Kilby Block Party Is What Coachella Used to Feel Like
By Stella Speridon-Violet
What used to be Vanessa Hudgens’ escape from all the glitz and glam of Hollywood has quickly become every normal festival-goer’s worst nightmare.
Sourced Through Pinterest
Influencers acting like celebrities and throwing their morals out the window for a Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino.
Oh, Coachella, what you used to be… But, wait! There’s still a festival that feels like 2014 Coachella, and it’s in Salt Lake City: Kilby Block Party, which has quickly become the festival for people who still want to discover music, not just document that they were near it. And the 2026 lineup makes it impossible to ignore.
This year’s headliners read like a Tumblr dashboard that grew up, got hot, and learned how to headline: Lorde, Hayley Williams, The xx, Turnstile, Modest Mouse, and Alex G.
And then the undercard just keeps going: Lucy Dacus, Japanese Breakfast, Blood Orange, Father John Misty, Magdalena Bay, Snail Mail, Beach Bunny, like someone actually cared about sequencing a lineup instead of just filling slots.
No filler or random legacy acts for dads. No “wait, why are they here?” Just an actually great lineup.
Courtesy of Kilby Block Party
Early Coachella had a sense of discovery—you’d go for one artist and leave obsessed with five more. Kilby, however, still operates like that.
You’re not sprinting between stages trying to catch a boomerang for Instagram; you’re wandering while overhearing sets until you accidentally front row for someone who’s about to blow up on TikTok in six months.
It’s less of a content farm, more about discovering the origins of what indie meant in the first place; in that way, Kilby Block Party feels like a rejection of the current festival-industrial complex.
It’s just… people who actually listen to music.
Courtesy of Kilby Block Party
Kilby has scaled up fast, but it hasn’t tipped into that dystopian, oversold, impossible-to-navigate territory. You can still move, breathe, and decide to ditch a set halfway through because you heard something better in the distance.
That freedom is the whole point: Festivals are supposed to feel like you’re inside your own world for three days.
There’s been this ongoing conversation about whether indie music even exists anymore, or if it’s just been absorbed into a new hyper niche algorithm. I’d argue that Kilby answers that pretty clearly.
At Kilby Block Party, you can watch legacy acts like Modest Mouse and then turn around and catch Magdalena Bay doing something that feels like the future.
Calling Kilby “Indie Coachella” almost feels lazy, but it’s also the easiest shorthand.
Photo by Jacob Epping (@jacob.epping), 2025.
If Coachella is where you go for visibility and PR stunts, Kilby is where you go to actually feel something—and at half the cost.
If you’re interested in the lineup or attending the festival, which I highly recommend, you can find all of this information at: https://www.kilbyblockparty.com/
We will see you there, Salt Lake!
