The Indie Rock artist Hozier from Dublin, Ireland welcomed many fans to magical Akron Civic Theatre on Thursday, November 7th. Who was joined by opening act Indie singer Angie McMahon from Melbourne, Australia. Hozier is on tour for his new album ‘Wasteland, Baby‘.
The audience all stood up in unison and cheered with excitement as Hozier walked out on the stage. Hozier and his band started the magical concert with song “As It Was.” Hozier wanted this song to be performed in a deep red lighting to give a very intimate feeling between him and the audience. The band then continued the performance with songs “Dinner & Diatribes” and “Nina Cried Power.”
From performing the night before in Columbus, Hozier had challenged himself to make this concert better than the night before, challenging the crowd to show that Akron was the better than Columbus. Hozier then continued the concert with an amazingly projected light and laser show. He performed “Someone New“, “Nobody” and “Talk.”
The band performed a new song that still has yet to be released “Jack Boot Jump.” He explained the meaning of the song and how it’s a protest song for all of the recent events that happened in Hong Kong. The lyrics being displayed on the screen behind him so the crowd could truly understand the story he was telling.
The show ended with his most powerful and beautiful hit song “Take Me to Church” which caused everyone to be up on their feet singing along at the top of their lungs. It was noticeable that the crowd had the time of their lives and the band and audience were all connected to each other through this song.
The crowd cheered for an encore knowing Hozier had more to share. The band ran back up on stage to perform songs “Cherry Wine” and “Work Song” as the encore. Throughout the concert you could feel peace and love from every person in that room and it continued stronger than ever through these last two songs.
For such a powerful and loving musician like Hozier needs an opening act that suits his music well, and Australian Indie singer Angie McMahon was just that. Angie walked out on stage just her and her Gibson ES 355. She started the performance with songs “Missing Me” and “Slow Mover.” She then continued on with song “If You Call” and joked around with the people who tried to whistle along with the song. Then she performed a cover of Neil Young’s song “Harvest.” She ended her gig with with her song “Pasta,” which she said is about a girl who didn’t want to leave her house and loved spaghetti and ended up thinking she was allergic to gluten. Angie was fun and silly, but still connected with the audience and warmed them up for a truly beautiful evening.
