Sasquatch 2014, Day 1: Hozier

After hours of overcast weather, the sun finally came out for Hozier's afternoon set at Sasquatch, which is ironic, considering that the musician also known as Andrew Hozier-Byrne is from Ireland, a country hardly known for its sunshine. But by the end of his set, it might have seemed that the sun's emergence may have been an act of the man himself, judging by the masterful 40 minutes that the blues-inflected singer/guitarist ran through with smooth confidence. Dressed in jeans and a denim jacket, Hozier effected ineffable cool ran throughout each part of his set, from the quiet opening number to the more upbeat R&B-styled tunes to his crowdpleasing cover of Amerie's "1 Thing". Drawing the biggest crowd to the Yeti to that point by a considerable margin, Hozier commanded the audience howling through his oft-cathartic songs with his backing band and never looked back until their fervor peaked with "Take Me To Church", the internet-driven breakthrough that kickstarted the singer's meteoric last few months. Judging by his crowd size and the pitch of the female section of the audience, there was a single breakthrough set on Friday afternoon and it was Hozier's.