I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 9, 2023] Hozier

Hozier announced a headline tour this year (first tour in several years) and I knew I had to get tickets.  My son is a big fan and the rest of us like him quite a lot.  We saw him at Newport Folk Festival a few years ago (although my son chose to skip that day) and he was amazing live.

The tickets went on sale mid March and I got 100% shut out from the Mann Center.  I probably could have gotten lawn seats, but that would have been decidedly uncool.  And by the time I decided whether or not to get lawn seats, they were all gone too (sold out the 14,000 capacity venue, no bad).

And then in mid April he announced he’d be playing some “pop up” shows.  Including one at World Cafe Live.

I never thought I’d get tickets, but somehow I managed to get two.  So my son and I went to Philly to see him.  And, without even talking about the show I can attest that it was 100% better than seeing him at the Mann Center and 1000% better than seeing him from the lawn at the Mann Center.

We arrived early in hopes of getting pretty close to the stage (WCL is quite small with great sightlines.  I didn’t think we’d get up front–and my son was fine with that–but I didn’t want to be too close to the noisy bar either).  We passed by the venue at 6:30 and saw a relatively small line.  But we had plans for Federal Donuts and fried chicken.  Only to discover after the three or four block walk that this location closed at 3 (two blocks from 2 colleges and you close at 3PM?).  That threw off all the plans, so we wound up going to an amazing Halal food truck.  I couldn’t walk and eat, so I stuff my gyro into my pocket and we headed into the venue (thank goodness they didn’t search for food).

We got down there and my son was delighted with how tiny the place was.  I didn’t want to stand right where people come in so we squeezed  to the other side.  Which was pretty good, although there were a couple of tall people who I knew would block our view from time to time.  So he sneaked around to the side.  I thought it might be a little far to the side (and in fairness, I couldn’t see all of the band), but the sightline for Hozier himself were perfect.  And that’s what we were there for.

Hozier and his large band (nine people in total) came out to much applause.

He opened our show with “Like Real People Do,” a song he hasn’t been playing at other shows.  He said that he played it here because World Cafe Live the third stop on his first American tour like ten years ago and he opened with that song then, too.

I haven’t been really getting into his new EP all that much–it’s much more mellow than he usual fare.  But man, “Eat Your Young” sounded amazing live.  IIt really helped me to appreciate the song and now when I hear it again, I hear all the great stuff it contains.

I had checked the setlist for the previous show to see what he was playing.  I didn’t realize that the “Eat Your Young” release was just an EP.  So when I saw that he only played three songs from it, I didn’t realize that was the whole thing.  But I’m really glad that was the whole thing because it meant that he could celebrate the whole release and still pack this show full of fantastic older songs.

The lovely “From Eden” was followed by an absolutely ripping, loud “Jackie and Wilson.”  And wow, did his voice sound amazing.  It was some time around this part when I realized that he was only like twenty feet from us and that was pretty wild.  I also checked on my son and loved that he was rapt watching every move.

He played a few songs from Wasteland Baby, but the set was mostly songs from his debut (no complaints there).  “To Be Alone” sounded amazing and the lights were outstanding.  At first I thought this might be just a solo expedition before the big tour, but they brought everything to this venture (except merch–the merch was rather minimal) including a pretty killer light show.  And that huge band: On the World Cafe Live stage last night, we saw and heard Kellen Wenrich on violin, guitar and vocals; Ryan Conner on conga, organ, and keys; Joy Morales on keys, vocals, and percussion; Larissa Maestro on cello, guitar, and vocals; Melissa McMillan on vocals and percussion; and Christa Rogers on vocals, synth, and percussion. The band was rounded out by Hozier’s long-time collaborators Rory Doyle on drums and multi-instrumentalist Alex Ryan acting as musical director, both longtime friends from Dublin and County Kerry respectively.

I enjoyed “Dinner & Diatribes” and really enjoyed watching him play guitar on “Someone New.”  After the very mellow single from last year, Swan Upon Leda” the band left the stage and he was going to play “Cherry Wine.”  Then we saw him interacting with someone and moments later, “Aaron” was on stage.  It turned out that they had a sign that said “Can I play Cherry Wine with U?”  So Hozier pulled them up on stage, gave them a guitar and Aaron proceeded to duet with Hozier beautifully.  Aaron was spot on and Hozier was really impressed.  At the end of the song Hozier gave Aaron a hug and signed the sign.  When the show was over Aaron was still there and I complemented them on the great job.  They seemed suitably in awe still.

The band came back and they finished up the EP and played a few more songs from Wasteland.  I’ve never heard “Movement” sound so lovely (World Cafe Live has an outstanding sound system).

I had seen he was going to play “Take Me to Church.”  I would have been fairly devastated if he hadn’t.  But I also wasn’t going to shout it out as a request like the idiot in the balcony did.  Of course, he was much better than the absolutely shitfaced woman who shouted “play us a jig” when he was up there by himself.  It’s good he didn’t hear it or he probably would have ended the show right there.

The piano started and he sang it and it was fantastic.  His voice is so huge and wow does he have range.  He didn’t have his guitar for this song so he walked around the stage, even getting pretty close to us for a line or two.

We sang along and then it was over.

The band left for a brief encore break and then came back to play a lovely new song called “Unknown.”  He ended with “Work Song” and in what seemed like ten minutes, the show was over.

The only thing that made this whole night even better was that the show was done by 10:15 and we were able to get home before midnight.  Aside from that lost fried chicken (more than made up for by the food truck), the night was fantastic.

He said he hoped he’d see us in a few months, but, I don’t have to go to that show now, and I don’t have to feel bad that I couldn’t get tickets for it either.