Four years after his last rendezvous in Vienna, George Ezra delivered a show for the whole family that lacked in effects but had a strong voice on Wednesday evening. Around 8,000 fans hung on his every word and let themselves be carried away from the turmoil of harsh reality for a good 90 minutes.
George Ezra likes to be on the go. The British singer/songwriter with an increasing penchant for experimentation likes to name his songs after cities (“Budapest”, “Barcelona”, “Manila”) or puts out his feelers all the way to “Paradise”. Away from that, he loves spending time with good friends in the most remote corners of the world or hiking 1200 miles with them from the southernmost point of England to the northernmost point of Scotland during the pandemic. Being on the move serves him both as an inspiration and as an escape. Inspiration for new song treasures and catchy tunes suitable for the masses. Escape from capitalist machinations and NLP-controlled vultures in the music business, who squeezed this friendly young man like a lemon and wrung him out with a slight burnout. From the garden to the arena This June, Ezra turns 30 and has experienced more than others in the triple age. He has toured the world several times, topped the charts in his native UK with all three studio albums and also scooped up a prestigious BRIT award. But what weighs even more heavily is the human component. Ezra is an entertainer for the whole family. Like a Tony Bennett without a suit, but with more humility and gratitude. His songs are about love, wanderlust and having a good time. He has always avoided swearing and swearing and comes across with his modesty even in the most crowded halls as the pimply boy next door apologizes because he smashed the kitchen window again while playing football in the garden. About halfway through the 90-minute set in the Wiener Stadthalle he announces the song “In The Morning” from his current studio album “Gold Rush Kid” and hopes, reserved and in a low voice, that someone has already heard it. So much down-to-earthness is unusual in a world of radiance and dazzling and is appreciated with a lot of applause. Ezra intones powerfully, but the backing vocals let the campfire acoustic guitar track grow into a reverberant gospel monster. By then the Brit and the 8,000 or so fans had warmed up and found themselves in a light-footed symbiosis that is clearly evident on and in front of the stage. Of course, “nice guys” are James Blunt or Ed Sheeran, but Ezra is not only a son-in-law, but also a versatile vocal wonder. Real and genuine blues, soul, pop, gospel, folk, yes, even country – all of this is in the range of the “Gold Rush Kid” and his seven-piece band. Particularly important is the three-person wind section, which pushes itself into the foreground in songs like “Budapest”, “Sweetest Human Being Alive” or the US West Coast piece “Cassy O'” and gives the songs a special party atmosphere. Above all, the musicians manage to convey a celebrating Mardi Gras atmosphere and not to sink into the Bavarian beer tent polka. Ezra shines with a vocal power that you can hear one to one on the radio. No autotune, no amplification, no tricks – if you don’t get goosebumps from the piano-accompanied acoustic piece “Hold My Girl” or the grandiose early work “Did You Hear The Rain?”, you can’t help it. It’s almost ironic that Ezra’s set with the tape-wound Tom Jones classic “It’s Not Unusual”. He is a big fan of the Welsh tiger and recently invited him to a podcast talk. The fact that Jones’ “Green Green Grass Of Home” and Ezra’s “Green Green Grass” also bear a similar title is actually more coincidence than honor given Ezra’s underlying personal history. The clean-shaven boy’s face effortlessly intones its way through music history. Lascivious R&B in “Manila”, Vampire Weekend references in “Get Away”, gospel in “In The Morning”, or a desert-dry US feeling in “Saviour” – Ezra unwinds his eclectic mélange like a Wurlitzer and keeps the attention inside audience consistently high. He applauds, tells nice little stories, and tries fervently not to absorb the already glaring spotlight.Guitar and baritoneThere is no arrogance or bitterness in Ezra’s art. He still loves his hits, which he has played countless times, and never tires of performing them with a big grin. Details ensure that they do not appear boring to him. For example, when “Blame It On Me” shoots up with an explosive crescendo or “Paradise” overflows with an arcade-fire-like intermediate part and with a frontman sliding on his knees even for the real rock’n’roll moment of the in the evening. Admittedly modest within limits and far removed from wild ecstasy and breaking out of norms. Ezra may be too good for one or the other, but in a world full of stubborn people, egoism and unsustainable decisions that is becoming more horrifying by the day, a one-and-a-half-hour concert tour into a lush green dreamland full of love, peace and community is comforting and necessary. No pyrotechnics, no rain of confetti, no effects – just one man, his guitar and his baritone. Music in its pure essence.
source site-12