It’s hard to wrap my head around that it’s been 10 years since the release of Dream Your Life Away. Vance Joy’s sophomore album and the one that put him squarely on the map with “Fire and the Flood” and “Georgia” as well as major tours (including being the support for Taylor Swift on the 1989 World Tour).
But here we are, and in celebration, Vance Joy has embarked on a short tour with a stop at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday.
I’ve had the great fortune to have seen Vance Joy throughout the last few years, going from small venues to now headlining his largest in the DC area on Sept. 21. And the evening was full of surprises too, but I’ll get into that in a moment.
As the cool breeze from the passing rains washed through openers Tiny Habits took the stage. The group formed as students of the Berklee College of Music impressively showcased rich harmonies and added in a couple of covers, including personal favorite, Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know.”
Then Local Natives took the stage highlighting their career greats. Local Natives are a band I’d missed seeing over the years, and seeing them perform made me wish I had seen them before as they had an incredible energy.
In a surprising change to the typical stage entrance, Vance Joy took the stage solo with his acoustic guitar and started on “From Afar.” Soon, he was joined by bassist Jono Colliver and guitarist Sam Woodbury, who provided lush harmonies to that song and “Winds of Change.” Vance told the crowd that he started the show off with those two songs in particular because over 10 years ago he would play those songs at every open-mic night and every coffee shop around.
With the rest of the band joining the trio, they went into “Mess Is Mine,” a foot-stomping number that had an undeniably catchy feel replete with a brilliant horn section.
The band played through a significant part of Dream Your Life Away, there were songs like “Saturday Sun” from Nation of Two that sounded amazing in such a large venue.
And then it came to the surprise as Vance Joy told the audience he was heading out to join us and made his way with his acoustic guitar up the stands to a smaller stage near the lawn. He then proceeded to perform solo “Emmylou” and “My Kind of Man” before having Tiny Habits join him for the Noah Cyrus song, “Everybody Needy Someone,” which he collaborated with Cyrus on.
Stream “Everybody Needs Someone” (Official Audio) by Vance Joy and Noah Cyrus on YouTube:
Back at the main stage, Vance Joy and his band played through several songs before another surprise cover of the KISS classic, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” and ended the regular set with the hit “Riptide.” A brilliant night of fantastic songs and good vibes.
Vance Joy continues his Dream Your Life Away tour with stops throughout September.
The setlist included:
From Afar
Winds of Change
Mess Is Mine
Red Eye
Take Your Time
Fire and the Flood
Clarity
Saturday Sun
Emmylou
My Kind of Man
Everybody Needs Someone (Noah Cyrus cover) (with Tiny Habits)
Georgia
Wasted Time
Missing Piece
Lay It on Me
I Was Made for Lovin’ You (KISS cover)
Riptide
Encore:
I’m With You
Here are more photos of Vance Joy performing at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
Here are photos of Local Natives opening at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sept. 21, 2024.
And here are photos of Tiny Habits opening the evening at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sept. 21, 2024.
