By Saturday night, the winter cold had given way to some spring weather and the skies outside 9:30 Club were hazy and warm. This summery atmosphere was perfect for the relaxing indie sounds of Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy.
Fans flocked inside the club for Joy’s second of two sold-out performances. They crammed in looking for the best view or, in the case of some, the best position to hurl aggressive flirtations at the stage. The time drew closer to 9:30 p.m. and the black scrim dropped to reveal a painted swirl of colors and a marquee lit title, “VANCE JOY.”
This show was Joy’s 27th on his The Fire and the Flood tour, with only four stops left. The massive tour coming to an end did not affect his performance energy at all, and when he stepped on the stage, opening with his gold-certified single “Mess is Mine,” his vivacity and love for performance shone through.
Joy gave the crowd the experience of Melbourne, Australia, summers while performing most of his Dream Your Life Away album. Floating away in the powerful Australian waves and traveling long hours to find the love of your life seem like perfectly normal adventures down under, especially with Joy as your guide.
At one point, before performing the song “Snaggletooth” off of his EP God Loves You When You’re Dancing, he told the crowd that the lyrics had been inspired by Sia. As one of his favorite singer-songwriters, he was researching her one day and read she had a snaggletooth. This inspired him to pen a song about embracing imperfections. Stories like these were told numerous times throughout the night, making the set reminiscent of an episode of VH1’s “Storytellers.”
In between songs, his onstage persona would momentarily break when a heckle of “You are so hot!” or “I love you!” would make its way toward the stage. Joy, seemingly flattered by the outburst, would flash a smile in the direction of the message and a collective scream would rise from the crowd.
