Modest concert is a big success

SALT LAKE CITY — Ever had one of those moments when things look just perfect, only to realize they're a tad too perfect?

So has Casey Jarman.

Jarman is programs director for the Salt Lake City Arts Council. It was his creative brain that 23 years ago came up with the concept for the Twilight Concert Series, a gift to the community in the form of a free concert on Thursday nights during the summer.

For years, the Twilight Series has only gotten bigger and more popular, which brings us to last Thursday night for the inaugural concert of 2010 at Pioneer Park.

Let's let Jarman set the scene:

"I was on stage, getting ready to introduce Modest Mouse, and I looked out at the park full of people and I thought, 'Wow, this is phenomenal.' "

Pause.

"Then someone tapped me on the shoulder and turned me around and said, 'Look at that line!' "

Thousands stood waiting to get in, wrapped around the block and into the distance.

"And we were already at capacity," says Jarman. "It was startling."

Estimates put the crowd that descended on the downtown park at 50,000 to 60,000 people, although no one will ever know for sure, least of all Jarman, who didn't stop to count.

"We've never had to turn anyone away at a Twilight Concert," he says. "This was something I knew we had to approach in a sensitive manner."

So he got in his car and fled.

No, I'm kidding. Once Jarman got down off the stage, he instructed security to let everyone standing in line know that they would continually let people in as other people left.

"Like a club," he says, "like a sold-out club."

After that it was just a matter of "hoping the lines would abate. I kept stretching my neck trying to find the end."

He never did. The park, with a capacity of maybe 40,000, tightly packed, stayed full until Modest Mouse, an alternative rock band from Seattle, finally unplugged their amps, got on their cell phones and texted their agent: "You won't believe how huge we are in Salt Lake."

Jarman remains somewhat at a loss to explain exactly why so many people showed up. There have been big crowds before for the Twilight Series, but 15,000 was the tops, not 50,000.