Pop Break Live: Vance Joy “In Our Own Sweet Time” Tour at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 7, 2023.
Vance Joy, the Australian singer-songwriter who shot to fame with his triple platinum hit Riptide kicked off his highly anticipated North American Tour at The Met in Philly on 2/7.
He is touring in support of his critically acclaimed album, In Our Own Sweet Time, which was released in 2022. Written during covid, the record is his most personal to date. Joy leads the nominees for this years Rolling Stone Australia Awards. He is up for Best single, best album and the coveted Rolling Stone Global Award.
It was a very diverse crowd and there were lots of couples. So many of his songs have a sweet and romantic feel to them so I was not surprised. You could sense the audience was hyped up though. Before Joy and his band came out on stage there were multiple chants of E-A-G-L-E-S leading up to that. Not only was the crowd fired up for the show but they also had Sunday’s Superbowl on their minds. Those chants came later in the show as well. What can I say? It’s A Philly Thing.
The show started off with a bang with the anthem-like song “Missing Piece,” one of many excellent songs off his newest release. The one-two punch of “Wasted Time” and “Don’t Fade” really set the tone for the night. The horn section really added a little extra something special to many of the tunes played during the night. Front and center and armed with his ukulele, Joy lead the crowd in a loud sing- along during “Saturday Sun.” It was one of many during the show and the crowd happily obliged.
Joy is quite the writer and has so many songs with catchy choruses and melodies that get stuck in your head. One of of the highlights of the night was on the lyrically beautiful “Way That I’m Going.” I saw a few couples slow dancing on this one. When the very recognizable opening cords to “Riptide” came on there was a roar from the crowd. He let the audience sing the last part of the song. That lead into a high energy cover of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” ( A Man After Midnight ) / “Hung Up.” The show ended with “Lay It On Me.” I can’t say enough about his backing band. Simply incredible musicians.
It was a great night of music. So many sing-alongs and hands in the air moments. What a memorable night for his fans and what a great start for his tour. Honestly, It couldn’t have have gone any better!
