“Ezra who?”
Any conversation in my world around Ezra Furman has always been met with bewilderment and confusion, which is a crying shame because he brought quite the opposite to Glasgow’s QMU on Monday night; delight, anticipation and unapologetic joy.
Furman seems to have slipped in under the radar and stayed there; however, judging by the packed student union venue, he is less of an unknown and more of a best kept secret among those fortunate enough to have discovered him and his eclectic, eccentric soundtrack.
“Suck The Blood From My Wound” kicked off proceedings; a sample from Furman’s 2018 outing, “Transangelic Exodus”. What followed was the perfect shape of Furman’s career to date; a cleverly reworked version of body positive anthem, “Body Was Made”, “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend”, “Driving Down To L.A”, “Haunted Head” and “Love You So Bad”. The mixed bag soundtrack showcased Furman as a showman, an entertainer, a chameleon; he can easily and effortlessly turn his hand to anything : punk, pop and even a little country.
Furman himself cuts an enigmatic figure; performing, he oozes confidence and sass, owning his stage and commanding his guitar and voice with a force impossible to pull your eyes away from. On the flip side, his voice is barely a whisper as he “thanks” his audience between songs, he radiates a humbleness that is endearing and lacking among his cockier, less talented counterparts, he harbours an obvious disbelief in the sold out scene before him.
And he is not without wisdom, “Are you nervous? I’m nervous” he confessed to his adoring public early doors, before later prompting his punters to “Be frustrated!”, seemingly at our world and the concerning state we find it in.
It all seemed to be over way too soon, both for Glasgow and for Ezra who continuously blew kisses to his crowd as he bowed out. And, he wasn’t done there; he signed and chatted and posed for selfies with a seemingly endless queue of fans who couldn’t quite believe their luck at the main event taking the time to say hello.
The theme was the same among most; don’t leave it too long until next time, Ezra.
