Returning to the country for the first time in three and half years, Joy Crookes took to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre stage to deliver a smooth, sultry and genuinely funny set in support of her second album Juniper. In town performing on a selection of new year’s festivals, the English artist was in fine form as she delivered a fantastic 80 minute headline slot.
Acting as support for the show was Chanel Loren, the South-East London act now calling Australia home. Playing a concise 30 minute set that was slinky, laid back and supported by a sole guitarist, I couldn’t imagine a better duo than Chanel Loren and Joy Crookes. Props to the booker for nailing this pairing. Closing on the effortlessly cool “Carelessly Doomed”, I look forward to seeing what Chanel Loren delivers in 2026.
After breaking out massively following the release of her 2021 debut album Skin, Joy Crookes has developed a reliable back catalogue of songs that for the most part appeased the near capacity Sydney crowd. With her set naturally heavily favouring her 2025 release Juniper, the crowd took a little longer to get into portions of the night that revolved around her more recent tracks. The front end of the set was loaded with Juniper tracks that eased the crowd into the evening, with “Brave” and “Pass the Salt” both getting a run, while the first massive reaction from the crowd came from the one-two punch of “Somebody to You” and the first appearance of Skin in the shape of “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now”.
One thing that might not necessarily come across in Crookes’ music is her wit and willingness to have a chat and laugh with the crowd. Though out her set, Crookes touched on topics including her support of Arsenal Football Club (which wasn’t overly well received by the crowd), her wish to have a pool in her backyard (expertly pre-empting “House With a Pool”), and her failure to find a segue to playing “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” without talking about feet pics. It’s reassuring and refreshing to see an artist not be so uptight on stage and deliver banter with the crowd that isn’t rehearsed.
Apologising that she hadn’t released music in the four years between Skin and Juniper (‘it was out of my control’), Crookes promised to release some new music in 2026; which was again well received by the crowd. With her vocals being the MVP for the night, you could really appreciate the talent and magic Crookes was cooking through the set’s duration. It was class, charismatic, and honestly the perfect set to commence the new year.
While I would have liked to hear a little more from her debut album, understandably it was fair that Juniper received its time in the sun. Set highlights included main set closer “I Know You’d Kill”, “First Last Dance”, “Trouble” and closer “When You Were Mine”, while oddly enough despite the total class of set and general music of Crookes, possibly the most magical moment was her solo cover of Sinead O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds”. Touching on the state of the world and frightening rise of fascism across the globe, Crookes wished she didn’t need to play the song, but felt she’d be doing the song and current climate a disservice by not playing it. It was four minutes of magic that really grounded the night and provided a little hope that maybe 2026 might be a turn for the best, away from the current global political climate.
As my first show of the year, I couldn’t have asked for a better artist than Joy Crookes to have allowed me to welcome in the new year. Hopefully her promise of new music results in a quicker return to our shores in the not too distant future.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
You can see more images from the show HERE.
Images by Pete Dovgan
