Hozier’s debut album and phenomenal radio success attracted an eclectic audience to the Shepherd Bush O2 Empire. Gracing the stage twenty minutes late, Andrew Byrne towered over his fans and female backing singers as his deep voice drove them into ‘Angels of Small Death and the Codeine Scene’, setting the tone for a good night.
An unconventional time signature hailed in ‘From Eden’, one of the strongest tracks off of the album. This and the following song ‘Jackie and Wilson’ radiated joy amongst the crowd as Hozier’s vocal clarity was a token of his immense triumph and confidence due to his burgeoning popularity. As he raised his Danelectro resonator and played the opening riff for ‘To Be Alone’, I hoped that he would let rip with the blues energy that coloured many of his fellow revivalist’s live shows. Holding Hozier back was his aim to please the crowd that worshipped him. I kept wanting Byrne to slice the strings off of his guitar and used the earthy tones that he has in abundance to howl down the microphone. Instead Hozier was controlled and cautious. The desire for a moment of blues aggression was all but over when the band played their awful new single ‘Someone New’. Shallow lyrics and an annoying hook exposed this as the weakest and most commercially considered track from the album. Byrne showed his sensitive side during the next few songs.
When the audience was allowed the intimacy of a solo singer on stage, any questions over Hozier’s intentions and inspiration disappeared. For the first time I recognised the influence of Irish session performing on Hozier’s output. When he sang ‘In a Week’ with Alana Henderson he brought elements of Celtic folk music into the set. ‘Sedated’, ironically, lifted the tempo in preparation for ‘Take Me To Church’ which was the first time that the crowd seemed fully satisfied. A sudden shift, drew the masses closer to the stage as phones were raised over every other head to capture the moment when the chorus dropped. This was by far the most dramatic and poignant moment of the set and the crowd cheered until Hozier came back to treat his fans to ‘Cherry Wine’ and ‘Work Song’ before thanking everyone he could think of and humbly waving the crowd off. Hozier successfully proved the numerous dimensions to his art. Not only shown through his bravery to cut through genres but in the variety of emotions that he put forward in his fourteen song set. In the main, each song was refreshing and he would’ve maintained interest from the audience with an even longer show.
RIFFED's Rating: 8/10