Ezra Furman, the rage of a modern America at the Cabaret Sauvage

Formerly the leader of the band Ezra Furman and the Harpoons (2006–2011), the American rock troublemaker returned to the spotlight in 2025 with the excellent Goodbye Small Head, her latest album to date. To promote this new record with its many shifting sounds, the singer stopped in Paris at the Cabaret Sauvage. Blues Actu was there and tells the story.

Live report – Ezra Furman
📆 January 29, 2026
📌 Paris – Cabaret Sauvage
📸 Adam Marc James

The evening opened with Modern Woman, a young London band chosen by Ezra Furman to open the European leg of the tour. The band’s singer, Sophie Harris, recalls Patti Smith in her attitude and Kate Bush in her voice. Their music is powerful, loud yet melodic. The chemistry is undeniable. With a set of around ten songs, they rose perfectly to the challenge. Their debut album, Johnny’s Dreamworld, will be released on May 1 via One Little Independent Records. One to watch.

At 9 p.m., Ezra Furman takes the stage with a full band. The set draws heavily from the new album, alongside songs from her earlier records. Dressed in a leather jacket she soon shrugs off, she proves she is one of the voices of a dissenting America, another America that rarely makes the headlines. Ezra sings her rage, but also tries to spread hope. The America she sings about, the world she puts to music, is not dead. She is desperate to show that not everything is lost. With rare power and intensity, she sings and plays with her band, delivering each song with conviction. The new album features prominently in the setlist: Grand Mal, Jump Out, Sudden Storm, Power of the Moon.

The band leaves the stage to give way to the singer alone with the audience. She performs two solo songs, accompanied by her acoustic guitar: Hour of Deepest Need and Suck the Blood From My Wound.

She also reaches back to a song from her former band Ezra Furman and the Harpoons: Take Off the Sunglasses from the album Inside the Human Body (2008). On this track, unlike any other, Ezra takes over the stage, fills the space and blurs the lines. She leaves no room for silence. Ezra unleashes all her rage and draws the Parisian crowd into her musical world. She closes the night with one of her classics: Tell Em All to Go to Hell from Day of the Dog (2013).

After gaining wider recognition for composing the soundtrack to Sex Education, Ezra Furman continues to follow her own path. She explores new sonic territories, as this latest album clearly shows. Ezra Furman is unlike anyone else.

American musician and singer Ezra Furman delivered a high-energy, rock show with folk and blues influences. On January 29, the Cabaret Sauvage in Paris’s 19th arrondissement was the place to be.