It’s a Swift act to follow
Vance Joy feels the rush as an opener on Taylor Swift’s tour.
“It was a bit of a no- brainer.” That’s how Vance Joy described his decision to sign on as one of Taylor Swift’s opening acts on her massive “1989” tour, which completes a fivenight stand at Staples Center on Wednesday. But the opportunity didn’t come without challenges for this 27- yearold singer- songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. Best known for his scrappy folk- rock hit “Riptide,” Joy was successfully building an audience even before pop’s biggest star came calling. He took time out between shows at L. A.’ s Ace Hotel to discuss Swift, songwriting and what it’s like to play stadiums.
Were you worried that your sound, which is kind of homey and acoustic, wouldn’t translate to these enormous spaces?
I was may be too sure of
myself, actually: “Taylor Swift’s fans are super- enthusiastic— this’ll be easypeasy.” But after a couple of shows it became clear that playing to this audience is different fromplaying to people who know all my songs. Taylor’s fans will often know “Riptide,” but they don’t really know much about me.
How have you adapted?
It’s been a trial by fire. The goal is just to be yourself, which you think you’ve got down pat. Playing for100 people in a room, you can mumble into the mike and say a few things and nothing’s missed. But playing for 20,000 people and getting them to be engaged? You need to really project and be like, “Hey, I’m here!”
Thousands sang along to “Riptide” at Friday’s show.
It’s a moment, yeah.
You’ve played it somany times; are you still able to relate to what you were feeling when you wrote it?
It’s hard. I get in touch with the people loving it and with that feeling. From early on it’s been like this thing I’ve got in my pocket, this nice little gift. But you stop thinking about the fact that you wrote it, you know? It goes froma song you wrote to this thing that’s in a book. You open up the book, and you play the song.
What’s your favorite moment in your set?
Probably my song “Fire and the Flood.” Or “Georgia.” That one felt like another magic moment when I wrote it. That’s a rare kind of rush. I dug, and I found the right spot.
The stakes are high on this tour— it’s a huge audience full of potential fans. Do you feel that when you’re onstage?
In away. But nowthat I’ve sort of learned some of the little showmanship things, it’s slightly more relaxed. It’s not my show, so I can just have fun withmy half- hour set and then watch Taylor’s show.
How many times have you watched her?
At least 20 times. And some songs more than that; I’ve seen “I Knew You Were Trouble” like 28 times.
That’s your jam.
That’s my jam. It’s a really epic moment in the set.
Have you always been into big pop acts?
I’ve always gravitated toward songwriting, anything where it’s like,“Wow, that’s really good— howdid they do it?” I can appreciate the tricks. With pop music youwant to write songs that everyone can like. Someof it’s a bit cheesy or heavyhanded, but I don’t think a song is diminished by the fact that everyone likes it.
What do you do every day for the 23 1⁄2 hours you’re not onstage?
If the venue is in the middle of nowhere, it’s the bus, then catering, then hang out, then play the show. If it’s a place like [ Staples Center], we’ll try to do something to get away from the venue for a bit. But you can get really used to room service and hotel TV. I think maybe it’s lowering my IQ. The other day I was watching “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” and I was like, “This is really good.”