Vance Joy, Budjerah, Mia Wray @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 9/11/2022
Vance Joy is the ultimate professional and consummate performer playing a stellar gig at Hindley Street Music Hall. If it wasn’t a sell out it would have been really close as fans were packed right in trying to get the best vantage point whether that is upstairs or downstairs. Well served by supports Mia Wray, super talent, who was on super early with set highlight being new single Evidence and rising star Budjerah. Budjerah has some serious pipes and can sing, wowsers! Playing in acoustic mode singles Ready For The Sky and Missing You were some serious winners in his set.
Celebrating the release of his third album In Our Own Sweet Time, Vance said it was great to be back in Adelaide after quite some time and reconnecting with the faithful. Opening with Missing Piece he had the crowd in the palm of his hands which amped up further on Mess Is Mine and Like Gold.
Pulling up stops part way through Every Side Of You saying “we’re professional, we got this bit wrong” really does show the care and pride in his show. Wasted Time proved popular and the song that got the new album rolling back in 2019 Don’t Fade will no doubt be a set staple in time. The crowd was full of voice on We’re Going Home and Clarity was all about what matters most and finding life’s priorities born out of the COVID years.
There was a real groovin’ and sing-a-long vibe on Saturday Sun and Vance really did shine on the acoustic version of I’m With You. Mobile phone lights lit up the room making for a really spectacular moment. Vance spoke about receiving a lengthy DM during a writing session in England which had a poem in it with the line “don’t stop liking what you see” catching his attention and twisting it to suit Looking At Me Like That. Fire And The Flood was a big highlight in the set.
The good time vibe continued on the song Catalonia about the fun of living overseas. Georgia got a big response but Riptide topped that ten fold. The surprise of the night was ABBA cover Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) which morphed in to Madonnna’s Hung Up, the crowd were well and truly up and about and dancing their hearts away. With no encore the show was brought to close on Lay It On Me. A really top notch production and performance, well worth checking out.
Live Review By Rob Lyon