Having been a Hozier fan for years I was excited to see what his next chapter had to offer and as always, he truly did not disappoint. With a queue of fans wrapped around the outskirts of the O2 Academy in Birmingham, you immediately felt the hype, excitement and anticipation the second the building came into sight. 

Opening for the evening was 24-year-old rising star Victoria Canal, who holds an exquisite background within the music industry, including an appearance on Later With…Jools Holland, writing a theme song for Apple+ TV Series Best Foot Forward and even recently won the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award. Her expertise was echoed throughout her entire performance where she demonstrated a tremendous and delicate vocal range, taking centre stage with her 6-string performing some of her latest singles including “Swan Song“, “She Walks In“ and even slipped in a cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Motion Sickness“, all of which were gorgeously played. Closing her crowd-warmer set, Canal finished with a stunning track called “Own Me“ which expressed silk-like chordal progressions and minor interludes throughout, leaving the audience with something to truly remember her by. The crowd certainly left a special mark on Canal too as she exited the stage saying “Thank you so much Birmingham, love you!”.

Up next was the Grammy nominee star himself, the folk-icon of Ireland – Hozier. As the house music turned down – the entire room rippled a sea of cheer as he walked towards the mic to sing a powerful rendition of “Unknown/Nth“ before hitting us with “Eat Your Young” – both of which are taken from his highly anticipated, upcoming third studio album Unreal Unearth. The uproar of cheers was a constant for each track following; he would only need the opening note or a slight glimpse at the melody and the crowd would go crazy each and every time. His new material was sung just as loud as his classics from his self-titled debut album and notorious second album – Wasteland, Baby.

Following his introduction of “How are you Birmingham? It’s good to be back and be back in this room, I played here a couple of years ago so – hello again!”, Hozier, being the humble musician he is, gave thanks the first chance he could to his incredible support artist saying “While I have you I want to say thank you and make a hell of a lot of noise for the incredible Victoria Canal – she is such a light and it’s an absolute joy to share these shows with her and hear her beautiful music every night.”

This Birmingham appearance was part of a set of shows to celebrate his upcoming third album, ahead of his arena tour towards the end of this year. Alongside his surprise show at Glastonbury, Hozier and his band have also played O2 City Hall in Newcastle, London’s Alexandra Palace as well as Cardiff Castle, however, he had travelled from the south to reach the midlands from a gig the night before saying “We were in Bournemouth last night and I want to test your pipes against theirs if that’s alright?” as you can imagine the crowd (yet again….) went WILD as they sang back the opening melody for ‘To Be Alone With You’.

Once again showing appreciation for his support artist we had another treat for the evening with Hozier introducing the next track with “I want to invite someone to the stage who has this tour with a joy to call a friend so if I could hear a big round of applause for the incredible Victoria Canal.”

We were even given an exclusive insight into even more new music but this time to a track that’s hot off the press! “This next one hasn’t been released – this song is called I Carrion” which turned out to be a beautifully light finger-plucking treat with the most dreamy vocal harmonies.

Before our goodbyes Hozier expressed his appreciation of the crowd by saying “This crowd coming out on a Sunday night with this energy – woah!”. You couldn’t deny the beautiful sound the audience gave back and with phone lights everywhere lighting up across the room, this was a truly magical and special gig. “Work Song” was his closing track of the night and before we were delighted with this number, the “Take Me to Church” singer introduced each individual member of his touring party including every musician, stage help, runner and everyone that contributed to making sure the gig and tour ran as smoothly as possible. Another demonstration highlighting how humble and human the performer is.

From when I first saw him back in 2016 as a shy guy playing in Manchester, to having a packed-out audience singing every lyric and melody straight back to him, Hozier is a name and a sound that people recognise, relate to and appreciate. A true master of his craft and a total bucket list gig if you’re yet to experience his live performance first-hand.

Hozier will be doing an arena tour later this year following the upcoming release of his third studio album Unreal Unearth available on August 18th, 2023. Pre-order link available here.

Review by Charlotte Hooper

Photographs by Adam Kennedy (From O2 City Hall, Newcastle Performance)

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