Vance Joy in Concert at Stage AE; Historical Remembrance of the Contemporary Outlines Gallery at Benedum Trees Gallery (Wed., 9/10/25)

September 8, 2025/Rick Handler

1) The first time Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy toured Pittsburgh, he played Heinz Field. Granted, he wasn’t headlining, but what a feat. Equally impressive was that he was opening for pop star Taylor Swift during her 1989 World Tour. And even more impressive? He got the invite after she covered his ukulele-rich single, “Riptide,” on a British radio program. “Riptide” has become a bona fide hit all its own. It has gone multiplatinum, both in the States and Down Under. In Australia, it holds the record for the most streamed Australian song on Spotify. You can find the song on Joy’s debut album, 2014’s Dream Your Life Away. That album was reissued in 2015 as a deluxe edition with a few additional tracks, including the single “Fire and the Flood,” another hit for the singer. Joy’s most recent album is 2022’s In Our Own Sweet Time. The album, his third, reached No. 3 on the Australian Albums Chart and No. 48 on the Billboard U.S. Top Rock Albums. Catch Vance Joy in concert at Stage AE. Also on the bill is Jonah Kagen, a Savannah, Georgia native, who’s had an Alternative radio hit with “God Needs The Devil” and has collaborated with Sam Barber on “Burn Me.” Kagen just dropped his new LP, Sunflowers and Leather, on September 5. Other special guests are Evan Honer and Kyle Schuesler. Doors open 5:30 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (C.M., R.H.)

2) A young woman with a lot of chutzpah, Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael, opened a contemporary art gallery in 1941 in the stodgy, conservative Pittsburgh of that time. Her Outlines Gallery was a hotspot for many top Modernist artists, architects, photographers. The gallery also featured other artists of different genres: music and dance performances with John Cage and Merce Cunningham; Langston Hughes gave a lecture; Alexander Calder made jewelry for her and a toy for her daughter. Additionally there were experimental films, photography and design exhibitions. The Outlines Gallery had a run of over six years. She would continue her artistic endeavors and opened Contemporary Craft in 1971, which continues to this day. Raphael and her gallery will be the focus of a panel discussion this evening at 7 p.m. at the Benedum Trees Gallery. The panel includes Sydney Pascarella, Patrick McArdle, Britany Riley, and Phillip Rostek. 223, Fourth Ave., Downtown.