Melbourne’s Vance Joy – the stage moniker of singer-songwriter James Keogh – has come a long way in the past 12 months.
Having only just released his EP, God Loves You When You’re Dancing, Keogh has toured with the likes of Julia Stone, Of Monsters And Men and Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning, plus performed at Splendour In The Grass.
Despite being set to tour Canada and the US later this year, the singer’s low-key nature allowed him, his band and supporter Julia Stone to stand in the crowd virtually unnoticed throughout the support acts.
Opening proceedings, Roscoe James Irwin, multifaceted musician from The Cat Empire and The Bamboos, appeared armed with a three-loop station pedal, a keyboard and an assortment of percussion instruments.
Building his set on a synthetic juxtaposition of jingling, ringing, rattling and whistling, Irwin hummed a looping tune and keyed in the necessary notes before beginning each new song.
The dreamy fusion of sounds vibrated under his voice as the beat rose and trickled through the looping echoes, coming to a close with the resilient “Fortunate One”.
With an aesthetic clearly influenced by Bob Dylan, Fraser A. Gorman then strutted on stage and glanced at the audience from under his frizz of curly hair.
Gorman’s old-time dustbowl singing style was ably supported by the rich country-blues sounds of his band Big Harvest. The singer’s vocals rolled over the desolate lyrics like a storm, recalling musical greats like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie.
Gorman’s relaxed charisma added welcome layers to the show, and the end of the set attracted the collected interest of the waiting crowd.
Noticeably shyer when he toured back in February, Vance Joy’s own stage presence has improved markedly in the past few months.
While his façade of reserved quiet is understandable, Keogh tears the lyrics from some visceral place deep inside of him. This wonderfully expressed conviction of character brought the audience close to silence for “Emmylou”.
As his voice caught on key words, breaking in a humbled desperation, Keogh revealed the subtle energies of “From Afar”, and new tracks “Red Eye” and “Waste Of Time”.
With each verse rising in momentum towards hooking choral pleas, every new number bled with all the comforts and insecurities of relationships. The songs were so resonant, the crowd was left with no doubt that Vance Joy wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.
The sincerity and vulnerability that characterizes the God Loves You When You’re Dancing EP shone through in the performance, resulting in a heartbreakingly intimate set. Keogh’s performance held a beautifully bittersweet quality – the broken lyrics forming stunning aural mosaics around the singer and his band.
Coming to an energetic close with the blaming “Playing with Fire” and the Beirut-esque, uke-fuelled hit single “Riptide”, Keogh promised to stick around once he had finished packing up. Humble while his star is clearly rising, he obviously intended to buy a few people beers in return for their support.
