A beaming blue lighthouse welcomed everyone in the Bluebird from wherever you may call home. A Chocolate Orange prize was given to whoever traveled the farthest, even though this band is from North Wales.
The Joy Formidable traveled from all the way across the pond to greet Bloomington with this inviting beacon. Rarely has a hard rock band seemed as happy, warm and cheerful atop heavy bass riffs and shredding, resonating guitar.
For proof, look no further than the adorable lead singer and guitarist with a serious kick Ritzy Bryan. Adorning her mic stand were a string of crystals and a ship's captain's wheel as she piloted the Bluebird audience Thursday night to a good time. Her eyes popped from beneath her straight-laced blonde hair and she couldn't resist eeking out a few smiles even during some of her more cynical lyrics.
And yet Joy's songs would hardly be as memorable was it not for her supporting duo of bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matt Thomas. The boys too were not without their feel-good charm as they chugged out massive hooks. The clean cut Dafydd fostered a fun competitive spirit between himself and Ritzy. And Thomas, the likeable Russell Brand look-alike, had his kit skewed to stage right so that he could mingle with fans as he performed. The loveable doofus even went so far as to offer Ritzy a slender 8-foot stick as a gift.
The Joy Formidable is a band that knows how to be bold and beautiful. Take "The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie," the nearly 8-minute opening track from their 2011 LP "The Big Roar," as an example for how the band can build from elegantly anticipatory verses to thunderous distortion.
How they can go from an achingly lovely new lullaby (the band announced they've completed their second LP) to the absolutely wild breakdown on "Whirring" (I kid not when I say Ritzy was on hands and eyes manipulating her effects kit before leaping up to beat all hell from a gong) is beyond me. These three performers have so much chemistry on stage because they are alive with mood-changes and emotions (Ritzy displayed touching emotional range in the aforementioned lullaby), and they can translate that to the audience in catchy, punchy rock songs.
"Cradle," "Austere" and "The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade" all inspired a good helping of clapping, fist pumping and bouncing without bringing about a lame sing-a-long, and you can sense the passion in Ritzy's voice as she just barely held back tears echoing "happy for you" on "The Greatest Light."
Finally the band name Joy Formidable makes sense. These guys are happy-go-lucky, and yet still a tough, meat and potatoes rock band capable of putting on a hell of a show.
Post by Brian Welk; photography by Steven Arroyo
