Hozier Takes Poncy Pop Acts To Church
- Dean Benzaken
- Feb 12, 2015
- 2 min read
The sold out show at Shephards Bush Empire on Saturday 31st January truly shows how rising musician Hozier, alongside others such as George Ezra and James Bay, are reviving talented and honest music back into to the mainstream pop culture. Andrew Hozier-Byrne, whom plays under the stage name ‘Hozier’, proved to everyone how gospel his voice is, as well as his wide vocal range during performances of Angel of Small Death and on the gospel-tinged Sedated.
Hozier’s guitar playing, seen to be like spiders crawling around a set of strings together with his tight and diverse band, moved the crowd through feet moving and hand-clapping songs such as Jackie and Wilson and From Eden. Not to mention my personal blues-like favourite To Be Alone, and obvious hit Take Me To Church both sung somewhat better than the original track itself. The brave choice of performing Cherry Wine for the encore rather than Take Me To Church was one that was nicely welcomed. He executed ‘Cherry Wine’ with great soul and emotion, bringing a thunderous applause, which saw out the night in style.
Although I do not tend to listen to newer artists during pleasure or work, Hozier has become my stimulant in surviving! His self-titled debut album (Hozier), which went to number 1 in both the US and Ireland, has been my companion for the last few months. As an avid blues lover and musician my-self I admire Hozier for almost reviving an essence of blues and rhythm and blues to his own music style and unlike some in the crowd on Saturday 31st January I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of Illinois Blues by Skip James, an old blues musician born in Mississippi in 1902. One of my highlights of the concert. Hozier is definitely not a ‘one hit-wonder’ and will surely have a lengthy and well-respected music career ahead of him.
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