This programme contains some strong language
Welcome to Alexandra Palace,
the people's palace!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
A palace of music and dance and joy!
Let's get the evening going!
And to start, from Wicklow, Ireland,
it's Hozier!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
HE VOCALISES
# I'm starving, darling
# Let me put my lips to something
# Let me wrap my teeth around the world
# Start carving, darling
# I wanna smell the dinner cooking
# I wanna feel the edges start to burn
# Honey, I wanna race you to the table
# If you hesitate, the getting is gone
# I won't lie
# If there's something to be gained
# There's money to be made
# Whatever's still to come
# Get some
# Pull up the ladder when the flood comes
# Throw enough rope until the legs have swung
# Seven new ways that you can eat your young
# Come and get some
# Skinning the children for a war drum
# Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns
# It's quicker and easier to eat your young
# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
# Ooh-ooh-ahh-ahh... #
HE VOCALISES
# ..Ahh-ahh
# You can't buy this fineness
# Let me see the heat get to it
# Let me watch the dressing start to peel
# It's a kindness, Highness
# Crumbs enough for everyone
# Old and young are welcome to the meal
# Honey, I'm making sure the table's made
# We can celebrate the good that we've done
# I won't lie
# If there's something still to take
# There is ground to break
# Whatever's still to come
# Get some
# Pull up the ladder when the flood comes
# Throw enough rope until the legs have swung
# Seven new ways that you can eat your young
# Come and get some
# Skinning the children for a war drum
# Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns
# It's quicker and easier to eat your young
# Ahh-ohh
# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ahh... #
HE VOCALISES
# ..Ahh-ahh
# Ooh-ooh
# Ooh-ooh-ooh
# Ooh...
# Ooh-ooh-ooh
# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
The wonderful Hozier!
Before our other guests this evening...
I shall be chatting to Hozier a little later this evening.
I'll also be chatting to the legendary photographer,
Jill Furmanovsky!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
From Chatham in Kent, it's the wonderful Venbee.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
From County Cavan in Ireland, the fabulous Lisa O'Neill!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
From San Diego in California, we're delighted to have
Thee Sacred Souls.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
But now, from Hammersmith,
the noted borough in west London,
we're delighted to welcome Arlo Parks!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Cardamom and jade as your eyes streamed
# On the night you showed your volcanic side
# And I'm afraid to need validation
# Waiting for the day when you finally try
# There are sandflies in the champagne
# You're closed off, I'm so drained
# But I sparkle
# When you tell me I'm your sunray
# I'm starved of your affection
# You're crushed under the pressure but you won't change
# No, you won't change
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# Tethered to the person you could be
# Re-reading our texts from the strawberry days
# Just give me a sign if you want me
# Just give me a sign if you wanna stay
# There's blue glass in the soft rain
# You're passive, I'm in pain
# But I sparkle
# When you tell me I'm your sunray
# I'm starved of your affection
# You're crushed under the pressure but you won't change
# No, you won't change
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# And I usually know my strength
# But here I am at ninety degrees bent
# A metallic taste at the back of my throat
# Watch your deltoid flex as you cough on the phone
# And I've lost my grit and I'm in my head
# You're so withdrawn and I'm standing there
# Keeping wool over my eyes
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go
# I don't wanna wait for you
# But I need you so I won't go. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you, Arlo Parks!
Next, a band who have released their debut album
on the legendary Daptone label.
We're very pleased to welcome Thee Sacred Souls!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# She said, be honest with how you feel
# I said, that's easier said than done
# I said, don't worry about the future
# She said, that's easier said than done
# Well, it is
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# Cos true love, it ain't easy, no
# Ah-ah ah
# She said, just show me this love is real
# I said, that's easier said than done
# I said, just trust the way you feel
# She said, that's easier said than done
# Yes, it is
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# Cos true love, it ain't easy, no
# Ah-ah ah
# True love, true love
# It's worth it in the end
# Yes, it is
# True love, true love
# It's worth it in the end
# Yes, it is
# True love, true love
# You know It's worth it in the end
# It's worth it, darling
# True love, true love
# I said, it's worth it in the end
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# Easier said than done
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# Easier said than done
# Yes, it is
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# Cos true love, it ain't easy, no
# Ah-ah ah
# It ain't easy
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# I said, true love, it ain't easy
# Ah-ah ah
# Ah-ah-ah-ah...
# Ooh-ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh
# It ain't easy
# But it's worth it in the end
# Ooh-ooh-ooh, baby
# It ain't easy
# But it's worth it in the end. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you, Thee Sacred Souls!
Just finished their UK tour.
It was a dazzling triumph.
Now I'm going to the piano to have a chat with a great man,
a great songwriter, a great singer, a great all-round fellow.
I'm just delighted that he's sort of leaning against the piano here.
Let's welcome Hozier!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Lovely to see you!
So, welcome back to the show.
I think it's nine years when you made your debut on the show.
Can you remember that? I can. What was it like for you?
I was a bit rattled. Like, I'd been watching the show
all my life, really, y'know, for the most part of it,
so it was a big deal for me. I think it was one that was always...
..I think probably the most significant television
appearance for me. But on your debut,
you performed your first single, Take Me To Church.
Is it right that you recorded that in your parents' attic in Wicklow?
Yeah. I demoed it there, and all the vocals,
all those backing vocals and the kind of arrangement, you know...
We re-recorded a lot once I got my hands on a real piano with
a wonderful producer, Rob Kirwan. But all the vocals, yeah,
that's the lovely ambient sound of my parents' attic, yeah.
I mean, it's an amazing track that...
..literally, the world has fallen in love with.
And my guess, it must have changed things for you
when that song came out. Yeah! It was a big sea change,
I suppose. I went from being.... Essentially, like, I had dropped out
of college a few years previous. I knew I had to hone the skills
to make sort of contemporary song. You know what I mean?
I was studying music in college, but...
And that was the first song I ever released, and, yeah...
It was, I think, maybe one of our most ever watched performances.
I mean, this is the difference in music today, because it used to be
people would go and buy your record afterwards, but now people will
look at it on YouTube, and it goes on and on and on and on.
And it's had, I think, 34 million... I mean, we're talking
telephone numbers, but it's true! 34 million views.
So I'd like to now take that up to 34 million and one
and have another little look. Can we just have a little glance at that...
Absolutely. ..and reflect on that for a moment?
# My lover's got humour
# She's the giggle at a funeral
# Knows everybody's disapproval
# I should've worshipped her sooner
# If the heavens ever did speak
# She's the last true mouthpiece
# Every Sunday's getting more bleak
# A fresh poison each week
# "We were born sick," you heard them say
# My church offers no absolutes
# She tells me, "Worship in the bedroom"
# The only heaven I'll be sent to
# Is when I'm alone with you
# I was born sick, but I love it
# Command me to be well
# A...amen
# Amen
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life
# Cos I'm a pagan of the good times
# My lover's the sunlight
# To keep the goddess on my side
# She demands a sacrifice
# Drain the whole sea Get something shiny
# Something meaty for the main course
# That's a fine-looking high horse
# What you got in the stable?
# We've a lot of starving faithful
# That looks tasty That looks plenty
# This is hungry work
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life
# No masters or kings when the ritual begins
# There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin
# In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
# Only then I am human, only then I am clean
# Whoa, amen
# Amen, amen
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life
# Take me to church
# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
# Offer me that deathless death
# And good God, let me give you my life. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
It's just gone up to 35 million now. HOZIER CHUCKLES
Is your family musical? They are, yeah. I was blessed.
My father... Actually, my uncle is here also - my uncle gave me
my very first guitar, and he's here in the audience,
which I'm absolutely delighted... Liam.
And my father was a drummer. They used to play together, also.
But my father was a drummer by trade before I was born.
And what sort of music were you hearing in the house
when you were growing up? A lot of Chicago blues,
a lot of soul music, a lot of jazz music,
but I think primarily a lot of sort of Chicago blues.
Some Texas blues also, but a lot of, like, Muddy Waters,
John Lee Hooker, BB King, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Great stuff.
And was that an inspiration, having that music in the house?
I think it was, and then, coming back to it as a teenager, I didn't
realise it was an influence at the time, but then, as I started to...
I just taught myself how to play guitar as a teenager,
sat down with an electric at some point and just felt very
at home in that music, something subconscious or something, you know?
You bend the notes when you're singing. You've got a little blues
trill on it. Yeah. And you opened the show with the title track
of your new EP, Eat Your Young. Now, what's inspired this new EP?
Is it this Dante inspiration?
Yeah. Well, the album is out in a couple of months.
The EP is sort of a bit of a taster of some of those songs.
But the album, I think it was an effective way of structuring
something of a journey, without making sort of expressly
a lockdown album or a pandemic album,
I just felt the last two years, two and a half, three years,
I think I certainly found myself on something of a journey.
I think everyone did. They found themselves in a new condition where
things changed or they had to change with it. A lot of people lost
a lot of things, and we've all sort of come out the other side.
So it seemed like an effective way of just structuring that journey
and putting a thread through it and sort of nodding to it
in a loose and playful way.
But Dante is writing in the sort of... Is it 1300s or 1400s?
1300s, 1400s, yeah. Yeah, so it's early sort of thing.
And what happens in his story? It sort of outlines...
You don't really have to read it - thankfully! - to enjoy the album.
But, y'know, it's sort of a dream quest or vision quest
of him ending up off a path, off the good path, I suppose,
and ends up having to walk through the underworld or through hell,
arranged, as he imagines it, in nine circles.
So the album is arranged into nine circles, just in a subtle nod.
And I think we need to buy the album to find out if he gets back
and escapes the underworld. Yeah! Yeah, yeah.
And you're going to play something from it in a moment. Yes.
What are you going to play? I think we're going to play a song from the
record called Francesca. We're looking forward to hearing that
in a moment, and it's wonderful for you to be here.
Hozier! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So, next, she's already had a top-three hit
and is one of the artists leading the resurgence in drum and bass.
We welcome, from Chatham, Kent, Venbee!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Back when I was 15, I got into the wrong crowd
# Got myself in trouble just to make a silly man proud
# When I was 16, I almost died
# Swear my mum watched my life flash behind her eyes
# When I was 17, I relapsed, like, ten times
# And the last one led me on a downward spiral
# 18, picking up the drink
# Felt kinda nice cos I didn't have to think
# 19, lockdown hit
# Everything around me, it all went to shit
# Then I turned 20 When did I turn 20?
# How the fuck am I 20?
# I should be dead in the gutter by now
# Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter
# I should be dead in the gutter by now
# Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter
# Now I'm 22, haven't got a clue
# I got a chip on my shoulder, I think that it's cool
# No-one's gonna fuck with the girl that breaks all the rules
# No-one gives a fuck cos we're all replaceable
# I'm just such a hypocrite Don't know how I live with it
# Told my brother not to smoke I'm the one who hasn't quit
# Really, I'm just winging it Hoping it don't go to shit
# Hoping I can find a place where I fit
# Should be dead in the gutter by now
# Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter
# I should be dead in the gutter by now
# Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter
Dead in the gutter
# Should be dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter, should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
The wonderful Venbee. Thank you so much.
OK, so now a quick change of vibration,
a wonderful Irish musician whose songs follow in the great
folk tradition of storytelling.
We welcome Lisa O'Neill.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Colleen, be careful when wishing
# Because love is not a decision
# Choosing a heart
# Begins in your heart
# And any less, something is missing
# I tell you, loveen, about stealing
# I once knew a terrible feeling
# That the birds and the bees
# Were laughing at me
# And my nectar, it was without reason
# Don't prickle like a holly leaf
# So none can taste your berry till blood-red ready
# To fall for the steady green
# Who taught me how to grieve?
# Sing like sparrow, don't dream narrow
# And know about the silver seed
# Oh!
# Who make a woman out of me?
# No cross can claim my gladness
# Tame my madness
# I'm born of me mother's seed
# Mother is soil and queen
# Met her last night in a dream
# She said, "The stars in the sky
# "They know the same light
# "As the stars that are hanging in the tree"
# Mother, there's a star in me
# Nectar sweet indeed
# I sing like sparrow
# I won't dream narrow
# I'll know about the silver seed
# Oh! #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you! Fabulous. Lisa O'Neill! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now come over to my piano as we welcome one of the true great
legends - and I use the word carefully - of music photography,
the wonderful Jill Furmanovsky!
Welcome to the show, Jill.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So nice to have you here!
And you really are a legend of music photography,
and you have taken photographs...
I'm going to read off a list in a moment.
But you've taken photographs of, really, everybody who's everybody
in music. Who was the first musician you photographed?
It probably was Paul McCartney, actually. Good start. Yeah.
How old were you then? About 13, and I had an Instamatic.
And we used to stand outside Abbey Road.
We knew where he lived because the Beatles Monthly told you.
And I went there with my school friends, and he came out.
I didn't want to be in the picture at all.
And there they were, an elbow
and two school friends and Paul.
And that was my first rock shot. Very good, but that also...
You see, nowadays everybody wants to be in the photograph together,
but you didn't want to be in the picture. No. You just wanted to take
the picture of the person. Yes, yeah. Very good.
Now, you've taken pictures of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis,
the Police, Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, the Clash,
the Cure, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Eric Clapton,
Oasis, the Smiths, even me! Especially you! I've got the sleeve.
Look, you did my first record sleeve. That's me in 1978. Same tie.
Just grown a little bit. Same person, just grown a little bit.
And that Buick. Is that right, a Buick?
That's right. You were very into your cars at that time, weren't you?
Exactly. What is the secret of a good photo? Of a good photo?
Ooh, that's a difficult one.
I mean, we're trying to catch the moment, but that's an obvious thing.
I mean, just like a musician, you're trying to sort of distil something.
It's a 125th of a second, roughly, and, you know,
you're kind of a little bit like a hound on the trail.
You know, you're shooting, like a hunter. Mm.
Now, there's currently a very important exhibition,
an incredible exhibition at the Central Library in Manchester
called Photographing The Invisible, which is your exhibition,
which is on at the moment. An amazing exhibition.
What inspired that title, Photographing The Invisible?
It came from the documentary that's being made on me,
that isn't finished yet, called The Invisible Photographer -
which I'm clearly not any more! But when I came to do an exhibition,
I wanted a slightly different title, and the great graphic designer
Neville Brody said to me, "Photographing The Invisible."
And although that makes no sense, it made perfect sense to me.
And what sort of things can people expect to see in the exhibition?
Well, it was very difficult to choose.
You know, I had 100 pictures in frames,
and that's only two per year from my 50 years!
So I put 100 pictures in frames, and then I put montages of each era.
So Squeeze, for example - you remember them? Yes. You did
our first sleeve. Yes. So, Squeeze would be on a wall,
but there may also be some outtakes from other shoots from that
particular era, from punk, for example.
And I've gone right up to the current day,
because I'm still putting pictures in right up to the
end of the exhibition, because I am still shooting. Well, exactly.
Today, earlier on, when our dear photographer was just taking
a photograph, his camera just momentarily broke, and you were
straight in there. I was in there! Yeah.
Which was no good, because you were supposed to be in a group with
all the people being photographed! I'll paste myself in afterwards!
Also, actually, with the exhibition, Noel Gallagher has been a guest
curator. How did that come about? Well, I just asked him,
and he went, "You bet I'm coming to do that."
And then he came to the studio and he was like,
"Oh, I can't believe that shoot you did in Paris.
"That was just, like, the worst.
"I kept thinking, 'Just hurry up, Jill. Just get on with it!'"
For the person in the picture,
there's a totally different scenario.
You know, Liam was completely... He was drunk during that thing.
And I'm just thinking, "Yeah, it was a great shoot, actually,
"great pictures came out of it!"
So it was very funny to have his input. And he does...
There's actually a... What do you call them?
..QR codes, where you can hear the person commenting on the pictures.
You can do that, as well. Oh, great! The person who's in the photograph
talking through their memories of the experience?
Yes. And Bonehead lying on the baggage carrier, you know,
at an airport and the Gallaghers posing in front,
and Bonehead's going past with his legs in the air,
you know, just funny things that Noel has commented on.
And I saw you brought your camera with you this evening. I did.
Do you take it with you everywhere you go, just in case?
Just in case, Jools. You know, like this opportunity, you know?
If I've got it, then I'm seeing things all the time.
It's best if I don't bring it everywhere.
In fact, Noel Gallagher accused me in the film of taking it to
bed with me, and he's sort of right. I do, sometimes.
Well, it's great you've got it here. Now, would you take a quick shot
of all of us in the studio here? Ah, you bet I would, yeah!
What, all of you now? Tell me where to go. Oh, OK! Gosh, OK.
Well, is this a production one or artists' one?
Well, you can see you've got a bit of both.
Come in the foreground, Jools. Come in the foreground. Yeah.
OK, hold it there.
Yeah, OK. And I can see one of the two Sams behind you.
And look, there's... But... Hozier...
Yeah, yeah, get in there, Hozier.
The wonderful Jill Furmanovsky! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So now we go over to THIS corner of the room and we welcome back
the 2021 Mercury Prize winner in the form of the wonderful Arlo Parks!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# I'm exhausted
# Watching like Claire Danes through the water
# Catching light like blades through your body
# The party's ablaze
# We grew apart when you were fighting with your sister
# I don't think I realised how horribly I miss you now
# Regret is flowering inside me Inside me
# Hope you know that I
# I just don't know what to do
# Cos I only want to be with you
# I remember
# There was something strangely romantic
# In our friendship, we were dramatic
# I wept in your arms
# Whoa, whoa, whoa
# Talking for hours on the gravel
# Walking to Boxers linking pinkies, wearing matching pearls
# But now I'm struggling, I'm choking without the words
# Hope you know that I
# I just don't know what to do
# Cos I only want to be with you
# I just miss your voice Say you've been all right
# Calling when you're lonely late at night
# Cos I only want to be with you
# So I make my way over as the white lightning zigzags
# And you're with Ahmed, plum-red slacks and tequila freezer
# And you laugh the same, hand on mouth cos you hate your teeth
# And I love your teeth and I'm scared to speak
# Hope you know that...
# I, I just don't know what to do
# Cos I only want to be with you
# I just miss your voice Say you've been all right
# Calling when you're lonely late at night
# Cos I only want to be with you
# Only want to be with you
# I only want to be with you
# Only want to be with you
# I only want to be with you
# Only want to be with you. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you, Arlo Parks!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you to all my guests who have been here this evening.
Wonderful artists. Thank you to everybody in the room.
Have you had a frenzy?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Let's hear it for all the wonderful guests.
And we go and we finish
with the fabulous Hozier!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Do you think I'd give up?
# That this might've shook the love from me?
# Or that I was on the brink?
# How could you think, darling, I'd scare so easily?
# Now that it's done
# There's not one thing that I would change
# My life was a storm since I was born
# How could I fear any hurricane?
# If someone asked me at the end
# I'd tell them, "Put me back in it"
# Da-ah, darling
# I would do it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# If I could hold you for a minute
# Da-ah, darling
# I'd go through it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# I would still be surprised I could find you, darling
# In any life
# If I could hold you for a minute
# Da-ah, darling
# I would do it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# For all that was said
# Of where we'd end up at the end of it
# When the heart would cease, ours never knew peace
# What good would it be on the far side of things?
# Well, it was too soon
# When that part of you was ripped away
# Grip taking hold, like a cancer that grows
# Each piece of your body that it takes
# Though I know my heart would break
# I'd tell them, "Put me back in it"
# Da-ah, darling
# I would do it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# If I could hold you for a minute
# Da-ah, darling
# I'd go through it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# I would still be surprised I could find you, darling
# In any life
# If I could hold you for a minute
# Da-ah, darling
# I would do it again
# Ah-ah, ah-ah
# I would not change it each time
# Heaven is not fit
# To house a love like you and...
# I would not change it each time
# Heaven is not fit
# To house a love like you and...
# I would not change it each time
# Heaven is not fit
# To house a love like you and I
# Like you and I. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MUSIC: Gutter by Venbee
# I should be dead in the gutter by now
# Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner
# Dead in the gutter Dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter
Dead in the gutter
# Should be dead in the gutter
# Dead in the gutter Should be six feet under
# Don't know how I swerved the corner. #