Provo is Love-struck

Local bands Cory Mon, VanLadyLove and We are the Strike played in the latest installment of Provo’s Rooftop Concert Series to their screaming fangirls and fanboys.

A tall, wild-haired, bassist that wore a white tank and red suspenders took the stage first on Friday night at this year’s second concert of Provo’s rooftop series. His personality is undeniably bold and he promises it’s not a stage façade. He is Clark Cannon, one third of the characters that makes up Cory Mon’s current touring configuration.

They look more wild than they sound, but that doesn’t mean their music isn’t energetic. The songs from Mon’s latest album, North, are laidback and beach-esque.

It’s fortunate that this concert was outdoors; the folk-rock set mingles with the sweet summer air.

For years, Cory Mon toured solo. He still plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, bass drum and sings while Cannon and Stephen Jensen back him up on bass, vocals and percussion.

VanLadyLove took the stage second, just hours before they were scheduled to leave for New York, where they competed in and subsequently won the “Artist on the Verge” competition.

The group looked as prepared and practiced as they sounded, even with a few technical difficulties. These guys are serious players, and Steele Saldutti, the group’s bassist, says they have never been so tight.

They rocked through songs from their new album, Love Matters, a cover of “Shiver,” and brought on a surprise guest, Larry Green, for a cover of the Beatles’ “My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Green is a guitar professor at BYU and Saldutti’s uncle).

If you missed them this time, sit tight. The competition they won is prestigious. They’ll be around.

We are the Strike is pretty rambunctious fun for a group of BYU guys wearing button-down shirts and bowties. Their funk/soul/pop performance is like retro-romance.

That sounded cheesy. Hear me out.

They aren’t predictable. One second, they are charming and seductive, playing steamy funk like they come from 60s Detroit. The next, they’re really really fun and just goofy enough (evidenced by the multiple accents lead vocalist Chris Crabb employed between songs). And there were fireworks – both the type that Hollywood encourages all to search for, and two actual fireworks that went off behind the stage.

Pianist Jake Justice began the set with a piano solo that will be released on his solo album later this year. Crabb came on and with his back to the audience and a conductor’s baton, brought the whole band, complete with brass section, in with two striking cords.

The set came from their original discography released earlier this year and included a soulful and jazzy cover of “Kiss” by Prince.

The guitarist, sax player and drummer all showed off their chops with a few jam solos throughout.

Douse Def Leppard in funk and soul for an accurate idea of what the finale sounded like. The concert ended with “Pour Some Sugar on Me” – the last few lines sung a capella by all nine men in a line, with their hands clasped like angels in a choir. The crowd went berserk for them.

 

*Disclosure: After the concert, I received a free deluxe hug from Clark Cannon and Steve Jensen of Cory Mon. This in no way affected my journalistic integrity.