For concert fans living in the Maritimes, we have long been accustomed to seeing acts at the onset of their careers, opening for a legacy act, or catching them on a nostalgia run while they relive those glory days. Fortunately, we have the folks at Whitecap Entertainment, who are constantly hard at work booking some of the biggest acts on the planet, as well as those artists who are on the verge of breaking through to the mainstream (see Noah Kahan at 2024’s Sommo Festival). 2025 was no different, as their initial announcement was none other than the Irish singer-songwriter Hozier.
It was somewhat ironic that Hozier was the first act announced for 2025 back in December of 2024 , and also served as the final act of the weekend. The Irish phenom was a natural fit for the festival, as he was another act that was rooted in a more traditional folk style and followed acts such as Mumford and Sons and Noah Kahan who have also headlined the festival in previous years. Fortunately, we did not have a repeat of 2024’s weather delay, as we got a lot of that wet inclement weather out of the way earlier in the evening. So while some of the concert goers were certainly damp, their spirits certainly weren’t.
When the lights finally went down, the cheers went up, as the 6 foot 7 (yeah yeah 6,7) singer-songwriter strode on stage. He smiled at the Cavendish crowd and he and his band kicked the set off with the instantly familiar “Nobody’s Soldier” from his third album Unreal Unearth, then proceeded to follow it up with “Jackie and Wilson” and the rollicking “Angel of Slow Death and the Codeine Scene”, both of which were on Hozier’s earth shattering eponymous debut. It was clear that we were witnessing the start of something special with that opening trio of tunes.
For an artist that has only three studio albums under his belt, it would have been easy to build a set of those instantly recognizable gems, along with a couple of deep cuts and call it a night. That is not who Hozier is, nor what his music represents. And on this Sunday night in PEI, there were a couple of big moments that underlined this very point. The first happened early on in the night during “Eat Your Young”, where the screens showcased the healthy growth that the Lockheed Martin stock price has enjoyed, and contrasted that with a tally of the “Children displaced due to conflict and violence between 2010 and 2023” (which reflected a staggering 47.2 million) and the number of deaths due to armed conflict since 1969 (3.8 million). Later in the set, Hozier spoke about Mavis Staples (who collabed with him on “Nina Cried Power”) and how she used to sing ahead of civil rights speeches and rallies in the 1960’s, which directly sparked the civil rights moments and protests in Ireland around the same time. He went on to talk about all of the rights that we have today and that had to be fought for, and some of which are even taken for granted. He encouraged the folks to support their neighbours, regardless of colour, creed or sexuality, and to keep up the fight for those rights. He then called for peace, safety and security for everyone in the Middle East and called for a free Palestine, which got a rousing cheer from the crowd. Then during “Take Me To Church” (the set’s closer), Hozier accepted a trans flag from a concert goer and draped it over his shoulder, and draped it over the mic stand before he left the stage.
This was a night that had such a profound depth to it, that it couldn’t immediately be processed. It’s a bit cliched to say that Hozier took the Sommo crowd to church on this Sunday evening, but that is exactly what he did. It takes a lot for an artist to stand center stage, with little more than a guitar and talented band to command an audience the way in which Hozier did in PEI. It is still surreal to think about the performance that we experienced on that night, as he drew from his three full length albums, and even with all of the weight and depth of these songs, he had everyone on pins and needles when he walked out on the catwalk to perform a breathtaking version of both “Cherry Wine” and “Unknown”. The one song that stood out to me above all others was the incredible rendition of “De Selby (Part 2)” that had chills running down my spine.. It was a powerful and haunting performance that was one of my favorites of not only the entire weekend, but quite possibly of the past number of years. It was the perfect way to cap off a great weekend in PEI, and I can’t wait to see what Whitecap has lined up for year 4 of the festival.
