Live Review: Hozier, Joy Oladokun @ RAC Arena, Perth

Nashville native Joy Oladokun makes her Australian debut, feeding the crowd with a plethora of hits from her latest LP, OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM.

QUESTION, CHOAS & FAITH is a tender little number that pulls like a current into a nostalgic wave of guitar strings and an onward march of a drum. The Chris Stapleton-assisted track Sweet Symphony is a soulful embrace of the tenderest proportions with a bluegrass melody. It’s enough of an entree to satisfy, but a restless crowd salivates and shakes for more!

You know you’ve made it when tickets sell out at such lightning speed that there’s no choice but to add a second date. So it is that Irish mythical legend Hozier seeps onto Perth shores like a woodland deity to play two packed nights back-to-back at the RAC Arena.

Striding onto the stage with little presence but enough casual certainty to let you know he knows his way around a loop peddle, the Gaelic melody of De Selby (Part 1) confirms that there is a godly spirit trapped inside this silhouette of a man bathed in blue. 

Angel Of Small Death is a jaunty foot stomper set against a seething red sky, and a frenzied light show blasting an electric wave around the arena. After the crowd has just about peeled themselves off the walls, a thrashing drumbeat hums and grows until it turns into Dinner & Diatribes, which pleases the crowd as they clap to the beat in approval.

The Irish folk god is in a league of his own when it comes to creating lush soundscapes that fold and wrap around themselves until they burst into unearthly notes that must be how angels sound. Nothing fits this more than the slow build of Francesca as he croons about wanting to go through the trials of life again to be with a loved one. Goosebumps. 

Trees descend like psychedelic roots in symmetry above the stage as we go deep into the dirt, where Hozier takes us back to a deeper cut in It Will Come Back. This is followed by the summer breeze of ballads Like Real People Do and I, Carrion (Icarian).

Phones light up the arena like a sea of stars as a crowd of almost 15,000 hums each word back through teary eyes. “It’s so easy to find good coffee here. The rest of the world owes you a great deal for that… it’s just great to be back in Australia. It’s been many years,” he jokes to lighten the mood.

The minimalistic set design leaves a lot of the heavy lifting on the shoulders of the Newcastle (Ireland) native’s vocal chops, paired with the skilled proficiency of his eight-piece band as they glide and cut through each note like trained assassins. 

The heartthrob tests the acoustics with a stripped version of From Eden off his self-titled debut album. It’s like being hypnotised by his effortless vocals. Where he is able to hit each note with such astonishing accuracy that, at times, he looks a little too relaxed doing so. 

Dressed like a stand-up comedian, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was about to dive into a witty monologue. Instead, he confesses, “This is a song I wrote after seeing an animal being hit by a car”. Frenzied screams of glee is the response. Abstract is a hard-hitting build of piano that raises into a soul-shattering chorus of panicked drums and melancholic violins against a wailing Hozier.

TikTok’s favourite frolicking folk song Would That I gives us a glimpse of the woodlands. A crowd pleaser that is followed up with the recent Billboard #1 smash hit, Too Sweet, is a real contender of the night. Wanting to be taken to church may have made him a star, but thanks to these two hits, he has become an entire galaxy.

Rightfully so, too, as both songs pack enough wallop to send you sky-high into orbit. The crowd has become a rising tide as flames burst and lick against the LED screen like a digital rapture. 

Without many settings to differentiate each song, the back half starts to feel a little repetitive, as the sweet, folksy piano of Almost (Sweet Music) feels a little familiar. However, the setlist is crafted in such a way that that thought is immediately swept away by the witchy saccharine of Movement, dripping in a sensual darkness.

It’s not until the familiar notes of Take Me To Church, however, that your ears start to prick back up as the notes and your body rise with enough fever to turn even a cynic into a believer. The grey-suited preacher walks off stage, satisfied with his sermon. Or so you thought…

Not fully satiated, the otherworldly being transcends time and space (he walked) to appear on the more intimate B-stage at the back of the arena to again hypnotise with his Irish charm. “It’s a special one to start the tour here, so thank you so, so much, Perth,” he says. A soulful bouquet consisting of Cherry Wine and Unknown pins the angelic spirit of Hozier against a beaming spotlight as he strums a guitar to an adoring crowd. 

“Is there anybody here from Ireland?” Half of RAC screams back with pride. 

Returning to the main stage to play out the night to the Mavis Staples co-penned act of rebellion, Nina, Hozier gave the crowd a roaring history lesson on the civil rights movement and its importance to Ireland, as well as an urge to support Gaza. 

The final foreboding notes of Work Song play out to a crowd feeling bigger-bellied and plump, tamed by the soothing tales of our daring hero Hozier and ready to have fantastical dreams of the witchiest kind. 

There are no words to describe the ethereal and booming vocals or the way the band pairs like a heavenly cheese to his rich red wine vocals. The minimalistic set design does seem an odd choice to host such magnificent melodies, yet perhaps it is purposely crafted to let the music draw you in. As when those tender words boom through the speakers, nothing else matters.