In the cool stakes, he ranks somewhere alongside Coldplay and cardigans. But who cares? Certainly not George Ezra, nor the 12,000 fans that packed the SSE Arena last night.
Ezra’s debut, Wanted On Voyage, went four times platinum, spawned the mega-hit Budapest and spent a whopping 122 weeks in the charts.
Its follow-up, Staying At Tamara’s, also went to number one, and with Paolo Nutini nowhere to be seen, the 25-year-old has become the obvious choice for mums and dads who like their pop with a little bit of earthy realness.
With the purse strings loosened to allow for a six-piece backing band, any fear that Ezra’s balladry might be swamped by this cavernous space were allayed early on.
What’s more, his booming baritone is custom-built for the arenas. Set opener Don’t Matter Now was a lively mix of funk guitar and his attention-all-shipping vocals.
As you might expect from someone who hosts his own podcast, Ezra was a confident and funny orator. “These songs are all about escaping,” he said. “So if you’ve been dragged here, you’ll understand the sentiment.”
There were times during the set when escape did, indeed, seem like the only sensible option. Barcelona continued his habit of naming songs after major European cities, but the generic ballad could have been written Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome.
He was best at his most upbeat. Listen To The Man bounded along on off-beat rhythms, Paradise was as euphoric as its title and Blame It On Me had a vibrant, Mumfordsy skip.
Ezra’s line on Pretty Shining People, “I fear I’m on an island in an ocean full of change” felt particularly apt against the backdrop of the Brexit fiasco.
But this wasn’t a night of caustic political commentary. It was one of big-hearted balladry — and Ezra proved he does it much better than most.
