When I interviewed Vance Joy earlier this year, he said (when writing songs) if a song made him want to sing his heart out while playing it that was the barometer for him that the song was worthy.
Watching Vance and his fans sing their hearts out at the first of two ‘Nation Of Two World Tour’ shows at Brisbane's The Riverstage (20 September), there is no question of Vance’s worth as a singer-songwriter.
Alone onstage and silhouetted under the cover artwork of his second album, ‘Nation Of Two’, Vance kicked off the set with ‘Call If You Need Me’; and for the next 90 minutes, Vance’s soaring folk-pop vocals and signature, fingerpicking guitar chords drifted sublimely across Brisbane’s night sky.
Image © Bec Reid
Backed by a five-piece band, Vance alternated between tracks from his debut album ‘Dream Your Life Away’ and ‘Nation Of Two’.
Personal highlights included Vance falling silent during the “Won’t you let it be” lyrics of my favourite Vance track ‘Georgia’, before finally delivering the line himself in a perfectly executed, lingering note, as well as the raucous crowd sing-along to the anthemic ‘Fire And The Flood’.
Click here to read our February 2018 interview with Vance.
Proving that his storytelling abilities aren’t limited to songwriting, Vance introduced many songs with lively and often humorous anecdotes about the inspiration behind the lyrics. The background to ‘Little Boy’ was particularly entertaining; culminating with the description of an awkward, 18-year-old Vance standing on a nightclub dancefloor completely oblivious to the fact that his “massive” fake tooth was glowing.
Rather than the traditional encore interlude, a cover compilation of Lionel Richie’s ‘All Night Long’ and Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ signalled the start of the show’s impending crescendo, with the saxophone solos in ‘All Night Long’ eliciting wild cheers from the crowd.
Image © Vance Joy
Vance’s breakout hit ‘Riptide’, ‘Lay It On Me’ and the rollicking ‘Saturday Sun’ formed the perfect closing trifecta of fan favourites, and as I exited The Riverstage with a singing heart, I gave credit to James Gabriel Wanderson Keogh (aka Vance) for choosing Vance Joy as his stage name, for joy is most certainly what he brings.
