9th February 2010, GIG: The Good Natured + Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, The Social

Apparently Ezra Furman have been around a while, but they don't look it. They have that gawky US college kids thing down pat. And on stage, they're great. Ezra is a cracking frontman, his voice is brilliant, all growly and Dylan-esque, and his moves are top. Especially the one where his big tongue kind of lols out of his mouth. His bandmates are great too, but everyone here's stretching to see Ezra. The songs too are cool. It's indie-rock, sure, but it's exciting and fun when mostly these days, it's boring.

Seeing The Good Natured is a strange thing. There's two of them, a camply-dressed synth playing boy and a peacock of a female singer, made up like an amateur Alison Goldfrapp. Clearly these kids have heard and enjoyed Florence And The Machine and it's hard to imagine that, right now, their songs can match the commercial punch of Florence's, but they are good, much better than they should be. It's a bit weird watching a girl so young pout and pose and wrap herself in her microphone but, to their credit, they just about get away with it.