Kali Uchis
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento
August 17, 2025
Photos by Paul Piazza
Kali Uchis, the mesmerizing Columbian-American vocalist, headlined the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento recently on the third date of her Sincerely world tour.
Uchis has a high, clear, and supple voice, and every now and then she adds a touch of jazzy tartness. Her willingness to range through a variety of genres has enabled her to create a slew of massive pop hits that resound with a new generation of listeners. Her own influences range from Billie Holiday to Curtis Mayfield to Irma Thomas among others. She has long been fascinated by early soul and doo-wop recordings.
The 31 year-old musician has been steadily climbing the neo-soul and Latin pop music ranks since being featured on the Gorillaz collaboration “She’s My Collar” in 2017. Later in 2019, she collaborated with Mac Miller and the Free Nationals on “Time,” which turned out to be the late rapper Miller’s first posthumous release.
By 2023, when Uchis released her third full-length album Red Moon in Venus, she was venturing into psychedelic soul and the dreamy record made many top record of the year lists. Her next record, Orquideas, was recorded entirely in Spanish and was infused with playful energy and featured collaborations with a few of the Latin music world’s biggest contemporary artists.
Her latest record Sincerely, emphasizes dream pop and psychedelic pop and features some of Uchis’ finest vocals to date. She showcased the majority of the new record in Sacramento and also emphasized the Orquideas hits. There were a total of 18 songs from both records in an epic-length, 38 song set. Uchis brought out many set pieces, performing on the back of a motorcycle for one song and in a giant teacup in another. The crowd, many of whom had emulated the singers dreamy outfits, with stunning looks of their own, seemed to know every word of every song.
Opening the show were Thee Sacred Souls, who feature Josh Lane, an incredibly talented young vocalist from Sacramento. The band, who have released two knockout albums on Brooklyn’s legendary Daptone Records, have made a name for themselves with a mastery of retro soul with stunning doo-wop harmonies and excellent arrangements.
The band began in 2019, when San Diego bassist Sam Samano and drummer Alex Garcia connected with Lane, who had recently moved to their city, on Instagram. The rest is history. At the Golden 1 Center, the sold-out crowd were very familiar with the group’s repertoire and sang and swayed along with the band.
On a couple of occasions, Lane got into the crowd with a wireless microphone and covered the length of the arena, occasionally stopping to let fans sing along with him. It was quite an opening act spectacle and it is very likely Thee Sacred Souls will continue to ascend in the near future.
