Even if you don’t recognise Vance Joy’s name, you’ll probably have heard one of his songs and you’ll definitely know the girl he’s travelling the world with on tour right now.

The Aussie singer – real name James Keogh – may have released the song Riptide back in 2013 but the monster hit is still swirling around the radio and he got an enviable response when he played to a London crowd at British Summer Time at Hyde Park last weekend, which where we caught up with him.

He opened the main stage for the one-and-only Taylor Swift, who he is supporting on her enormous 1989 tour.

It’s a slot the 27-year-old views as a privilege. He told Vibe: “She’s awesome. She’s been a legend having us on the road.

“It’s been busy, we’ve done 13 shows and her shows are pretty incredible, huge production.

“It’s been a good step up for us playing to more people than ever. Her audiences are just amped and energised.”

Playing on the same bill as the biggest star on the planet right now has been a great opportunity for Vance to expand his fanbase too, especially since Taylor Swift chose to cover Vance’s Riptide when she appeared on Radio One’s Live Lounge.

“That was very flattering and she did a great job,” he said. “I loved that she did that.”

To repay the compliment, the humble Aussie returned the favour by recording a cover of I Know Places.

 He said: “I wanted to do it as well and I wanted to do it right. It took me a while to get my head around what song it would be and I just wanted to do it justice because she did such a good job.”

While the tour is mostly arenas, Vance relished the opportunity to play outside in the sunshine in London at a festival.

“Oh man, this is incredible. Perfect,” he said.

“Festival shows, you don’t have to do a sound check – you’re just thrown in there, you do it and you’re off – so there is a certain level of excitement to it.

“I feel like crowds at festivals have got their guard down a little bit more. You just play and people enjoy themselves and get more involved.”


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It was also a chance for Vance to get to know London – a city he loves – even better.

He said: “I appreciate London more and more every time I come here.

I got to see Hampstead Heath and go to some parks, maybe the third time I was here. It was awesome, how cool are these parks?

“Then I got to hang out in Portobello Road area. I had a friend who knew some good ways to walk round and some parks and it was so good.

“This time, we went to Shoreditch and hung out with some mates in Hackney and it was so cool. This place is actually awesome.”

While Vance’s hectic schedule is taking him away from the city for the foreseeable future, he’s got more music coming out – notably his song Great Summer being featured in the film Paper Towns, which stars Taylor Swift’s BFF Cara Delevingne.

“That was a song that I never put on my first EP. We recorded it and I liked it.

“For some reason we didn’t put it on – we had like four other songs and we thought ‘these’ll fit’ so we kind of kept it in our pocket.

“It was just a good opportunity and it’s cool to have a song in a movie. It’s actually going to be in the movie, which I thought was awesome.”

The movie is not out until August 17 but Vance was lucky enough to get an advance screening.

He said: “I’m a bit older now and I’m maybe not in the target audience but if I was in high school I would maybe have watched it with different eyes. I can imagine it speaking to me if I was 17 going through high school.”