SALT LAKE CITY — The main library in the Salt Lake Public Library system was filled last week in what has become a viral hit with saxophonist Nathaniel Young, and staff are still feeling the impact of the visit.
Young played his music inside to a crowd of visitors who don't always visit this space.
Hundreds of people filled every last open spot in the lobby, many coming to see the man with more than a million followers play in person.
For some, it was an opportunity to experience something in real life rather than through social media.
“I like to experience things more in real life than in Reels, so I just took the TRAX to the library and got a good spot, like on the stairs, so I could see him head-on. I actually even met the guy; he was cool,” said Cameron Lamont.
Lamont, also a musician with an online following as "Cam the Man," says he even asked Young to collaborate sometime, something he hopes will happen this winter.
“On the ski lift or something like that, play some nice guitar while he plays some awesome saxophone; maybe some Careless Whisper or something like that,” Lamont said with a chuckle.
Lamont described the experience as surreal, saying he spent about 45 minutes without his phone, simply listening to Young play his own music and come up with new material on the spot.
Gabrielle Grubaugh, who runs the salon inside the library lobby, shared how the atmosphere was unlike anything she had seen before.
“There was just like jam-packed and it was just silent, like no one was talking," Grubaugh said. "I mean, you could hear a pin drop. It was just crazy silent, and it is never like that in here."
Librarian Valeria Ashley described the night as magical.
“I’ve never seen that many people in the main library,” Ashley said.
The event brought a whole new crowd into the special space. Ashley heard people whispering that they hadn't been to the library since they were kids, or had never been there before.
“To get people inside the library was really neat,” she said.
Salt Lake Public Library Director Noah Baskett says the event was about more than a musical performance. It was an opportunity to connect people amongst themselves and with the library.
“It was a younger crowd. It was a lot of 20-somethings, which sometimes we don’t see as many, so that was really great to see young adults use this space and, yeah, it was a great way to engage young adults and show them how relevant the library is to them today,” Baskett said.
Baskett estimates between 2,600 and 2,800 people attended, making it the busiest hour in the library's history, according to its best records. The library also saw a 500 percent increase in library card applications that night.
And it all started with a simple request.
“We just reached out to him," Baskett said. "We knew he was playing in Vancouver and we had no connection, but we just reached out, and he said OK, I’d be happy to come to Salt Lake. How about November?"
"So it just took one email, and we were able to generate that kind of support.”