Photos by Nathan Rifkin
Framed by the iconic hills of Griffith Park and Mount Hollywood, nestled in the eastern portion of the Santa Monica mountains, is the beautiful Greek Theatre. In the summer, the open air venue sits under a brilliant blue Los Angeles sky dotted with small white wisps of clouds. Given all this, it is impossible to not feel ecstatic when entering its gates. It is fitting, then, that on August 20th, the Greek hosted the incredible Mt. Joy.
Hailing from Philadelphia, the indie rock band is composed of Matt Quinn (vocals, guitar), Sam Cooper (guitar), Sotiris Eliopoulos (drums), Jackie Miclau (keyboards) and Michael Byrnes (bass). Their 2026 world tour celebrates Mt. Joy’s 10 year anniversary and marks the band’s third appearance at the Greek Theatre, having sold out two years prior in 2024.
I parked near Vermont and Sunset and walked through East Hollywood towards the Griffith Observatory Bus, which runs straight to the Greek Theatre. I was early, so once I entered the venue I found my seat and relaxed under the setting sun. The crowd began to swell, filled with concert-goers rocking the typical indie music fan attire: bandanas, colorful pants and skirts, and of course the classic patchwork style tattoos. There was no opener, but once the clock hit 8:30, the stadium lights dimmed and Mt. Joy took the stage.
Mt. Joy opened the show with a performance of “Lemon Tree” from their 2022 album Orange Blood, warming the crowd up with “Connected energy, or how would I know / You were thinking of me in the dream?” The guitar section after the first chorus brought that “connected energy” to life as the crowd jumped and sang.
The band played a couple more songs, with Byrnes introducing “Coyote” with his thumping bass. As the band transitioned into playing “Dirty Love,” the concert-goers paused their jumping to listen, mesmerized, as Miclau glided her fingers over the keys, a hypnotizing arpeggio that had me absolutely floored. Miclau’s skill at the piano was a hallmark feature of the night, a fact obvious to both the crowd and her bandmates.
I love it whenever artists talk about the stories behind their music. I think that’s one of the really special things about concerts – you get to hear about whatever trials and tribulations led to the creation of their work. Quinn gave us insight into the writing of “I’m Your Wreck,” which he wrote following a panic attack he suffered during a trip with his ex-girlfriend, after which he claimed to have a stomachache and ended up taking Miralax, a remedy famously unhelpful for anxiety. When he realized the extent of his anxiety, he wrote “I’m Your Wreck,” contrasting it with the steadiness and calm of his late grandmother. The crowd honored her that night by shouting the titular lyrics “I’m a wreck, I’m a wreck / I’m your wreck like, I’m your wreck like” at the top of their lungs.
The band skipped their usual intermission, opting to give us as much joy as possible throughout the course of the night. The middle of the setlist instead featured three of their best songs: “Pink Lady,” “Sheep,” and their self-named “Mt. Joy.” “Pink Lady” is one of my personal favorites, and they highlighted the chorus with an image of the pink lady herself astride her motorcycle projected behind them.
The most important thing I learned that night is that “Lucy’s a badass and Lucy’s right.” The band wrote “Lucy” after their friend was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and instead of giving up she decided to fight it and is still fighting it to this day. Matt reflected on her stalwartness and bravery with the lyrics “Will I ever be man enough / To be the woman that she was in life.”
Mt. Joy had one more surprise in store for usas the night wound down, a surprise that I and everyone else in the crowd was entirely unprepared for. They played “Julia” off of their 2018 record “Mt. Joy,” a song about getting way too high in a restaurant. The surprise came in the form of an unexpected mashup of “Julia” with none other than “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” by The Flaming Lips, a song that I grew up listening to with my mom. The band used the song to speak out against AI, proudly projecting “Art is Human” and “We Won’t Let The Robots Eat Us” behind them. They then transitioned into yet another great song, “Crazy” by Gnarles Barkley, before bringing us back to the world of “Julia.”
The group rounded out the exceptional night by forgoing a typical encore, playing their last two songs without leaving the stage. As I rode the bus back down the hill that night and walked back to my car, I felt lighter and more joyful than I had just a couple hours prior, all thanks to Mt. Joy.
Listen to Mt. Joy here:
