JOY OLADOKUN RETURNS TO THE PEPPERMINT CLUB
THE PEPPERMINT CLUB — LOS ANGELES, CA
The Peppermint Club served as the perfect setting for Joy Oladokun to play an acoustic set while talking about American politics, protest music, and religious trauma. On Saturday, November 15th, 2025, Joy returned to Los Angeles for a stop on the limited-run SOLO ACOUSTIC TOUR that gave fans an intimate way to experience Oladokun’s discography.
The show opened with Bartees Strange, an artist perfectly paired to go on this acoustic tour with Joy because of his raw vocals. Playing some tracks from their latest EP, Shy Bairns Get Nowt, Strange started the night off by getting the crowd in a nice groove with “Ain’t Nobody Making Me High.” A slower track like “Baltimore” contrasted the growing intensity of “Sober” and the fast paced rock heavy sounds of “Boomer.” Even while playing solo, with just an acoustic and electric guitar to use respectively, Strange’s ability to take any genre and make it their own was on display.
The stripped-down show largely highlighted Joy’s 2023 album Proof of Life and their masterful abilities vocally and with the guitar in their hands. Incorporating many silky transitions between original songs and seamless covers. Now living in Nashville, Joy discussed a past visit to Los Angeles in which they performed at a Bill Withers tribute show at The Peppermint Club, where they met Withers in 2018. Now, several years later, Oladokun performed their own song “Changes,” a track that serves as a reminder to remain grounded while surrounded by the chaos of the world, before transitioning into Withers’ “Lean on Me.” Not only did Oladokun smoothly shift between songs due to their technical abilities on the guitar, but they also made the connections through overarching themes between songs. The troubling state of the world was a theme largely explored at the show through various songs. They performed tracks off of their 2021 album In Defense of My Own Happiness. “I See America” and “Sunday” explore these darker tones as well as religious trauma and the discovery of their queer identity.
As the last song on the standard setlist, Joy introduced their latest single, “I’d Miss the Birds.” The track is a collaboration with Sheryl Crow, who, as they say, is “One of two white women in Nashville that don’t play about me.” The performance transitioned seamlessly into a rendition of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” that made the entirety of The Peppermint Club explode in applause and cheers. However, the night didn’t end there. Oladokun continued to play a three song encore of “deeper cuts” such as “Drugs,” “Too High,” and “Goodbye” that perfectly closed off the night. Joy Oladokun’s limited acoustic tour was a beautiful expression of self through raw vocals, honest lyricism, and pure talent.
