Ryan Bowman

Vance Joy serenaded the crowd at the Lawn Stage with a mix of songs and personal anecdotes for an evening set as the blazing sun set on the third day of Firefly. Opening with “Fire and the Flood,” the Australian singer/songwriter gracefully captivated the audience with his vocals and guitar. He transitioned into a feel-good song off his newest album, Nation of Two, “Like Gold.” He was all smiles throughout the show, happily bouncing around on stage with his guitar and ukulele. The set consisted of a mix of newer songs: “Call If You Need Me,” “One of Those Days,” and “We’re Going Home,” as well as some off his first album, Dream Your Life Away.

His melodic voice and upbeat lyrics kept the packed crowd dancing and singing as the sun set. After almost every song he shared stories about what each song meant to him and what the inspiration was behind each tune. Towards the end of the set he did a little mashup of “All Night Long,” from Lionel Richie and “Sorry,” by Justin Bieber – an interesting combo but Vance has the skill of making anything he sings sound beautiful. His second to last song was “Saturday Sun,” off his new album and has already amassed 25 million+ streams on Spotify in just a few months. He brought out the ukulele and everyone knew what time it was – “Riptide.” The catchy melody and lyrics had had quite literally everyone who could hear it singing along and doing the air guitar ukulele.

Special thanks to Vance’s tour photographer Brad Cauchy for providing us with some awesome pictures from the set.

Stream his new album here: