Vance Joy cuts short pop up show as crowd swelled

Chart-topper Vance Joy cut short his own pop-up show when crowd numbers outside Flinders St station swelled.

Chart-topper Vance Joy was forced to cut short a dedication to music legend Michael Gudinski after a crowd swell at his pop-up show at Flinders St Station.

Joy, whose real name is James Keogh, dedicated his mega hit Riptide to Gudinski, who passed away suddenly last week.

But with Moomba Festival events nearby, crowd numbers began to swell under the station’s iconic clocks, where Joy performed on Sunday night.

Crowds at Vance Joy's Flinders St pop-up show.

A spokeswoman for the event said Joy cut off “the last 20 seconds of Riptide ... due to so many fans being there.”

Social media posts showed many fans at the pop-up show, particularly those near Joy, were wearing masks. A floral wreath was also displayed on the pop-up stage.

The shows were organised by Gudinski and the City of Melbourne in a bid to rejuvenate the CBD. Before dedicating Riptide to Gudinski, Joy said the highly respected music boss “lifted up Australian music.”

Joy played at Hardware Lane and Ombra before Flinders St Station.

“Really looking forward to this,” he said on social media before the shows. “First time playing in real life in a looong time (COVID Safe of course).”

Sydney band The Rubens also performed pop-up shows at the weekend.

The band’s frontman Sam Margin told the crowd: “ (Gudinski) put these shows on and he changed your city.”

Kate Ceberano was scheduled to do a pop-up show in Melbourne on Monday.