For everything he throws at it – the fireworks, the army of musicians onstage, his impeccable vocals – Hozier’s headline Reading 2025 set will probably be remembered most for what he says.
During an astonishing four-minute speech, the Irish musician speaks passionately and eloquently about the civil rights movement, the fight for democracy, the plight of the Palestinian people and the bravery of artists who speak up in the face of oppression.
“Safety and security for everybody in the Middle East means seeing a Palestine that’s free from occupation,” he explains, pacing up and down the stage as the band noodles away behind him, “that’s free from these cycles of genocide and violence, and it means seeing a Palestine that’s free to move towards meaningful self-determination and statehood.”
It’s the most emotional and laudable moment in a set filled with emotional and laudable moments, as the singer visibly wins over the crowd throughout his near-two-hour set. In theory, the folky 35-year-old was a strange choice of headliner for Reading & Leeds, given his Radio 2-friendly sound. Indeed, the audience is initially a little sparse and somewhat chatty; 90 minutes later, though, it’s densely packed and in his total command.
Thanks to Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes’ ‘Home’ being dubbed the “worst song ever” in a viral Twitter/X post, we’ve recently heard a lot about ‘stomp clap’ music, the once-ubiquitous sound of a dude with a man-bun stompin’, clappin’ and hollerin’ through faux-emotional nonsense. While Hozier’s bombastic folk-pop can veer uncomfortably close to this template (2015’s ‘Work Song’ is a textbook example of the sound) tonight’s set is most notable, musically, for the enormity of its grunge guitar.
As the band batter through the gritty likes of ‘De Selby (Part 2)’, you’d barely believe this is the guy whose man-bun anthem ‘Take Me to Church’ soundtracked a thousand first dances. Yes, Chappell Roan, who preceded him on the main stage, should probably have played the closing headline set (there was something of an exodus after her show, which perhaps explains Hozier’s initially thin crowd before the audience swelled in size and dedicated), but the Irish troubadour’s combination of finger-picked acoustic ballads and crunching power-chords proves a surprisingly effective substitute.
During his set-defining speech, he declares: “I believe that people would want to see people they don’t know live with peace and safety, and security. Am I right?” When the crowd roars back at him, it’s clear he’s on the right stage and, more importantly, on the right side of history.
Hozier played:
‘Nobody’s Soldier’
‘Jackie and Wilson’
‘Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene’
‘Dinner & Diatribes’
‘Eat Your Young’
‘Like Real People Do’
‘Would That I’
‘Cherry Wine’
‘Unknown/Nth’
‘Work Song’
‘De Selby (Part 2)’
‘Francesca’
‘Too Sweet’
‘Someone New’
‘Almost (Sweet Music)’
‘Movement’
‘Nina Cried Power’
‘Take Me to Church’
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