Review: Hozier captivates audience at the O2 Academy
- Hozier played the O2 Academy in Birmingham on Tuesday 2nd February 2016 with a set that included both hits and covers
- Crowd were keen to join in but not keen to drown out the man himself
- Support came from Hozier’s friends Wyvern Lingo
Tonight’s gig opened with Wyvern Lingo. They were a strong act that fit the Hozier vibe and created the right atmosphere for the rest of the evening. They were an all girl band but didn’t play on it; they didn’t need to. With all girls singing and playing instruments it’s their talent that caught the attention of the audience instantly.
Later on in his set Hozier brings out Karen Cowley from Wyvern Lingo to perform ‘In A Week’ with him where he explains that they grew up together and were in a number of bands together, this explains the perfect fit and their voices go together so well the whole audience were hanging on their every note.
There were massive crowd reactions between songs but only quiet singing whilst he was performing as if the audience couldn’t help but sing along but didn’t want to interrupt him; a level of respect few artists get. When he wanted the audience to sing along, he raised his arm and everyone screamed the lyrics back to him. He had the audience in the palm of his hand the entire night, their attention never dropped. There were no songs that didn’t have everyone pulled in.
‘Someone New’, a more upbeat song, had everyone singing and dancing along, as did ‘Take Me To Church’, which received the incredible reaction anyone would expect. Whereas ‘It Will Come Back’, a raw and honest song about telling someone to cut all ties with you, had the audience hanging on every word. He returned for an encore to sing ‘Cherry Wine’ acoustically, just him and a guitar, yet it was still just as beautiful as every other song. It’s a token of his incredible talent that he perform in such an understated way, no big production to help him, he doesn’t need it.
Similarly, the lighting fit the atmosphere perfectly; it didn’t interrupt the performance or distract but it definitely was not forgotten. It was understated, with the lighting mainly being backing lights, the most effective use of them was lights bulbs around the stage that lit up to create a candle light effect which helped create the intimate feel in a larger venue.
It’s not just his amazing vocals that captivate everyone; it’s the rawness of his lyrics. You can feel the emotion in his music, he oozes such passion that you don’t doubt for a second that he means every word and that is how he performs too; even in big venues it feels close and intimate.
During his set he performed two covers: ‘Young Americans’ as tribute to the late David Bowie and ‘Black Bird’ by Paul McCartney. It’s clear that these artists influenced him massively. You can hear the emotion in his voice when he talks about the death of David Bowie saying it is “one of the biggest tragedies in music in the last hundred years.” The covers flow so well in the set list that they don’t feel like breaks in the set, which can happen when including covers.
From start to finish, including the support Wyvern Lingo, the audience were captivated. With breath-taking performances that held the audience in the palm of his hand, it’s not hard to imagine Hozier at the same level of some of his heroes one day.
