Ezra Furman and The Boyfriends, Roundhouse, 31 October 2016

Ezra and his band embraced the fact that their biggest show to date co-incided with Halloween. A lone keyboardist strode onto the stage in a dracula cape and struck up some Hammer horror chords. A pink coffin was ceremoniously carried to the front of the stage.


Then out came Ezra in a tight black dress and with grey streaks in his hair, giving a Bride of Frankenstein effect.


Later in the night he said he had a difficult relationship with Halloween as it was the one night when he couldn't be freaky and different, and himself, as that was what everyone was doing. The band were really tight and created enormous space in the arrangements, which managed to completely fill the room. When they tore apart and rebuilt songs, as they did with Maybe God is a Train, the result was really intriguing. When they stuck closer to the arrangements on the recorded versions, they really took off and brought the audience along with them.


The size of the venue and the crowd was obviously quite affecting for Ezra, and was certainly a contrast to the sweaty bar show we saw 30 months ago. It was a really great show that revitalised our love of rock and roll and made us want to form a band and play until the small hours.