Hozier at State Theatre, Minneapolis (02 June 2019)

Irish singer Hozier is currently on a sold-out American tour, stopping by the State Theatre in Minneapolis on June 2nd.

Opening up the show was sibling band Bailen, featuring Julia, Daniel, and David Bailen. There’s a certain homemade charm about them, as we discovered the first time we encountered the trio with Joseph in Sep 2017.

The NYC group recently released their debut album Thrilled To Be Here (Fantasy Records), and they were literally thrilled to be playing some choice cuts from the record like “Something Tells Me”, “I Was Wrong”, and the rousing foot-stomper “Not Gonna Take Me”.

Before “Stray Dog”, Daniel said that it was nice to be back in the city (headlining the 7th Street Entry on 25 February 2019), but admitted that they didn’t miss the “negative 28 degrees”.

For their self-admitted most pop song, “Going On A Feeling”, the group joked that they needed to turn on the auto-tune machine in the back.

They closed out their 35-min set with the harmonizing “25 For The Last Time”.

Once again, Irish singer and songwriter Hozier is selling out his US tour. We first mentioned his popularity in February 2015, stating “Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is enjoying a sold out American tour this Winter. He’s touring in support of his eponymous debut self-titled studio album, which hit #1 on the Irish chart and #2 in the US charts.”

What is even more impressive is that while the debut self-titled album only reached #2 on the US chart, Hozier’s sophomore album Wasteland, Baby! went straight to #1 – thanks to such strong singles as “Movement” and “Almost (Sweet Music)”.

Although his international breakout single “Take Me To Church” (which the band closed out the show with), I think the real secret to Hozier’s success is his very excellent band and backup singers. They were all giving their 150%, and you can just tell how much they love playing these songs.

Wasteland, Baby! is out now on Rubyworks/Island Records.

Remaining tour dates: