a dear friend at the end of February. Folks have enjoyed many a night filled with dancing, tiki drinks and great live music at Tinwell Bar. Not only are night-lifers mourning this great space closing, but also local artists, who counted on Tinwell for opportunity to express themselves in their community. Music-makers and music-lovers alike had a space to dance, play, drink and socialize. The great bartenders of Tinwell cultivated a beautiful, inclusive community through music and craft cocktails. Many artists are already reminiscing about the good times over social media, and it’s only been a week since the sudden closure.

Open and airy, yet dark and industrial in design, Tinwell had a beautiful combination of modern and Old World aesthetics. Not just another dance bar, it had themed nights that really made Salt Lake feel like a bigger city to its locals. Many of the DJ and live music nights presented niche genres like pace disco, industrial goth, New Wave R&B and much more that allowed lovers of underground or vintage tunes to get down to their favorite music. To compliment their tiki bar upstairs, Tinwell would have monthly “Tiki Tuesdays," where DJs would spin a vinyl set featuring tropical-inspired sounds from the likes of Harry Belafonte and Banana Tallies. Prominent local DJs such as DJ Sneekylong, DJ Finale Grand, China Doll, DJ Flash and others were frequent favorites.

There were other plans in the works as well, as Tinwell was in the process of expanding to live music. Nora Price (Durian Durian, Jazz Jags) says, “Live bands were about to play there; things were really about to take off. The bartenders were so helpful, always making sure we had all the equipment we needed. They were so kind and just cool people.”

Thank you to the movers and shakers of Tinwell who worked to make their bar an incredible social space for all to enjoy. You will be missed! (Emma Roberts)