Thee Sacred Souls Serenades Salt Lake City
Article Written by: Destiny Ross & Photography by: Alec Moody
In the nip of a cold winter, Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, Utah, Thee Sacred Souls had a fire cooking up for locals and travelers, all coming together with a mutual love and respect for music. This was only the second time this modern-day soul band has blessed us by visiting, and with their first-ever LP, Thee Sacred Souls, that just released in the Fall of 2022, and boy was it worth the wait.
This is Thee Sacred Souls’ first-ever full-length tour… Before this year, they had only done a few solo headliner shows, mostly in California and Texas. Taking us all by surprise, they came to The Commonwealth Room, right on the outskirts of Downtown Salt Lake City. The Commonwealth Room is a 21+ venue giving space to enjoy the sweet soul without many distractions.
With this being Thee Sacred Souls’ first-ever tour, they are sadly almost fully sold out of US portion tickets. The only show NOT sold out on their headliner tour in the US is tomorrow’s show in Fort Collins, CO. The EU portion of their tour still has tickets up for grabs! Other than that, they’re making a few festival appearances later this year, so if you’re in the market to melt to the voices of a sweet seven-piece band, look no further and grab a ticket by any means possible.
Performing solo before the massive seven-membered band, Jalen N’Gonda had an equally large stage to fill, and he had no problem with doing so with just the sweet tang of his voice and the melodies he created with only his guitar. After growing up in the states, Jalen is based in Liverpool, playing sold-out venues in London and Geneva. We were truly being treated to the sweet creations of this fresh artist’s take on soul-bound blues.
They set the stage with icy cool blue lighting as it was accompanied by a single man who took the stage with no band and only a guitar to be paired with. He introduced himself as the one and only, Jalen N’Gonda. There was a shout from the crowd, “You don’t have to tell us who you are, baby,” a smile formed on the humble musician’s face. He thanked the crowd for having him as he played us into the beginning of his beautiful set.
Jalen had a jam-packed set for us filled with a plethora of modern takes on classic sounds as well as his meticulously created original pieces, ALL performed solo. He blessed us with a performance of his newest released songs. When he performed What A Difference She Made without a band, it honestly was such a special and intimate moment between him, as the creator, and me/us, as the listeners. As he bore his heart to us through his music, its echo filled the room, which was so silent that you could hear a pin drop as we were all mesmerized so deeply by the way his voice filled the room.
Aside from the breathtaking original songs that he performed, he took on the classic rock song Baby What You Want Me to Do by Elvis Presley. He put his own signature Jalen twist on it, and we were greeted with a slowed, more twangy, soul-filled revival as he came in and made it his own. I’m not one to like covers more than the originals, but I sure wish this recording was on a streaming service so I could put it on repeat… But that’s honestly how I felt throughout the whole set. I went home and binge-listened to all of his released music, and you definitely should too because I was not disappointed in the slightest.
After the short intermission, the bandmates of Thee Sacred Souls slowly started flooding the stage, and the room was quickly filled with ringing screams. Soft-spoken lead singer, Josh Lane, introduced the band and got right into their first song, Overflowing. The big bang they started with followed some unfortunate technical difficulties. Their misfortune was our gain because we got to see Josh’s personality shine through as he improvised with what to say in that short period of difficulty. On top of that, we got to experience first-hand his love for his fans and the interactions he’s so happy to have, and he makes that very well-known.
Their newest album is filled with songs of love and sorrow. Whether it be romantic or platonic, in between the songs he graced us with explanations and dedications for each of them. There’s a special thing about the way this band is able to convey every emotion through every aspect. Whether it be a melodic duet filled with honey-like lyrics or a piece on a stinging subject with harsh blows… All of it makes you sway back and forth and leave you wanting more. This album delivers what every fan has been waiting for since their debut in 2020, a full-length emotion-filled piece of modern-day soul.
This was one of the most memorable concerts I’ve been to, and for so many reasons. Josh made sure that each of the band members was highlighted throughout the whole show. Within each second of every song, they were all clearly a family, and it was clear as he made his rounds across the stage many times. Whether he was having moments with the pianist as he was shredding it on the keys or him making it over to the ladies to jam out while they were creating the prettiest harmonies, it felt like home, regardless of never being able to see them live before.
Not only that, but he made us all feel like we were a part of the experience, making eye contact with every section of the audience to even coming out into the crowd to share an even more personalized experience. Not a second went by in the concert when I DIDN’T have goosebumps covering my body formed by the sweet Southern California soul sounds that filled the room. All of this really shines a light on what he wants his meaning as a band and a human to be, and in its purest form, it’s our LOVE.
This band is on the fast come-up. As of today, they’ve amassed 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and around this time last year, they maybe had 800,000. They were recently on Jimmy Fallon for their newest album, and they’ve only been releasing music since 2020. In all seriousness, this band deserves every ounce of success and has earned it all by providing a magical musical experience for its listeners.
Find Thee Sacred Souls on Instagram, Spotify, Twitter, & Youtube
