Music review: Vance Joy

Academy, Dublin

This Melbourne folkie seems on the brink of a meaningful breakthrough, with his underdog ballad ‘Riptide’ basking in heavy airplay. He arrived at a sold-out Academy days after his debut on the TV show, Later…With Jools Holland. Both that turn and his first Irish performance highlighted the 26-year-old’s strengths and weaknesses: he is enormously impassioned, blessed with a beautifully earthy quaver — and yet, there’s an overspill of sincerity in his material that can feel cloying if you’re not in the mood.

As it happened, the overwhelmingly female attendance was very much in the mood, as curly-haired Joy — real name James Keogh — mooched from the wings, bearing a guitar and a widescreen pout.