California’s Thee Sacred Souls boldly answers the question, “What if our lead vocalist was a dead ringer for Bob Marley but sang as beautifully as Marvin Gaye?”
When the band visited Salt Lake City’s Union Events Center on Wednesday evening (Jan. 22, 2025) to perform as many gorgeous songs as possible in a short hour and a half, they brought a whole vibe. And that’s vague enough to mean a lot of things. Yes, there were very tall bongo drums being pounded on. There were a couple of easy-to-smile-at backup singer types whose arms danced perfectly in sync. Occasional sax and trombone and trumpet? Yes, yes, and yes. The vibe was all of that, but a lot more, too.
The vibe also came with faded flowing blue jeans and dimmed lights. It sounded like an old slightly staticky late-night radio or a lightly scratched soul record. It had falsettos that made girls scream (and always right on cue). It felt like a lot of love, and some couples acted on that, exploring the ample open floor spaces by dancing together. It felt like kindness and courage, too, as singer Josh Lane often took it upon himself to leave the stage and join the thrilled masses, clambering over barricades, everyone singing and swaying and pointing their phones towards him together. Why sing “Lucid Girl” from afar if you don’t have to, anyway?
As far as moments to remember go, the kind that comes in the magic of an encore, the one you are grateful you didn’t miss by sticking around to the tail end, “Can I Call You Rose?” was a perfectly orchestrated cherry on top of all else. Everyone agreed as they helped the band sing it. They understood. This was nobody’s first rodeo. Go, team!
When the Daptone label sadly lost Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley the following year (RIP to both late greats), it was like a ship losing both anchors. Both were quickly familiar voices in that world and likely its two most bankable rising stars. Their large shoes were left behind several years ago to be filled, but they fit Thee Sacred Souls pretty perfectly. The band’s only two albums into their brief journey (and one is as deeply likable as the next), but Wednesday’s display solidifies this now-formed truth: the people don’t just like all Thee Sacred Souls are doing; they’re hungry for it. They can’t get enough. And that’s part of that overall vibe, too.
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Photos by: Nathan Christianson (IG: @npcplus)
