Despite many millions of plays and views on social media of ‘Take Me To Church’, there is a lot more to Andrew Hozier-Byrne than this glorious tune. This was his first outing in Sheffield and his arrival was reciprocated with a sell out audience at the O2.

 

 

Despite having put his back out and warning us that he might sound “like a goose being killed”, he took to the stage and took command from the opening chords to the last. He has been doing a fair bit on the road recently and the experience shows. We were all party to an accomplished stage show and fans weren’t disappointed with the set list, which included the obligatory rendition of the aforementioned track, plus 13 others including ‘Like Real People Do’, ‘Someone New’, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Sedated’.

 

He has blended together his main musical influence of Hooker, Waters, Fitzgerald and Simone and created his own fusion of jazz and blues, with thought provoking insightful lyrics backed by talented musicians and singers. Sometimes upbeat, sometimes down, what he is doing is by no means new, however he has produced music which should stand the test of time and propel him onto bigger things. It will be interesting to see where his musical journey takes him next; talent like this should not and will not fade away.

Words & Images:
Duncan Stafford