Cheers to Hozier. Twelve years ago, the lanky Irishman was taking to every open stage in Dublin that would invite him while he was discovering his voice as a songwriter. Then he wrote a song that changed everything for him, packing all the R&B influences of his parents’ record collection into a love song of passionate urgency, the gospel-tinged “Take Me to Church.” Suddenly, Hozier had a hit and was soon nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year.
He could have gone the way of many one-hit wonders, but he just kept getting better, if not at a particularly prolific pace. Releasing an album only every five years, Hozier became not only a darling of teens and 20-somethings but an artist of atmospheric folk-rock with a literary bent, culminating in a critically acclaimed 2023 album, Unreal Unearth. Something of a song cycle inspired by both Dante’s Inferno and COVID isolation, it was both captivatingly intimate and inspiringly anthemic.
On Saturday night, the 34-year-old artist, real name Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, filled St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center with nearly two hours of music that was most memorable in its quietest moments: His love ballads resonated with a crowd of more than 15,000 people eager to sing along.
And the singer-songwriter said he was grateful for the help, as he let the crowd know early on that he was battling a cold. But his energetic eight-piece band also obliged, adding additional harmonies to many of his vocals. And although the evening began with rock songs that didn’t particularly highlight his voice, Hozier’s tenor seemed to grow stronger with each song, eventually lending a wonderful wistfulness to his most popular songs.
Yes, “Take Me to Church” closed his main set – and the crowd roared along at the top of their lungs – but the stomping gospel rhythms came early with a spirited rendition of “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene.” But it was the folky core of the set that stood out: “Like Real People Do,” “I, Carrion,” and “From Eden” all sounded not far removed from the open stages of cafes in their intimacy.
But Hozier and his band found commonality between his rockier leanings and his quieter side on his biggest hit to date, “Too Sweet,” which some have called the song of the summer of 2024. That song, too, was a sold-out sing-along, as was the quiet acoustic encore, “Cherry Wine,” and the power ballad to close the night, “Work Song.” For an artist who loves to quietly draw listeners into a song, it certainly elicited a full-throated response from the very enthusiastic crowd.
Kicking off the show was Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell, a multiple Grammy nominee who finally took home her first Grammy this year: Best American Roots Performance for her song “Eve Was Black.” It was one of the highlights of her Saturday night performance, which was both exhilarating and meditative.
Pairing her banjo and clarinet skills with her three-piece band, Russell captivated the adoring crowd as they waved their cell phone flashlights to a ballad by her old band Birds of Chicago, “Superlover,” and danced along to the triumphant reclaiming of a life in “The Returner” and “Nightflyer.” If the crowd was left wanting more, they got some when she later returned to sing in unison with Hozier on “Wildflower and Barley.”
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