The 2018 edition of triple j’s One Night Stand was marked with a comical moment, with Ruby Fields’ guitarist Adam Newling being mistaken for festival headliner Vance Joy.

Triple j announced a number of the special guests that would be descending upon St. Helens to complement their massive lineup, with names like SAFIA, Ball Park Music, and Luca Brasi all making appearances on the evening.

One of the most notable of these appearances was none other than Ruby Fields, who jumped up on stage to deliver a rousing rendition of Lorde’s ‘Homemade Dynamite’ with Middle Kids.

“It felt absolutely incredible to share the stage with them again,” Ruby Fields explained to triple j’s Veronica & Lewis. “It was a real fun time.”

“Doing a real cool cover of an cool artist’s song as well was a pretty awesome moment.”

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However, it seems that the excitement had all begun just one night earlier, with Ruby Fields’ guitarist Adam Newling being confused with Vance Joy while at a Chinese restaurant on Tasmania’s east coat.

“When we landed in Launceston we were like, ‘let’s pull over at this Chinese takeaway place’,” Ruby explained. “We got in there, and they kind of made a bit of a fuss and I thought – like, mister big ego – ‘oh yeah, they recognise me’.”

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“And then they went straight past me to my second guitarist and went, ‘you’re Vance Joy! We’ll give you a free kimono and you don’t have to pay for your dinner’.”

“At first, he went with it,” she continued. “Then it kind of started to weigh on him, the guilt, because they printed off Vance’s lyrics and got him to sign them.”

“Anyway, he left a $20 on the table and I was kind of like, ‘Oh, I’m Ruby Fields, I’m playing tomorrow night’, and they were like ‘nah’.”

Ruby Fields guitarist Adam Newling being mistaken for Vance Joy
Ruby Fields guitarist Adam Newling being mistaken for Vance Joy

When questioned by Veronica & Lewis if this confusion happened again at any other point during the weekend, Ruby Fields was quick to explain that they looked so different, it’s a wonder it even happened in the first place.

“Definitely not, he looks nothing like the bloke,” she explained. “When I told Vance about it the next day he was just like, ‘that guy?’, and I was like ‘I know, I’m so sorry’.”

Lewis Hobba also chimed in with his own personal experience, noting that when he saw the pair together, he thought that they couldn’t have looked any more different if they tried.

Image of Vance Joy
What Vance Joy actually looks like.

Newling has recently kicked off a solo career with his debut single ‘Cheer Up’. The visceral track explores the trenches of depression through a lens of hope and propels, with white-hot intensity, towards the light.

Watch Adam Newling’s debut music video ‘Cheer Up’:

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