Hozier – 23/1/2015

February 3, 2015

First of all – maximum dad points for this Christmas present. Wading through the sea of locked couples and men in their twenties with longer-than-necessary beards, there was a gentle anticipation in the air. Hozier [8/10] and his band came on to the stage in floods of applause, leather jacket and man-bun intact. He appears shy, and then at ease when he dresses himself in his electric guitar, and hums into ‘Angel of Death and the Codeine Scene’. Immediately, it is clear to see that everyone here is obsessed with this curly-haired wonder – they sing the lyrics like they wrote them themselves.

Technically, Hozier is undeniably brilliant. He plays four guitars in total throughout his set, switching between acoustic and electric. His voice has an effortless rusk, but enough power to capture an entire audience in the venue. His Irish accent creeps out occasionally in his faultless vocals. He appears a little awkward on stage, not really making an effort to move to his own music, showing his focus on creating the music people have heard on the album and evidently came looking for, and he did exactly that. His songs were perfectly performed, with no variations or ad-libs, but hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The female vocalists and strings that accompany him on stage were an angelic bed for Hozier, and infected the whole room in an atmospheric haze.

As a gentleman, Hozier comes across so well. He takes his time between songs to properly talk to the crowd and thank everyone a million times over – it’s obvious how completely humbled he is by the overwhelming adoration everyone has for him. He touches his hair a lot when he talks and looks down at his guitar for comfort as he explains the clever and meaningful lyrics for his songs – possibly explaining Hozier’s pained expression when singing.

There were a few goosebumps moments of the set, one being ‘In A Week’ which he sang with Alana Henderson. Live, the lyrics became so noticeable, revealing a slightly distressing story of two lovers dying and wasting away together. Henderson’s voice was haunting and together, they created a beautiful performance. As well as this, ‘Work Song’ and ‘Foreigners God’ translated so well in a live show with the hearty piano, and ‘To Be Alone’ was a sultry and raw addition to the set. Hozier appeared genuinely shocked by the thundering request for an encore, and after multiple thanks to his talented band and loyal followers, wowed everyone with a cover of ‘One Thing’ by Amerie. I kid you not. There was a technical difficulty leading up the end, and Hozier, electric guitar in hand, said with effortless coolness ‘watch me just riff while we fix this’.