“Play Riptide!”
“Nah I don’t think I’m gonna play that one tonight… LOL.”
From the opening minutes of his show at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre last night it was clear that Vance Joy, real name James Keogh, was in good spirits – cracking jokes with the audience, sharing the secrets of his songwriting process and exclaiming how excited he was to be able to play the historic venue. And he had every reason to be excited – the one-off show was scheduled in his hometown on the release day of his debut album Dream Your Life Away.
Joy opened the show with slow burner Emmylou from his 2013 EP God Loves You When You’re Dancing. Both this track and Snaggletooth really take on a new dimension when played live, with the latter’s moody guitar riff in the bridge and explosive outro providing a nice break from the surplus of cheery acoustic tracks in the set. That said there were many standouts from the new album. The soaring chorus of Red Eye is infectiously catchy as is the delicate Georgia. The raw, folk-inspired My Kind of Man is a change of pace from the rest of the album and works well live.
Keeping with the focus on Dream Your Life Away, we were given an insight into many of the songs off the new album – Georgia was written on New Year’s Day in “a random moment of inspiration,” and the line “I’m a dog lying down on a warm bit of pavement,” in Red Eye was inspired by an Al Pacino rant in the film Scent of a Woman. He intended to replace the “dadadada da da dadada” in All I Ever Wanted with something very poetic and meaningful yet never did, and no matter how many times Joy rehearses Winds of Change he can never remember the first note.
Riptide and new single Mess Is Mine were both crowd favourites, with both causing the crowd jump to their feet for a sing-along. For the encore, he performed a cover of K-Ci & JoJo’s All My Life, claiming “the extended intro is because I’ve forgotten the first line.” The cover was a perfect finish to what was a relaxed and enjoyable night as he moves into the next chapter of his music career.
BY KELSEY BERRY
Loved: That Joy is an Essendon supporter. Go the mighty Bombers (next year – ed.)
Hated: The guy who repeatedly felt the need to inappropriately whoop in the middle of soft acoustic songs. Shut up and let the man sing.
Drank: Vodka Cruisers, ‘cause I’m actually a 15-year-old girl (but seriously I forgot how good those things taste).
