Vance Joy performed a concert at the Shrine Auditorium with openers Jamie Lawson and Elle King. The venue was packed with a surprisingly diverse audience, from young children accompanied by parents to college students and beyond. If you've never been to a concert at the Shrine Auditorium, the venue is a large ballroom with balconies. I was a little hesitant about the lack of seating for a singer-songwriter genre concert as many of the songs are low-key, but in fact the venue allowed the audience to move with the rhythms of the music and fostered an intimate yet communal musical experience. Being surrounded on all sides by people going wild for Jamie Lawson, Elle King, and for literally any of Vance Joy's songs made it a truly special evening.
Both Jamie Lawson and Elle King warmed up the crowd before Vance Joy took stage at 9:30pm. Having never before really listened to the British singer-songwriter Jamie Lawson, it was amazing to hear the excited crowd reactions to his music, and when he performed his last song, the crowd cheered incredibly loudly. I was pleasantly surprised by his music and have since been searching through his music. Some of my favorites include "Ahead of Myself" and the movingly lyrical "Wasn't Expecting That," which let me tell you, I certainly was not expecting.
And then there was Elle King, singer of the recent hit, "Ex's and Oh's." Singer-songwriter Elle King has powerful, gruff voice with a country twang that gives her a unique vocal quality that distinguishes her eclectic bluesy country-rock music from others. After her strong vocals on "Good to Be A Man" greatly impressed the audience, she's sure to have gained a new fan-base. The talented musician even played a banjo for a few songs, which made the concert more intimate and just plain-old special. In between songs, Elle King also humorously engaged the audience by telling jokes and talking about the origins of her songs, which truly personalized the show. My favorite song she performed was "Song of Sorrow," an upbeat and instrumentally rich song that got the audience moving.
And then there was Vance Joy, the Australian singer-songwriter (whose endearing accent made many swoon). The moment the audience had been waiting for had arrived: band members began to cross the stage and take position with their instruments. Roaring fans cheered and excitement hit a climax, whereupon Vance Joy humbly emerged on-stage and opened up the night with "Mess is Mine," one of my all-time favorites (although, to be honest, all of his songs are my favorites – he's that talented). Having listened to his album what feels likes hundreds of times, I, along with friends and fellow audience-members, sang along to all of the songs he performed, which always makes concerts more fun: it makes you feel connected to the artist in the live setting in a way that a recording at home can never achieve.
From "Riptide" to "Georgia" and everything in between, Vance Joy gave the audience everything they could have hoped for — and more. The show was outstanding. Joy played his guitar for every song, his hands lyrically gliding across the frets and strings. While the Shrine Auditorium is a large venue, Joy's talented voice filled all corners of the room and had people swaying, singing along, and falling in love with him.
Joy performed a wide range of his songs, moving the audience with his heart-rendering ballads like "From Afar" and "Georgia." He gave an incredibly moving, heart-wrenching performance of "Georgia" that threatened to bring audience-members to tears (if not at least induce goosebumps). I've never before been to a concert that moved me as much as his music did — my friends and I got goosebumps for practically half of his songs because of the passion that he infuses into his sweet vocals, beautiful lyrics, and rich instrumentals.
And let's not forget the hit song that put him on the radar, "Riptide." When pulled out his ukulele and started to play, excitement soared and he lit up the entire room with his vibrant melody. The audience enthusiastically sung along, cheered, and danced, truly bringing the audience together. While for many of the songs people swayed back and forth, the contagious and upbeat nature of "Riptide" had us all putting on our dancing shoes and busting moves.
When Vance Joy came back on stage for his encore and sung "Fire and the Flood" (particularly fitting as his tour is the Fire and the Flood Tour), we all excitedly sung along as we knew the performance was almost over and so we wanted to make the most of the experience.
Vance Joy could not have been a better performer. His raw vocals shone and brought tremendous smiles to those in the room. Joy infused passion and emotion into every single song and gave his all throughout the concert, which was evident in both the quality of his voice and his emotive facial expressions. While he is very talented, he gave the impression of being an incredibly sweet, genuine, and modest man. You can see this even just from looking at his concert attire: a simple black long-sleeve button-up and some black jeans. He doesn't need flashy clothes to entertain the audience because his raw talent and music sells him. While he danced around with his guitar a little bit, he didn't do routine dance numbers to get the crowd moving because his music does that for him. When you go to a Vance Joy concert, it really is all about the music.
To be honest, words cannot fully describe how amazing he was as a performer. He engaged the audience both when singing and when talking about the motivations behind his songs, which really personalized his performance. I'm still gushing about it and definitely will be for quite some time. While this concert had an overall mellow and calming mood because of the singer-songwriter nature of his music, it was far from boring and exceeded any and all expectations for a concert of this genre.
Although I love listening to Vance Joy's music at home, nothing compares to his live performance because the richness and depth of his voice encompassed the whole room and projected itself to every audience member.
So, thank you Jamie Lawson, Elle King, and Vance Joy for an unbelievably phenomenal and unforgettable night. While I was unfamiliar with both Elle King and Jamie Lawson before the show, I was pleasantly surprised and will be sure to check out more of their music. I'm still in awe because this was literally one of the best concerts I have ever been to and the concert has had a meaningful and prolonged impact on me. If you ever get the chance to see Vance Joy live, do not miss the opportunity. In fact, in trying to preserve the memory of this night, I'll have to resist the strong temptation to blast his melodious music so that I can relive the night in my memories a little while longer. Until we meet again, Vance Joy, we will love you "From Afar."
Reach Staff Reporter Emily Deissler here.
Annenberg Media