Indie Pop Duo Aly & AJ at Park City, Utah 8/23

Versatile performances, nostalgic throwbacks, Americana and indie-pop-rock tunes are what you should expect from an Aly & AJ show. I have seen this band eleven times all over the U.S. and they have never ever disappointed.

Aly & AJ got their start at early ages booking gigs on Disney. They released their debut album Into The Rush in 2005. Fans will remember songs like Rush and No One, the latter featuring on the 2006 film Ice Princess. After a jaunt into Christmas music with Acoustic Hearts of Winter, sophomore album Insomniatic followed in 2007 including their most popular hit single Potential Breakup Song that fans will be able to hear live at Aly & AJ’s current tours. (In case you missed it, the duo re-released this track during the pandemic with a bit of an explicit lyric change as a nod to the fans that have stuck by and grown with them over the years!)

In an effort to leave their Disney personas in the past, Aly & AJ rebranded briefly under the moniker 78Violet (2009-2015). During this time, the duo recorded two albums which were ultimately shelved after being given the runaround by record labels (yes, plural). Feeling discouraged and as if “music became [their] enemy,” 78Violet stepped away from music to pursue the other halves of their careers as actresses.

In 2015, Aly & AJ announced that they were, well, Aly & AJ again. Feeling rejuvenated, the band returned to the studio inspired by 80’s synth-pop to change their sound tremendously. Marking their first release as Aly & AJ in ten years, 2017’s aptly named Ten Years EP is full of synth-pop bangers like The Distance and Take Me. A second EP, Sanctuary, was released in 2019 housing heavier synths and sharper lyricism. Wanting to send off their synth-pop sound with a bang, the duo put out two pulsating droplets, Attack of Panic and Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor in 2020. These EPs and singles were conveniently packaged together as the We Don’t Stop compilation before kicking off the rollout of Aly & AJ’s much-anticipated fourth full-length studio album.

And with a title that may be even longer than the wait for it, A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up On Your Feet Gets You Out and then Into the Sun beamed down in May 2021. The lengthy title is a chant that comes from the hook of one of its tracks, Don’t Need Nothing. On this record, the girls dove deep into their California roots and discovered new heights to their lyricism. The best way to describe this album is that it feels like you are on a road trip with your favorite person driving through sunny California. A year later, four tracks were added as part of a deluxe re-release.

Aly & AJ’s latest album was released in 2023. Another highly anticipated record, With Love From is an 11-track Americana-folk inspired banger. This album included the band’s first-ever featured artist in indie-folk singer-songwriter, Joy Oladokun, on Way of Nature, Way of Grace; a lyrical nod to one of the girls’ favorite film directors, Terrence Malick. With Love From carries a more stripped-down vibe but continues “a touch of the beat…’s” road trip, except now we are going cross-country and hitting every small-town dive-bar we come across.

After touring their latest album, Aly & AJ took little pause, writing and recording another album which will see its first track release on September 12th, Sirens; not to mention, Aly gave birth to her and her husband, Stephen’s, first child. 2024 saw the duo traveling from coast to coast to play a few one-off shows; from a pride event in LA to Jacksonville, FL to play at the Bold Love festival then back west to play a headlining gig near Salt Lake City, UT.

And that last show happens to be my all-time favorite Aly & AJ show I’ve ever attended. Getting to photograph my favorite band allowed me to check off my #2 bucket list item! The atmosphere and sheer vibes of Concerts on the Slopes in Park City, UT were immaculate. The weather was gorgeous, and the scenery was just divine.

Local singer-songwriter, Deborah Fotheringham opened the show with a nice solo, indie set. As the sun was setting, Aly & AJ took the stage with their backing band members. Starting off strong with With Love From, you could feel a palpable shift in energy from the crowd. Going back and forth between the latest two albums, the band followed with fan-favorite, tour staple Pretty Places, upbeat Love You This Way, back to slow-jam fan-favorite Slow Dancing and what Aly tends to declare as their new break-up anthem Baby Lay Your Head Down.

Toward the end of the fifth song, a few members of the crowd started inching up to the barricade –there wereabout 15-20 feet between the first row of seats and the stage. Before I knew it, the whole crowd decided seats just weren’t for them and they stormed the barricade! I’d never witnessed something so delightful. This changed the entire vibe ofthe set for the better.

The band gave electric performances for notable fan-favorite Sunchoke, an almost-cut track from their latest album, followed by Don’t Need Nothing. Some artists will either start or end their shows with their number 1, most popular song but not Aly & AJ. A highlight of each show, Potential Breakup Song finds itself about halfway through the evening. This is always an exciting one to hear live with the crowd singing every line, but there was a twist at this one. While making her way to sing the chorus at the edge of the stage, AJ accidentally launched her microphone at the crowd –don’t worry, nobody was injured!

Halfway through the show, fans were pleasantly surprised by the debut of not one, but three new unreleased songs off the upcoming album! Next To Nothing, a heavy-hitting Americana-rock anthem with sick guitar hooks and vocals blew us all away. Following with Sirens altered the mood for a few minutes –the song is a cathartic ode to a tragic incident the girls lived through a couple years ago. Aly & AJ have always been outspoken about issues that are near and dear to them, including gun violence and the need to ban assault weapons. The third new song, I Wanna Know What It Feels Like, felt like a late-80’s Americana anthem instrumentally with gorgeous melodies and harmonies! These new songs make one excited for the new album as it honestly feels like A&A have finally found their true sound.

Shifting back to songs from WLF and ATOTB, the band dove into upbeat bangers Tear theNight Up and Break Yourself then slowed it down a bit with more fan-favorites Lost Cause and Talking In My Sleep. A couple weeks before the show, Aly & AJ teased they might be bringing back a huge hit from their deluxe ATOTB album… well they did! The crowd went feral (for lack of a more fitting word) when the opening notes of Get Over Here played. After Hours, a nod to all the hard-working Americans out there trying to get by on their 9-5, followed and everyone was singing and dancing along!

Closing out the set was a doozy. The band played acoustic slow-jam, Way of Nature, Way of Grace, with drummer Ben Zelico (Summer Bens to some) playing acoustic guitar center stage and Aly back on the keys. If you attended the With Love From tour last year, you’d know exactly what to brace for –potentially the sickest song transitions ever. The band seamlessly drove it home with an updated rendition of the popular track Rush, fans screaming and cheering as soon as they realized what the finale song was! The first half of the song has a sort of eerie vibe in the new version, but the second half goes absolutely crazy with AJ wailing on the bridgeand final chorus.

This band has been heavily slept on for the last several years,but they keep coming back and proving why they deserve a spotlight in the industry. True craftsmanship is in every song, EP and album they release. Do yourself a favor and check out their latest works, and be on the lookout for their upcoming album and tour in 2025!