If you don’t know Vance Joy.
But you will by the end of the summer.
Words and Photos by Dan Locke
I didn’t know who Vance Joy was a couple of months ago. Then one morning on Good Morning American I
heard and saw him for the first time with the catchy tune we all have heard.
He is the young lad from Australia with that catchy tune
called “Riptide” which no one heard, until it started to blow up on American
radio station. This took two years for this to happen. So he is no Overnight Sensation. This is the song, which is making him a
household name around the world. On GMA
he was performing it with a ukulele. The
last time I could remember anyone on the radio with a ukulele was Tiny
Tim. But Vance is a lot better then, Mr.
Tim.
So after hearing the song I decided to go check him out
live. And I was very surprise. He played
at the Metro in Chicago. This was the last date of his solo tour before he
heads out with Taylor Swift. The Metro
is one of the best rock clubs in America which has had people like Sonic Youth,
Butthole Surfers, X, The Banges, The Ramones, R.E.M., Pylon, KMFDM, Nirvana,
Soundgarden, Cheap Trick, Interpol, Kanye West, The Frames, Yeah Yeah Yeahs,
Disturbed, No Doubt, The White Stripes, The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins, James
Brown, Iggy Pop, George Clinton, Bob Dylan, and Prince to perform on it stage. One of the iconic rock clubs in America (on this
list you have CBGBs, Bowery Ballroom, The Troubadour and The Crocodile in Seattle).
I got to the club at 7:45, and the club was still empty. But
by the time he hit the stage it was the fullest, I have ever seen it. People were line up to the stairs, going the
lower level (the performing stage is on the second flood). The Metro holds 1100
people.
The first thing that surprise me was house music which was
playing before he started was all heavy FM rock music from the 70’s. You have
to remember that the crowd average age was 21.
And I am sure that most of them never heard any of these song. Songs like Edgar Winter “Freeride”. This was a hint to what I was about to listen
to.
Wikipedia defines his sound as Indie pop/folk. But to me it is really 70’s pop rock with a
heavy acoustic guitar fronted sound. With an overlay of 2015 Bass filling in
the sound. It was fun to see the crowd
enjoying his every move. And if he smile
at someone in the crowd that people would return the smile.
I can see that his success has not gone to his head
yet. I feel that he was still
humble. And now that he is starting to
tour with the biggest star on the planet.
Taylor Swift. I feel that he will
stay that way. Because after the show
even though he was going to start his biggest tour in his life. He still stay to meet and greet all the fans
who waited to see him.
The setlist was the following:
From Afar
Red Eye
Winds of Change
Wasted Time
Mess Is Mine
My Kind of Man
All I Ever Wanted
Emmy Lou
Georgia
Best That I Can
Play with Fire
Riptide
Just a word in closing.
I was hoping since this was the end of his solo tour, that he maybe have
a guest singer come on stage with him.
Well it did not happen. But overall
it was still a fun show.
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