SiriusXM Presents Vance Joy At The Studio, Webster Hall

Vance Joy

New York – Tuesday was a tireless affair, a day where nearly every story on page one concerned Apple’s latest product release and the tech sect giddily ushered in the newest addition to our ‘iLives.’ Suffice it to say, ending the day with a magnanimous concert by knockout, singer-songwriter James Keogh was just what the doctor ordered to keep a lucky few tethered to the tèrre.

The evening was a private showcase of the Australian all-star known as Vance Joy, a musician who has inarguably exploded in past months. Hosted by SiriusXM, the night unfurled at The Studio, Webster Hall’s basement adjunct venue.

The space boasts a well-loved atmosphere that is divey in all the best ways. Yet the venue’s greatest strength is its size. The Studio is small enough to offer the kind of intimacy that elevates a concert to the next level. Though closed to the public, there was no shortage of starry-eyed fandom on the faces of industry professionals in attendance. Vance Joy is a high-caliber act, extraordinarily talented to boot, and his capacity to seduce an audience is seemingly second nature.

After a brief introduction by the event organizers, Vance Joy took the stage around 8:30 PM. Armed with nothing but a sly smile and an irrefutable and humble sense of conviction, he launched directly into “Emmylou.” A nostalgia-laced ballad, it was the perfect pick to quiet the collective minds of concertgoers. A silence then settled over the crowd, the type that boarders on reverence, and attendees braced themselves for a vitrine into unabashed, sonic authenticity.

Next up, after a gracious thanks to SiriusXM, Keogh delivered a bang-up rendition of “From Afar.” After cycling though a handful of tracks from his new album, Dream Your Life Away on Atlantic Records, Keogh invited a brief interlude for some anecdotal offerings, intrinsically tied to his life on the road.

“I just flew in from LA,” he said, “and I feel like my soul is still getting through customs. My soul is still trying to meet my body, but I think for the last few songs it’ll be here,” he added, with a smile seemingly designed to charm the masses.

Keogh then exploded into “Ways To Come,” followed by an evident standout of the evening, “Mess Is Mine.” This, Keogh performed with an empowerment unlike any of the evening’s previously delivered tracks. Of course, Keogh closed his set with his most popular cut, and the jam responsible for propelling him to stardom at breakneck speed: “Riptide.”

Perhaps it was the intimacy of the space, or maybe it was the crowd’s unspoken welcome of a mid-week respite, but the audience was beside itself. And when the words “New York City” came to bear in “Riptide’s” lyrics, there was no place else worth being at that exact moment in the city that never sleeps.

There’s been no shortage of press surrounding this musical wunderkind since his debut. In reviewing Keogh’s most recent record, our Chicago-based writer Sarah Hess perfectly epitomized Keogh as “the Jeff Buckley of this generation,” and posited that Dream Your Life Away will “hold its place atop record collections for years to come.”

Here’s the even better news: tour dates are limitless. Keogh’s moveable endeavor to support his latest album is well underway, and will dominate his calendar through March. With shows scheduled in the US, Europe and Australia, the opportunities to catch Keogh in the act are vast. Fingers crossed life on the road won’t stall this musician’s writing too much, because we cannot wait to see what he dreams up next.

Liz Rowley

Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.
Liz Rowley