7 Acts We Can't Wait to See at Kilby Block Party 2025

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Summer is just around the corner, and the jorts are out, which means festival season has officially begun! Salt Lake City, Utah-based music fest Kilby Block Party returns on Thursday, May 14, and continues through Sunday, May 19, with one of the best lineups. With four days of music and some of the biggest indie names, it can be difficult to narrow down who to catch while dealing with conflicting stage schedules. Don’t fret, we’re here to help. These are the seven (sort of) acts we’re most excited to see at Kilby Block Party.

Rilo Kiley

If there’s one band to see at Kilby Block Party, it’s Rilo Kiley. Before their current reunion tour, the band hadn’t performed since 2008 and broke up five years later. For many younger Rilo Kiley heads, including myself, this is the first time we’re seeing Jenny Lewis sing the songs we love. When they recently performed at California-based festival Just Like Heaven, their song selection was heavy on the classics from each album, from “The Frug” to “Portions for Foxes,” making it an all-encompassing set that hits all the eras. Here’s hoping they add fan-favorite “Glendora” to the mix for SLC.

TV On The Radio

After a five-year hiatus, TV On The Radio are back! The Tunde Adebimpe-fronted band toured a slew of shows last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut LP, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. For those who didn’t get to catch the group during their limited tour dates, Kilby Block Party will give us the perfect opportunity to dance to “Wolf Like Me.”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Much like Rilo Kiley, this is another band from the aughts that we didn’t think would reunite. Frontman Kip Berman has been focused on his solo project, The Natvral, and drummer Kurt Feldman’s also been focused on his own band, Ice Choir. Keyboardist Peggy Wang and bassist Alex Naidus have been working for the past decade as editors at BuzzFeed, too. Pains is back with its original lineup, taking on Kilby after its secret New York City show at Trans Pecos and wrapping up their Europe tour. The band remains as tight as ever, as if no time has passed, making this one a must-watch.

Nourished by Time

Marcus Brown, who performs under the moniker of Nourished by Time, is one of the most exciting artists to emerge from New York City’s DIY scene. His seamless blend of ’90s-inspired R&B with dance music creates bangers that will make you want to get up and show your moves. When I last caught Brown, he was performing Zone One of Bushwick’s Elsewhere, packing out the small room with fans who knew every word of his debut album, Erotic Probiotic 2 (which made #17 on Paste’s best albums of 2023 list). He’s a charismatic and ultra-talented performer who was clearly born for the spotlight and has only grown much bigger since then. With a sophomore album, The Passionate Ones, underway via his new label, XL, I can’t wait to hear these songs live.

Being Dead

I fell in love with Being Dead after catching them at SXSW in 2024. They’re energetic, captivating performers with sticky-sweet hooks that you’ll be humming to yourself all day. In our review of their 2024 sophomore record, EELS, we declared that Being Dead “belong to a long lineage of subversive pop-rock wizards who are not only capable of writing great songs, but also willing to then keep pushing those songs into interesting, unexpected places.” Don’t miss out on their magic!

Friko

Very few publications have been as locked into Friko’s work as Paste. We were lucky enough to publish an exclusive feature on the duo when they announced their debut record, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here, in late 2023, and the project was one of our very favorites by the end of 2024, clocking in at #4 on our best albums of the year list. It was one of the highest placements we’ve ever given a debut LP on a year-end roundup, and Friko deserve every bit of acclaim they get. Last year, they played shows in the US, Asia and Europe, becoming one of the most in-demand bands and having one hell of a 12-month stretch. They played a mind-melting set at our East Austin Block Party, filling a small bar room to the brim and performing “Get Numb to It!,” “Crashing Through” and “IN_OUT” at full volume. It was glorious.

Former Paste Cover Stars

Many of our cover stars—Car Seat Headrest, Perfume Genius, Youth Lagoon, Slowdive, Vagabon, St. Vincent, Nation of Language, Geese, and Black Country, New Road—are playing Kilby this year. We may be a little bit biased, but all of these acts are worth catching during the festival. Car Seat Headrest are doing very limited touring in support of The Scholars, their best album since the reworked version of Twin Fantasy, so if there’s one band to prioritize out of those, it’s them. Geese and TV On The Radio are on at the same time, which is quite the dilemma! It’s definitely worth trying to catch a bit of both, if you can.

Get more info about Kilby Block Party here.

7 Acts We Can’t Wait to See at Kilby Block Party 2025

The Salt Lake City, Utah-based music festival returns this weekend with a must-see lineup featuring newly-reunited bands, like Rilo Kiley and TV On The Radio, and exciting newcomers, like Friko and Nourished By Time, alike.