Eight years ago I interviewed Ezra Furman ahead of the release of Mysterious Power, the last album he made with The Harpoons. Since that day I’ve been a die-hard fan, preaching the gospel of Ezra whenever possible. Fans of quality songwriting are always looking for the next Dylan, and while I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again, this is probably as close as we’ll get.

Beyond that, Furman is one of the great rock n’ roll performers touring today. Every opportunity to see him play is a little gift from Valhalla. His raw, emotional delivery is a means to catharsis for everyone in the audience. Perfect in its imperfection and beautiful in its ugliness.

This set was a celebration of the new album Twelve Nudes, which came out a week ago. In the short time between its release and the show Ezra’s fans memorized every word. They screamed and danced along to every song and swayed to “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend,” which is the best tune of 2019 in my mind.

One of the many highlights of this particular evening came at the end of “Rated R Crusaders.” He turned the final riff into a segue that became the opening lines of “The Weight” by The Band. It only lasted a moment, but put a big smile on my face.