Live Review: Vance Joy, Holy Holy

His songs are catchy and his vocals on point, but nevertheless there was something missing as Vance Joy took the stage of the Sydney Opera House over the weekend. A quick look around the room showed that the spark was not just missing from the stage, but it had failed to enter the room at all, as an underwhelmed House sat perfectly still, barely offering any kind of reaction to Joy at all.

Holy Holy opened the night, to much the same fanfare as what was received by Joy, the only moment that received a reaction from the crowd being a touching rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U in tribute to the late Prince.

The lacklustre crowd were the sole reason for the night's mediocrity. It's not even that Joy was having an off night, he kept the banter going between perfectly executed songs, but it seemed as though the sophistication of the venue had lulled the crowd into a comatose state. The only word that springs to mind when trying to describe the atmosphere is dull.

Opening with Mess Is Mine and Red Eye Joy powered through his set, but it wasn't until his second last song, Riptide, that he finally got somewhat of a reaction from a few members of the audience. But this was shortlived as next he brought out special guest Paul Kelly and everybody sat back down. An encore of My Kind Of Man and Fire And The Flood lifted the atmosphere, with a few people singing along and dancing, but it was almost a case of too little, too late.