Yellowcard Up Up Down Down Tour Brings Pop-Punk Nostalgia to Salt Lake City

On one of the first outdoor summer concert evenings of the year thousands of fans gathered at Beddy’s Plaza in Sandy, Utah to relive the soundtrack of their youth.  The Up Up Down Down Tour brought three of pop/punk and Utah’s most beloved bands to town in The Plain White T’s, New Found Glory and Yellowcard for a night full of sing-alongs, nostalgia and a reminder that great music never grows old. 

 

For Yellowcard Utah has always felt a little different and special.  Lead singer Ryan Key has always spoken fondly of the state and their experiences here over the years even calling it the bands all time number one favorite place to play.  While musicians tell that to crowds everywhere they go Yellowcard’s connection to Utah runs deeper than usual stage banter.  They have a loyal following here all the way back to their earliest days and Key himself has taken time out for the local community.  During a previous stop here in 2013 he stopped at a local high school to discuss creative writing and his songwriting in a visit that was highlighted by SLUG Magazine at the time. 

 

That long standing relationship was evident from the moment the first notes rang at Beddy’s Plaza and not only with Yellowcard. 

 

Opening the evening were Plain White T’s, another band that shares a history with Utah music fans.  Long before “Hey There Delilah” was playing on radios and playlists across the country it was a number one song here in Utah.  Utah was the first radio market to play the song and drove it to a number one in the state and helped propel it to a number one radio hit nationally.

 

Despite being the opening act The Plain White T’s were treated like headliners from their loyal fans with the crowd wasting no time in kicking into high energy and singing every word right back at vocalist Tom Higgenson who couldn’t help but smile the whole time and took a moment to thank each and every fan there for helping start their career and showing up from day one for the band. 

 

New Found Glory was up next and instantly exploded the energy in the venue.  Fresh off the release of their latest album ‘Listen Up!’ the band kicked things off with their new song “A Love Song” which was one of only three songs from the new album making the set this night with the others being “Laugh it Off” and “Beer and Blood Stains.” While those got a good reaction from the fans it was the classics that energized the crowd for this set with the band leaning heavily into older material with the exception being their 2024 Disney cover of “Part of Yor World.”  The amped-up set got the crowd opening pits and the beginning of crowd surfers who would remain a constant fixture throughout the night. 

 

Next came the main event.

 

As the stage was changing between bands the Ghostbusters song hit the speakers with a Marshmallow man ghost running around the stage as a Ghostbuster chased him and fired shirts and merch into the crowd.  As the lights dimmed and the ghosts cleared the stage the theme from “Top Gun” hit the speakers with the band striding out kicking off a production that would lean heavily into nostalgia for the first half of the show.  Throughout the first half of the show monitors and LED panels would play clips of “The Goonies,” “Top Gun” and “Rad” in between songs. 

 

Although the first half played into the nostalgia of it all, the night wasn’t just a greatest hits celebration.  The band gave an equal amount of time to their new material which has been well received.  The band recently scored their first number one hit and followed that up with their second number one hit in songs “Better Days” and “Bedroom Posters” both of which got a strong reaction from the crowd.  Who would have thought that almost 22 years after making their debut on the charts they would be scoring their first number one hits.  The newer songs fit in perfectly next to their deep cuts and fan favorites marking a well balanced set of celebrating where they came from and where they are going. 

 

All the energy was building towards one song though and at the end of the night when the opening notes hit the speakers the fans sent out a cheer that echoed across the valley.  Thousands of voices sang along to “Ocean Avenue” celebrating the song that launched a band that helped define our youth and is still helping shape who we are today. 

 

The Up Up Down Down Tour delivered what pop punk was always about, bringing people together, helping us work through our feelings and discovering who we are and who we’re still becoming.