Ezra Furman

Anyone who listens to the Marc Riley show on BBC 6music will be familiar with Ezra Furman. I bought the album after some intensive airplay last year and haven't stopped playing it since. The Day of the Dog was one of my top 5 albums of last year but it doesn't sound like a contemporary 2013 release. When I first heard Tell Em All To Go To Hell I thought it was by some obscure 70s glam act I'd not heard before. The album to my ears is full of potential hit singles and could easily be a greatest hits compilation. I'm possibly not the best judge of what makes a top selling act but I really can't recommend that record highly enough.

Ezra has released a fair few albums, mostly with previous backing band The Harpoons but I've only got Day Of The Dog so far but based on tonight's show I have some catching up to do. This was Ezra's first visit to the UK but I'm pretty sure it won't be his last. After getting used to a spot near the back in previous gigs, I got to the Sebright Arms nice & early tonight to secure a place near the front. This was a feat made considerably easier by the fact there were only 5 people in the venue & 3 of those were almost certainly in the support band.

By the time Ezra & the Boy-Friends hit the stage the Sebright was rammed. Ezra, sporting dark sunglasses, said he was a little nervous at the thought of playing to a bunch of taste makers but it seemed to me the crowd were pretty genuine and here for a rock'n'roll party. They opened with two fast and furious tracks from Day Of The Dog and from the get-go people were dancing. Ezra introduced Caroline Jones as being possibly unreleased (it's actually the b-side of My Zero) but despite having heard it only once before I felt I knew it as well as any of the other tunes from the album. There followed a run of older material that went down as well as any of his recent stuff; American Soil, That's When It Hit Me & Bloodsucking Whore were as instantly loveable as any of the songs I knew. The excellent Mysterious Power segued into a brief snatch of Springsteen's Hungry Heart before the set began to ramp up with some of the best tracks from Ezra's latest album.

The Mall, originally by folk-punk singer Paul Baribeau, captures the 50s vibe perfectly whilst At The Bottom Of The Ocean hints at a time when music didn't feel the need to be serious all the time. My Zero was followed by Tell Em All To Go To Hell, my favourite tunes and a real high point in the set. By this point Ezra had the crowd pretty much eating out of his hand. The sunglasses were back on, appropriately, for Take Off Your Sunglasses with the crowd encouraging Ezra to do just that as "we wanna see your eyes". Anything Can Happen & We Should Fight brought the main set to a suitably raucous conclusion.

Slacker/Adria opened the encores, keeping the vibe upbeat and encouraging the Sebright audience to sing along with its Gloria style chorus. Ezra introduced The Marvelette's Please Mr Postman as his favourite song, which I thought hinted at where he's coming from, and this was followed by a similarly 50's influenced Train in Vain. To end the night in style Ezra returned for one more song, on his own this time with only his guitar for company. After a brief, slightly bizarre exchange, with a large Scottish man who called Ezra an Angel, we were treated to a stripped down performance of Cherry Lane. There was a lingering smile and a wave as Ezra left the stage and the feeling this was the start of something big. If you get the chance to catch him live do so soon, I don't think he'll be playing venues this size for very long.

I took my kids - girl and boy aged 9 and 12 - to their first concert: Ezra Furman - their favorite artist that I introduced to them, him being one of my own favorites. We have played his brilliant album, Perpetual Motion People for about 2 years in the car

We arrived early at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam, and the owner of the concert hall invited us in as I had spoken to him on the phone before and were so early at the door. I brought us to where the kids could sit to see - on the bar. As we walked in, Ezra Furman walked passed us with a smile on his face in recognition of how young would be these attendees of his concert that evening. They would be the only kids there.

It was just the beginning of Furman's interaction with us. It continued with him playing Inês's favorite track after I called out to request it, plus flashing them a smile from the stage after a meaningful spoken piece. The concert, happening about a week after his new album came out, Transangelic Exodus. The concert brings it alive with his commitment to the songs and the detail that Furman brings to the live performance. Following the concert, the owner, who had seen the t-shirts of the artist that the kids were wearing (which I had made for my daughter's school presentation on Furman), went and asked backstage if Ezra would sign them.

We went upstairs, otherwise out of bounds to the public, and Furman came out. We chatted for quite sometime with him - I found had a lot to say regarding his music, which focusses on sexuality, identity and mental health issues (to very engaging melodies). It was quite a mind-blower for the kids who got a long inscription on their t-shirts and to stare at him at length. He is a bit of a hero of all of us, the owner of Bitterzoet too!

Multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Ezra Furman has performed under various pseudonyms over his career including Ezra Furman and the Harpoons and Ezra Furman and the Boyfriends yet it would seem when he heads out with his solo namesake is when he hits his true creative stride. He lives and breaths his music and art and invests a large amount of himself into the lyrical content so performing onstage is a deeply personal experience for the musician and one that the crowd identifies from the offset.

They are incredibly supportive as he talks in detail about his life and how experiences have gone on to inspire certain tracks from the albums. A critics favourite and heaps of live show publicity have won Furman a naturally expanding fanbase and although he seems a little daunted by the vastness of his crowd tonight, he performs with proficiency and skill. When he receives warm reactions to new tracks including 'Lousy Connection' and 'Restless Year' he comes into his stride and demonstrates a confidence in space and truly delivers on performance.

Quite simply the best gig EVER! We've been trying to see Ezra Furman for nearly a year & kept missing out. We sat in the snug at the last gig at The Castle just to hear through the walls! Sad! Well they didn't disappoint! Ezra was bursting with manic, neurotic energy & had a great connection with the audience who totally adored him & couldn't get enough - even after 1&3/4 hours! He fits in so well in Manchester with his charity shop tops & skirts & a string of pearls - quirky & cool & full of attitude. As musicians they are astoundingly good too - strong drums heartbeat, growling, screaming, lamenting sax, buzzing bass, lyrical guitar, piano, tambourine, maracas & anything else they could throw into the mix - essentially, good old fashioned dirty, quirky rock & roll. Like a 5 year old at the end of their first play, Ezra took 5 minutes to leave the stage after his band had gone - edging along & periodically waving shyly - utterly engaging! Come back soon Ezra!

I saw the wonderful Ezra Furman and his excellent band, the Visions at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam, last Tuesday. I am still dazed by this amazing show! Such talent, originality, energy and passion!
I am almost 72 and have heard a lot of music in my life, but I can safely say that I have never been so deeply touched by a concert as by this one!
Do yourself a favour and check them out and don’t miss them when they have a gig in your country or region. I have travelled to London twice to see them ( in the Roundhouse and in the Barbican) and I will go again on 23 May to see them in O2 Brixton Academy.

Joke van ‘t Verlaat
The Netherlands

If you like your musicians to be cross dressing, gender bending, reformed suicidal maniacs touched by genius then Ezra Furman is for you. How songs about feeling worthless and haunted in the head and wanting the world to go to hell in an ordinary life could ever be uplifting is where the wonder of our Ezra comes in. The music is where he lives he tells us and it's clearly where he gets his therapy. His performance is a tour de force and we all get a slice of the healing and come out knowing it's all worth it. Unmissable.

An amazing set! Ezra Furman is such a wonderful performer, and the band are also brilliant- with one of them having to use a coke bottle as a guitar slider after one went missing mid-set! They played the whole of the new album and really brought it to life, as well as some old favourites. Really recommend going to see them at least once, I have now seen Ezra live 3 times over the last 4 years and I would definitely eagerly buy tickets for more shows!

I've seen Ezra several times now and every show feels very different. This was probably Ezra at his most straight-forward and he was just brilliant. Passion mixed with fragility, he built a really good relationship with the audience - us cheering him on, him drawing strength from such open appreciation. He really is one of the more original and exciting people performing at the moment - it rates as my best concert of 2019 so far.

Lo que esperaba era ver a un tipo inteligente y con valentía para afrontar la estupida filosofía actual.

Y fué eso amplificado, rabioso (dijo: every bone of my body is full of angryness and bites) y a la vez dulce simpático y tímido.

Con tanta amplificación matices se pierden, sobre todo vocales, pero la actitud es lo que emborracha y da un gusto estupendo.

Un placer, en sus descargas y en sus calmas.

There are few artists who put so much of themselves into a performance, but Ezra Furman really opens up and gives it his all. A great performance, making him one of the most exciting people in music today. I even overhead someone in the audience describing him as the "next David Bowie". High praise indeed.