September 16 , 2014
Last week I had the privilege of seeing Vance Joy live in concert. Sirius XM Radio hosted a private concert in The Studio at Webster Hall – a very small, intimate venue. The concert was amazing! I absolutely loved the venue, the intimate setting was incredible, and the sound was fabulous. (Pictures below include the setlist which was taped to the floor by the microphone and the stage setup prior to Vance Joy taking the stage.)
Vance Joy (real name James Keogh) is just what you would expect from a strapping young Australian – tall, dark, and handsome. 🙂 He is actually just adorable. He has this gorgeous curly dark hair and a very shy, serious face that intimates all of his emotions when he sings. When he cracks a smile, it melts the room.
He seemed a little shy on the stage and was not a big talker, but certainly kept the music flowing and the audience entertained. He has a great band, all of whom seem to be enjoying themselves, particularly the drummer. I loved watching the drummer; there were certain songs when I looked at him and he had the biggest smile on his face that I have ever seen – it looked like pure joy.
One of my very favorite things about live shows, particularly when it is just an artist and their guitar (essentially), is to listen to the clarity of the voice. Vance Joy did not disappoint! What an incredible voice, the instruments were just a nice accompaniment to him.
I invited a friend to accompany me for this show and we stood right at the stage edge immediately in front of the microphone. Seriously, my purse sat on the stage at Vance Joy’s feet. We literally could not have been any closer! There were moments when I wanted to reach up and strum the guitar. Not really, but you know that feeling when you think, “… if I just reached up I could ….” Some people feel that way about jumping off the edge of a cliff … not me, I just want to reach up and play the guitar. 🙂
I posted Vance Joy‘s most popular song, “Riptide” as the Song of the Day back on August 2, 2014. Since that time, the song has grown in popularity and his debut album, ‘dream your life away‘ was released earlier this month (in fact, it was on September 9 in the US – the day of this concert). The album is fantastic and is loaded with great songs. I highly recommend checking out the entire album; it has a lot of variety and I think all of the songs warrant attention. It is hard for me to just recommend a couple of songs, but if I had to pick a couple in addition to “Riptide” and today’s song, I would definitely recommend checking out “Mess Is Mine” (odd video, but cool song) and “My Kind Of Man” (if you want to see pure emotion from a singer and an incredible voice, check out this video!).
I love today’s song and the title really resonated with me this week. No wasted time going on in this home right now – we are in what you would call M-O-T-I-O-N! Enjoy the video and Vance Joy‘s music. Keep your eye on this young man from Melbourne, Australia, he is certainly a rising star! If you get a chance to see him live, particularly in an intimate venue, I would strongly recommend it.
