Review: Despite dreading going onstage, Irish rock star Hozier convinces crowd in St. Paul

Shifts happen. A virus has been spreading through the touring entourage of Irish rock star Hozier. And it finally hit him Saturday. So he had to revise his setlist at show time, with a roadie running out at the last minute to post the new order near Hozier’s microphone stand at Xcel Energy Center.

Probably none of the 15,000 fans would complain that the mononym star of the megahits “Take Me to Church” and “Too Sweet” trimmed a couple of selections that he usually does. Under the circumstances, the 6-foot-5 rocker with the suddenly glassy eyes gave a heroic performance, filled with passionate vocals, long-winded patter and his brand of stomp and holler rock.

The fans — mostly women who appeared to be between 17 and 30 — embraced Hozier not just because he’s tall, dark and handsome with an alluring Irish accent but because he sings about women’s rights, civil rights and gay rights, among other topics. Part protest singer, part romantic, he has become a rock star for socially conscious Gen Zers.

In April, “Too Sweet” became the first No. 1 hit by an Irish solo artist since Sinead O’Connor’s reading of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” in 1990, the year Andrew Hozier-Byrne was born. It arrived 10 years after his “Take Me to Church” ascended to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and earned a nomination for the Grammy for song of the year.

For someone who sounded hoarse while speaking and coughed off-microphone, Hozier did plenty of talking. He’s a real charmer.

Realizing what city he was in, he asked what St. Paul was the saint of. A fan shouted “peace.” “You think peace,” the singer retorted. “Can anyone contradict that? I went to Catholic school, but you’d be surprised.”

Before “Too Sweet,” he told an epic yarn of getting wasted with a friend in Ireland, falling on his face blotto, then hopping on a plane to Los Angeles and realizing his head was bleeding as he was sitting across from actor Cillian Murphy for whom he’d once written a charity essay. It was a rambling story to say that the situation sparked one line for “Too Sweet.”

Introduced by its throbbing bass line on Saturday, “Too Sweet” earned an instant ovation. The breezy ballad about a mismatched couple was an intoxicating confection with its keening chorus, catchy syncopated guitar riff and, like a good Irish sing-along, a round of “whoa, oh-ohs.”

Afterward, Hozier commented, “The story was twice as long as the song.” Well, maybe three times.

He opened Saturday’s two-hour performance with the murky Peter Gabriel-like funk “Eat the Young,” which Hozier described in a Variety.com interview as about “selling out the future of the youth through arms sales and conflict profiteering.”

Yes, the 34-year-old thinks about big issues. Before offering “Nina Cried Power,” he gave a widely encompassing stump speech about democracy, voting, solidarity, kindness, reproductive choices, gay rights and cease-fire in Gaza. His outspokenness in song and conversation has earned him some un-asked-for nicknames — Forest Daddy, King of the Lesbians, the Bogfather, Irish Jesus.

His music is rooted in blues, soul and Celtic ballads, in the tradition of such Irish rock bards as Van Morrison and Damien Rice, but Hozier melds it together so it sounds like the Lumineers-meets-Led Zeppelin delivered by a nine-person band (including a cellist and violinist) highlighting his finger-picking electric guitar.

The concert featured 19 selections drawn from Hozier’s three albums, with a heavy helping of last year’s “Unreal Unearth,” his rumination on Dante’s “Inferno.” For the gentle, bucolic “Wildflower and Barley” from that album, Hozier was joined by Canadian Americana singer Allison Russell, a penetrating performer in her own right who opened the show.

“Take Me to Church,” his gospel-meets-southern soul hit that urges the church and the government to not dictate about sexuality and love relationships, closed the main set with ferocious vocals and the singer wrapping a Pride flag around his microphone stand, which earned the night’s most robust reaction.

The encore was heavy on messages. “Cherry Wine,” served in a solo acoustic treatment, haunted in its depiction of domestic abuse; it was the only time Saturday that Hozier’s bourbony baritone sounded a bit strained. Joined by powerhouse singer Melissa McMillan, he delivered the potent “Nina Cried Power,” a swirling tribute to civil rights protest singers including Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and James Brown.

Hozier, who oozes good-guyness, knows there is work to be done to make this a better world. So he asked Russell to join him for the closing “Work Song,” something of a spiritual about working hard. And that’s what Hozier did Saturday.

“I was dreading coming in here tonight,” he said late in the evening. “I was in rough shape.” But he redeemed himself by taking his fans to the Church of Hozier.