The Provo community is set for an explosive start to the music season featuring top-notch local talent at the seventh annual Rooftop Concert Series in downtown Provo.
On Friday, May 6 local favorite The Str!ke will light up the stage as it co-headlines the opening night of the free concert series. This group’s bombastic, theatrical energy is sure to get people excited, according to Courtney Kendrick, Rooftop Concert co-founder.
“They always bring a really fun crowd,” Kendrick said. “They can kind of span the demographic and appeal to a 14-year-old as well as a 44-year-old. They’re just good for everybody.”
This will be the band’s second Provo Rooftop Concert Series appearance. It has gained national recognition in recent years from playing with acts like Journey and Kelly Clarkson, as well as appearing on “Dancing with the Stars.”
The Aces, another local favorite, is co-headlining with The Str!ke. What started as a high school rock band has grown into one of Provo’s favorite groups. The Aces’ website states that it is “four girls about to rule the world.”
Kendrick beamed about getting The Aces on the bill this year and said lead singer Cristal Ramirez’s dreamy vocals are unreal.
Mimi Knowles, an award-winning singer, will open the show Friday night with his brand of funk, pop, soul and hip-hop. He won the Velour Battle of the Bands in 2013, a prestigious honor shared by previous winners and national acts Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees.
BYU Junior Ryan Day lives with members of both The Str!ke and Mimi Knowles’ bands and highly recommends both groups.
“What I love about The Str!ke is that they’re very energetic, and they have a really prominent horn section with trombones and saxophones,” Day said.
The Rooftop Concert Series started in 2010 as part of a project to revitalize downtown Provo. The goal was to bring more people downtown to engage in arts and culture.
The result has been a 180 degree shift in downtown Provo’s culture. Kendrick said she is still shocked to see so many people on the streets on a Friday night. What used to be a “ghost town” is now thriving, safe, fun and full of culture, according to Kendrick.
The concert series was held on top of a parking garage in downtown Provo until 2014. The series moved to the Nu Skin plaza and closed Center Street for the concert when Neon Trees performed at the close of the 2014 season. The event grew in popularity and the concerts remained on Center Street in 2015 and will remain there in 2016. The name “Rooftop Concert” stuck despite the location change.
The closing show with grammy-nominated DJ Kaskade brought crowds of over 17,000 people to center street last year.
This year the Provo Rooftop Concert Series has five free shows scheduled, on the first Friday of each month for May through September.
“This year is going to be a fun year, we have lots of fun bands that are going to be appealing to a lot of different people and maybe a couple surprises,” Kendrick said.
