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Archive for the ‘Hozier’ Category

Hozier (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025)

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Hozier [moved from June 10, 2025]

Last year when this tour came to this very same location, I balked at the price of tickets.  And now I regret doing so because this time around, I was going to get tickets no matter what.  In the time since last year, my whole family has just gotten more into Hozier.  So I jumped on line and scored… four lawn tickets.  Meh.  The lawn at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is massive.

Then, a few days before our show, he postponed it.  I gather he was feeling under the weather.  So his team rescheduled the show for almost exactly a month later.

And this turned out to be a blessing and a curse.  A curse because now my daughter couldn’t go (she was away).  But my wife was happy to come along, so that was cool.  But it was also a bummer because the rescheduled date was the same night that I had a ticket for Phish at the Mann.  And the exciting thing about that was that I had pit tickets for the first time.  So I was bummed not to go.  But as part of the deal with rescheduled shows, people were allowed to get rid of their tickets if they couldn’t make it.    I asked the kids if they wanted lawn or seats and they said they were fine with lawn.  So I grabbed two tickets for my wife and me in the middle of the lower tier.  And the view was awesome.

My son and I had seen him at World Cafe Live a couple of years ago–when he was prepping for this tour, I believe (but that can’t be right, surely).  When we saw him, he had the full band, but there was no stage show.

So I was blown away by the visual effects he employed. Whether it was close ups of the band or clips of videos to really impressive 3D videos that floated around the stage.  It was magnificent.  But the most magnificent thing was his voice.   If he wasn’t feeling well last month maybe he wouldn’t have sounded as amazing as he did tonight.  And wow did he sound great.

He opened with a quiet song with some cool lights shining just on him.  And then slowly the whole (ten-piece) band was revealed. (more…)

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Gigi Perez (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025) [HOZIER]

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Gigi Perez [moved from June 10, 2025]

My daughter and I saw Gigi Perez open for Girl in Red at the end of last year.

And I was really impressed.  Her voice is amazing–really powerful and with quite a range.  On stage it was just her on guitar and a drummer (who may have been her brother?).   He triggered loops that added bass and backing vocals to her guitar and she sounded huge.

So I was pretty excited to see her again. She had recently headlined TLA, but it was the same night as DEVO, so I blew her off knowing I’d see her at this show.  For the TLA show she played 13 songs, and we saw 8 (Hozier gave her 45 minutes!).

I really like her voice and her stage presence so much.  This time she had a full band, including a killer lead guitarist.  She was pretty confident when we saw her with girl in red, but I have to assume after several month touring with Hozier in HUGE venues, her confidence must be through the roof.  The crowd was totally into her and she did not disappoint.  Her voice sounded amazing and she can run through notes like nobody.  Indeed her and Hozier make a great “who can sing louder and longer” team. (more…)

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Newport Folk Festival (Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, July 26-July 28, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Black Pumas, De La Soul, Guster, Hozier, Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, The War on Drugs, Tinariwen on July 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 31-August 2, 2020] Newport Folk Festival

We went to Newport Folk Festival in 2019.  We’ve had a kind of understanding that we would try to go again.

I’ve managed  to score tickets for previous years (and then resell them when we couldn’t go).  But this year I was shut out instantly.  Which is fine as the festival often conflicts with our summer schedule.
(more…)

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Hozier / Allison Russell (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, May 25, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Allison Russell, Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Hozier on May 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 25, 2024] Hozier / Allison Russell

When this show was announced, I immediately planned to get tickets to see Hozier again.  My son and I had seen him in a small intimate show, but I imagined that seeing him from (ideally) the pit or (otherwise) in the lower sections would be amazing.

I don’t even think I paid attention to the fact that the show was at the hated Freedom Mortgage Pavilion.

Then I logged in on the day of and the tickets were OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive.  I mean lawn seats weren’t too bad, but I don’t intend to ever go t a show and sit in lawn seats again, so the heck with that.

I just checked a couple of days ago, and t here were literally only two seats available for sale in the whole place (resale, I don’t know if they were marked up or not).  In other words, parking is going to be a nightmare!

I’m sure Hozier will kick ass, though.

Allison Russell is a Canadian singer who is placed in the Americana genre, which is kind of funny.  WXPN plays some of her songs, and “Stay Right Here” is super duper catchy and will sound AMAZING in the Pavilion with its big chorus, disco beats and r7B/choir components (I wonder if she’ll have a band live).  Her song “Nightflyer” is more mellow but quite lovely.

I think I might actually be quite the fan of her without realizing it was her.

The whole night will be great.  I’m bummed it was priced out of our range.

 

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Hozier / Madison Cunningham (The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Hozier, Madison Cunningham, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 29, 2023] Hozier / Madison Cunningham

Back in March, Hozier announced a new tour for his new album.  My son is a huge fan and I was sure I could get tickets.  But I was shut out almost instantly.

Luckily, we scored tickets to the World Cafe Live smaller pre-tour show.  Which was awesome.

So I didn’t even bother trying to get tickets on any kind of resale site, especially since he’s not here at the moment.

But man, that’s two nights in a row at the Mann that I failed to get to tickets for popular shows. (boygenius tomorrow.

Madison Cunnigham is a young singer with a song “Hospital” that I absolutely love.  I don’t know much else about her, but I’ll bet she is a great opening act for this show.

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Hozier “Pop Up Show” (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2023)

Posted in Hozier, Julia Pratt, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on May 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[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 stuffed 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. (more…)

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Julia Pratt (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2023) [HOZIER]

Posted in Hozier, Julia Pratt, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on May 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 9, 2023] Julia Pratt

I was so excited to get tickets to this Hozier pop up show.  I actually assumed there would not be an opening act.  Although with the show slated to start at  7:30, surely they must have someone first.

And indeed, a few days ago they announced it would be Julia Pratt, a young Philly musician who will also be playing Philly Music Fest this year.

Julia has a powerful voice and seems like the nicest person in the world.  She was really sweet on stage and was genuinely delighted when people made heart signs back to her.

Her songs were simple (she told us which ones had been released or not) but catchy.

However, she did the thing that I hate the most in singers.  She turned one syllable words into seventeen syllable words by hitting every note on the entire scale.  It sets me on edge when singers do this and she did it constantly.  To me it sounds like compensating for a weak voice or someone who can’t hit a note.  But her voice was really nice when she sang normally.

But the crowd seemed to really enjoy the acrobatics so she kept doing it.  And she seemed really nice so I hope she gets lots of success.

But for me, it was an unpleasant 30 minutes, but also because there were drunken women next to me who almost got in a fight when one tried to sneak past the other.  Good grief.

 

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Of Monsters and Men (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 10, 2019)

Posted in Hozier, Iceland, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2019] Of Monsters and Men

Back at Christmas 2011, S. bought me the debut albums by Of Monsters and Men and The Head and the Heart.  I instantly fell in love with both bands (and sometimes can’t tell who is who when I hear one of their songs).  This concert might help me distinguish but we’re also seeing The Head and the Heart in the same venue in a month.

But maybe the spectacle of this show will help me distinguish them.

Because it was a wonderful spectacle.

I love thinking about how this band of six or seven musicians from Iceland somehow conquered the world with their singalong anthems.  It’s also fascinating to me that they only released their third album this year.

I really like the new album.  It sounds a bit different (more synthy, poppy) but it remains very OMAM.

They played a lot from the new album which was fine. In fact, they played 19 songs in total, spanning all of their records, but focusing mainly on their first and third releases. (more…)

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Newport Folk Festival Recap (Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, July 27 & 28, 2019)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Amanda Shires, Amy Ray, Benmont Tench, Billy Strings, Bob Boilen, Brandi Carlile, C., Chris Funk, Colin Meloy, Courtney Marie Andrews, Crosby Stills & Nash, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, CSN, Dawes, Dolly Parton, First Ladies of Bluegrass, Fleet Foxes, Fruit Bats, Hozier, Hurray for the Riff Raff, J.S. Ondara, Jade Bird, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Jim James, Judy Collins, Jupiter & Okwess, Lake Street Dive, Lucy Dacus, Maggie Rogers, Maren Morris, Mavis Staples, Molly Tuttle, Muppets, My Morning Jacket, Native Americans, Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, Nilüfer Yanya, NPR/PRI/PBS, Our Native Daughters, Pete Seeger, Portugal The Man, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, S., Sheryl Crow, Susto, T., The Decemberists, The Highwomen, The Milk Carton Kids, The Shins, Trey Anastasio, Vacation, Wilco, Woody Guthrie, Yola on July 28, 2019| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 27 & 28, 2019] Newport Folk Festival

Back in 1998, I won a radio contest (not through luck, I knew the name of a song and couldn’t believe no one else did!) and scored a ticket to the Newport Folk Festival.  It was in a lull back then and also, I believe there was only one stage (it’s hard to remember).  Now it is at full power, selling out before artists are even announced.

S. and I have talked about going and finally this year I saw when tickets were announced and I bought 4 tickets for us.  I knew that our son wouldn’t want to go, but I decided to make a long vacation out of it–a couple days in Rhode Island and then about a week in Maine.  He couldn’t say no to going to that.

I didn’t get Friday tickets because three days seemed excessive.  Plus, you never know who is going to appear until long after you buy the tickets. and that actually worked out pretty well.   Turned out, there wasn’t anyone I really wanted to see.

So we rolled in for Saturday.  I was told that if you wanted to get the poster you had to get their very early.  We arrived at 12:30 and they were long sold out.  Oh well. (more…)

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Hozier (Newport Folk Festival, July 28, 2019)

Posted in Hozier, Mavis Staples, Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, Nina Simone, Portugal The Man, XPN Fest on July 28, 2019| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2019] Hozier @ Newport Folk Festival

Ever since I learned that Hozier’s “Nina Cried Power” featured Mavis Staples who knew Nina Simone, I was more blown away by the song.

From Billboard:

it was important to me to have Mavis involved. She was kind of there at the beginning of the song. Even when the song was in its embryonic state and the idea of it was forming, I wanted to credit the legacy of the artists in that song and the names were kind of popping into my head, [and] I knew it needed Mavis. I just felt incredibly fortunate and honored that she got where the song was coming from and vibed with it and was up for being a part of the song.

I’d already been impressed by “Take Me to Church” and “Jackie & Wilson,” so I knew I’d want to see him live. (more…)

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