Seattle’s Columbia City Theater filled rapidly with excited fans for a sold out night with joan, joined by Ralph on Saturday. The Arkansas duo have been rising indie darlings and expressed their gratitude for so many people attending their headlining tour. 

Canadian pop singer Ralph provided the sole opening for the show and her down to earth demeanor and silky smooth vocals immediately endeared her to the crowd. She told anecdotes prefacing each song, getting the fans involved in singing along to “Sunday Girl”, “Superbloom” and the dancey “No Muss No Fuss”, closing with “Gravity”.

Joan promptly took the stage at the intimate theater, unveiling their name illuminated behind them to the cheers of the fans. Watching the duo is a treat and a half as evidenced by the dancing in the middle of the room and plenty of people singing along. Alan Thoman and Steven Rutherford are on the rise and they revealed that six new songs had been recently finished for an upcoming EP. They also announced that all of these new tracks were part of the setlist to the absolute delight of those watching. 

The band took the room through fan favorites like “tokyo” and “ease your mind”, interspersing the new songs throughout. They were perfectly in sync with their plethora of guitars, keys and drums, and the audience seemed fully prepared to continue dancing the night away. The new songs brought a sense of freshness to the set, with “try again” invoking heaving Justin Timberlake vibes and “magnetic” drawing plenty of applause. Joan closed with hit single “love somebody like you” and the fans spilled into the chilly Seattle evening with bright eyes and more memories with these up and coming stars.

Story and photos by Olivia Khiel