I’m always curious when I get to a venue relatively early and see a massive queue down the street to get in, ‘just how packed out is Albert Hall going to be tonight?’ I’d soon find that the answer was jam packed, hot and sweaty, surely one of the busiest gigs I’d experienced at the venue in a long time. It felt right though as following a string of outdoor and festival gigs a venue like Albert Hall suddenly felt very intimate for Hozier to be playing.
As soon as support act Victoria Canal walked out onto the stage you could feel the buzz of the already near full venue. Cheers from the front of the downstairs standing section made it clear that this wasn’t the first time a lot of these Hozier fans were seeing Victoria play an opening set. It was genuinely lovely to see people get behind her in this way, Hozier fans instantly getting a tick against ‘nice people’ in my book for that.
Victoria herself managed to pack a huge amount into her 6 song set, pulling from both her EP from last year Elegy and her upcoming release WELL WELL. Opening with two songs on guitar the first thing that hit me was her voice, so powerful at times and delicate at others. The confidence and almost nonchalance of her performance was really engaging for a crowd mostly hearing her for the first time and her chat in between songs gave the opening set a relaxed feel which suited the vibe of the whole night. Introducing a song as ‘The dark underbelly of the disabled experience’ before laughing that ‘Once I started writing it, now I feel fuckin’ hot’, she instantly had the crowd on side.
Her newer material veered more into a pop direction than perhaps the more ‘singer songwriter’ vibe of songs like ‘Swan Song’, but this suited her as she moved from guitar over to the piano for the remainder of her short set. The Phoebe Bridgers comparison vocally was obvious from the start, but her acoustic take on ‘Motion Sickness’ made it really stick. For some her voice may sound too familiar, but her lyrics and dynamic vocal performance truly made her stand out on stage. She’s such a powerful singer and it makes me very excited to see what she does next and into what will hopefully lead to a full album.
After a long pause in where most of us tried to not melt in the now sweltering Albert Hall, Hozier took to the stage and the roar from the crowd made me realise just how hardcore his fans are. It was infectious to be surrounded by so much love in the room. This was labelled an intimate gig and it instantly felt like a special moment, now an arena headliner returning to a room he’s surely played before. Every song had a swell of cheers as the opening guitar licks began, reeling through hits from his first two albums alongside newer tracks.
What really impressed me was his command of the stage. Whether it’s playing alongside the rest of the band or completely acoustic, he had this way of performing into the microphone that gave everything such a dynamic push and pull. Vocally from start to end it’s hard to remember hearing someone sound so much better than the record like he did on this stage. There’s a magic to his live vocal that I don’t even think gets captured on most of these records.
As he moved through the set it was the newer songs that really stood out for me, recent single Francesca a definite highlight, full of energy and emotion. Hearing such an interesting mixture of piano and synth, guitar and some violin and cello in his band made the sound feel even richer.
Bringing Victoria Canal back out to perform ‘Like Real People Do’ with him was a nice touch, everyone at this gig and on stage just seemed nice okay, and their vocals together worked better than I had expected.
It wasn’t long before we were headed into some of the biggest Hozier hits, ‘Something New’ a personal favourite and one that went down incredibly well in the room. ‘Almost (Sweet Music)’ continued the singalong right into ‘Movement’ and then the almighty ‘Take Me To Church’. The effect of singing that song in a venue like Albert Hall lost on nobody in the room.
I thought we might even run out of time for an encore given the long and noisy reception the crowd gave him before the band ducked away for a few seconds. An encore of a fully acoustic performance of ‘Cherry Wine’ and then the full band returning for ‘Work Song’ closed out the night pretty much how it had started.
Killer vocals and a dynamic performer throughout. I may not have called myself a proper Hozier fan before this show, but I definitely left the Albert Hall one.
Words by Sam Atkins
Picky Bastards 
Leave a comment