Ezra Furman at Thalia Hall

Ezra Furman’s concert at Thalia Hall was a show dominated by powerful, ribcage-thumping voices from Ezra herself as well as openers Jennifer Hall and Grace Cummings. I had not exposed myself to the openers prior to the show, but after hearing their sets I decided that their artistry captures what my personal music catalog is desperately missing.

Jennifer Hall had an incredible and unsuspecting voice in the same way an 80s-power-ballad would. She was like a modern-day Bonnie Tyler who should be singing the title track for the next Hollywood blockbuster; this is best portrayed through her song “Belonging Forever”. 

Nothing could have ever prepared me for Grace Cummings’ voice…. she pulls off raspiness in a way I can only attempt to when singing along to my favorite tracks when sick. On top of her amazing vocals, her cool looks and British accent added to her allure. Her one song in particular, “Common Man” would fit perfectly in a movie with a cut-away scene into a wartime environment.... 

These two were maybe some of the best and most exciting openers I’ve seen in a long time, and their voices were the perfect appetizers for what Ezra was about to bring to the stage. 

Between acts, I had plenty of time to people watch - an aperitif to every concert. There was an excess of bandanas and large hair clips (I was guilty of the latter). The crowd looked like it could’ve been a walking advertisement for Big Bud Press in the best way possible: lots of bright colors and many jumpsuits. 

Ezra came out tentatively but then assumed her spot front and center, guitar in hand. I was most familiar with her music from the Netflix show, Sex Education: she has done the soundtrack for the first three seasons. I knew her music, but I didn’t know it thoroughly. She came out raging, each rasp was calculated and perfectly placed. 

Photo by Tonje Thilesen

From the get go, the crowd was ravenous for her, practically jumping on each other in reaction to hearing their songs out loud. Everyone was dialed into the same experience. I was nudged in between two different friend groups that were experiencing every single note like an electric shock through their nervous systems. 

After the first song, one that held the same power as a whole bag of pop-its as a child on the Fourth of July, Ezra announced that we were “starting down in the basement of despair”. Nonetheless, the crowd roared. 

There was something so special about seeing Ezra Furman on the first day of pride month, and this wasn’t lost on a single person in the crowd. Furman herself said, “Happy Pride,” as she took an estrogen pill as well as an antiandrogen, swallowing them both with a slug of water before continuing the show. 

“Lilac and black”, a new song from her upcoming album, she explained was about trans women all being a part of an international secret society. This struck a chord with many people in the crowd and Ezra herself, choking up a bit through the song - Furman came out as a transgender woman last year.

The crowd was actually head-banging in unison - that many people on beat? Unheard of! Ezra Furman oozed ROCKSTAR in a humbling sense that made me like her even more. She was the person in line behind you at a 7-11, and also one of the most emotive singers I’d ever heard. 

She announced that her next record was coming out in August and played a song from it which she described as “an antifa romance, if I think about it”. I took note of so many things she said, much more than I usually did at shows. She had such a great presence and everything she did was very gentle and purposeful. I wanted to take it all in, and I wanted to remember everything.

She was a poet reading from her perfectly polished diary, not minding that she was disclosing all of its dirty details. Her work felt so confessional. It brought me back to the writing workshops I had in college, my classmates disclosing their deepest secrets and insecurities without batting an eye. I would later see them in a required math class or across campus, and it felt wrong that I knew so much but had never even eaten lunch with them.

Her songs played heavily with tempo. First starting slow and erupting into something loud and thrashing or vice versa. It was almost as if there just wasn’t any other option but for things to explode and rupture. Even though a lot of her subject matter was intense about love or loss, they were all still rooted in the general human experience and inclusive of small, distinct details. For example, I thought it was cute that she had two separate songs reference eggs and bread for breakfast.

“An elegy for the living and the dead” was how she introduced her song “Book of Names”. Ezra’s music was the definition of songs you can dance to whilst crying. They were songs that were full of gnarled and overgrown roots, all trying to get to the surface. Vulnerable isn’t a large enough word for her discography.

The crowd had intense moshing energy, without any actual moshing. But, I do think that if her show went on for one or two more songs, a mosh pit would have formed out of necessity.

I left the show feeling refreshed and awake - in fact, I had a hard time falling asleep. Ezra has tour dates across North America and Europe through the year, and I strongly you recommend that you check her out!

I can’t wait for her next album, All Of Us Flames, and luckily we don’t have to wait too much longer - it releases August 26th. Until then, I recommend you check out her current discography - it’ll make you fall in love with music again.