Day 15: Salt Lake City
Welcome
Yesterday we played our first ever show in Salt Lake City.
Fatigued from a huge travel day we slept late into the morning. I arose and went in search of a breakfast which is a tricky thing on a Sunday in Salt Lake City. After walking for a few blocks I found a bakery and purchased this fresh blueberry Danish.
My first impression of SLC was that the streets are the broadest I had ever seen. Upon researching this observation I discovered that Brigham Young, the president of the Mormon Church, and governor of Utah, and founder of Salt Lake City stipulated that the they be wide enough that farmers could easily turn their cattle around without resorting to profanity. At 40.2 metres wide these avenues are 10 metres wider than a Manhattan Avenue and 20 metres wider than one of Auckland’s busiest thoroughfares, Dominion Road.
📷 Alvaro Aguayo
Not wanting to be seen sluffing off, Tristan and I braved the hot midday sun for a run in the City Creek Natural Area. On the way we passed Temple Square, the 4 ha complex in the middle of the city owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The colossal Salt Lake Temple was hidden behind scaffolding as a part of a seismic retrofitting but we did catch a glimpse of the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Salt Lake Assembly Hall.
Salt Lake Tabernacle, built to house meetings for the LDS Church
Salt Lake Assembly Hall, a congregation hall that seats approximately 1400.
The famous Eagle Spider Monument to Brigham Young.
The 28-Story building housing the LDS Church administrative staff.
On our way back we passed the Utah State Capitol which afforded a splendid view of Salt Lake City’s big, tall buildings.
Bang on 3pm we arrived at the URBAN LOUNGE for load-in. It is a small club with a landscape orientation for the performance space, offering a greater average proximity to the stage per punter.
This was our first time performing in The Beehive State and we weren’t sure what to expect so it was nice to have such an incredibly warm welcome from all the Salt Lakers. As they say in SLC – it was a hecking good show.
Jon with a sculpture he crafted to commemorate NZ Cricket captain Kane Williamson’s birthday.
It was a pleasantly early show again so after chatting to a few friendly folks after our set we packed down and had an early night, preparing ourselves for the two day journey to Davenport, Iowa.
