In the sold-out Posthof in Linz, the audience experienced a cozy Thursday evening with two strong musical acts. While Mighty Oaks continued to delight with their feel-good folk rock, the young Swiss Joya Marleen surprised the audience and sang her way straight into their hearts.
Thursday evening, October 10th, in the large hall of the Posthof Linz – and no seat was left empty. It was a given from the outset that the friendly professionals from Mighty Oaks would ensure a relaxed, melodious evening. What at first glance looked like a relaxed evening with Mighty Oaks quickly developed into a musical highlight that not only appealed to folk rock fans. Joya Marleen, an emerging Swiss artist, opened the evening. She managed to enchant the audience with her soulful performance and warm charisma.
Jewel Marleen
At just 21 years old, Joya Marleen is an artist to remember. With her warm, tender and, at the right moment, bombastically powerful voice, she immediately captivated the Linz audience. Their sound and some vocal lines are somewhat reminiscent of greats like Billie Eilish or Alice Merton. However, the individual facets of her music artfully come together to form her personal style. The songs she performed on piano or guitar do not require much accompaniment. They spoke of deep emotions and invited the audience to reminisce.
Particularly impressive was her version of the 80s classic “Big in Japan”, which Joya Marleen reinterpreted with many voices using a loop station and thus made it her own. With the lively final song “Nightmare”, her most successful single, she once again thrilled the audience and encouraged them to sing along.
With her open smile and a warmth that filled the stage, Joya Marleen proved why she is already celebrated as a successful musician in Switzerland. The solo artist is about to start her own tour and is on October 31st in Vienna to hear it – big recommendation!
Mighty Oaks
After Joya Marleen, Mighty Oaks took the stage and, as expected, created a feel-good atmosphere. The trio from Berlin presented a mixture of well-known classics and songs from their new album “High Times”, which was only released in September 2024. The intimate, acoustic sound of the current tour highlighted the band’s deep lyrics.
From the gallery it was noticeable that surprisingly few cell phone displays were visible – until “Mexico” was played towards the end of the concert. The song’s iconic harmonica intro had many fans reaching for their smartphones to capture the moment.
Lead singer Ian Hooper, who charmingly switched between English and German and enjoyed his whiskey in between, insisted on encouraging the audience to sing along. The Linz fans were able to score points with their lyrical confidence, especially with the classics like “You Saved My Soul”, “Storm”, and “Ghost”.
Even though the new songs were convincing, I personally missed the “magic moment” in the new album. My personal concert evening would have been a little nicer with more songs from my favorite albums “All Things Go” and “Dreamers”. Nevertheless, it was a varied, all-round successful evening with music that is good for the soul.
