Joji brought more than 9,000 fans to Mortgage Matchup Center in downtown Phoenix on Friday night, arriving in the Valley in the midst of a new chapter of his career.
After roughly three years without releasing new music, the Japanese-Australian singer, songwriter and producer returned late last year with his fourth studio album, Piss In The Wind. The record marked Joji’s first album through his own label, Palace Creek, a milestone for the singer.
Now Joji is back on the road for the SOLARIS Tour, a global arena run built around a revamped live show, new production and a setlist that stretches across his catalog and Phoenix seemed more than ready for his return.
“Wow! You are loud,” Joji told the audience early in Friday’s set. Then, “Loudest crowd yet!” Eventually, laughing, he admitted, “You’re so loud it’s low key fucking up our equipment.”
Clearly the Phoenix fans were enjoying themselves. Opening with “Pixelated Kisses”, Joji moved seamlessly between the newer material and the songs that built his career, with thousands of eager voices following closely behind. The crowd sang and screamed along to every song, shouted their gratitude in the spaces between them and periodically erupted into barking chants that echoed across the arena.
For an artist whose music has often lived in melancholy, intimacy and the quiet ache of heartbreak, the live experience was surprisingly playful. The production leaned heavily into that contrast. Layers of LED panels created a tunnel around the stage, cycling through surreal imagery and alien videos while a catwalk raised and lowered throughout the set, often carrying Joji along with it. At one point, a dancing robot joined him onstage. It was strange, funny and visually engaging without distracting from the music itself, a fitting extension of an artist who has never seemed particularly interested in presenting himself too seriously.
That balance between absurdity and sincerity has followed Joji throughout his career, but his current era feels particularly free. Piss In The Wind moves between distorted production, alternative pop, hip-hop and the atmospheric ballads longtime listeners have come to expect from him. Its release also places Joji at the center of his own next chapter, returning from a long absence on his own terms.
Friday night reflected that evolution, as new songs sat comfortably beside fan favorites from earlier albums, while the arena-sized production expanded Joji’s often intimate music without losing the emotional connection that made those songs resonate in the first place.
By the time “Slow Dancing in the Dark” closed the night beneath an explosion of confetti, Arizona had given Joji a welcome he clearly wasn’t expecting. The final song ended, the lights came up and thousands of fans poured back into downtown Phoenix still carrying the energy of a show that felt equal parts emotional, absurd and genuinely fun.
