Lizzie Esau – songstress, student, and star-in-the-making – takes on Bristol ahead of her EP, set for release this summer.
While Esau’s records are more akin to indie pop, the rock and punk elements of her live sound draw blood from even the stoniest crowd members: as a co-headline bill with George O’Hanlon – and having been picked by The Bristol Gig Guide as one of the three concerts to watch out for in February - there are a lot of people there for her to win over. After playing a hometown gig in the city of Newcastle, her band take to The Louisiana for the tour’s star-studded last night.
Joe Bennison swings his bass like a battle-axe; the uni experiences Esau draws on become war cries when backed by her band of three boys. Dressed in combat boots and painted into her persona with kohl-smudged eyes, it seems that Esau finds her place in the pack somewhere between PJ Harvey and Avril Lavigne.
As the set finds its rhythm, Lizzie asks the crowd – with the stage charm of a veteran coquette - to ‘come forward, I’m friendly’. They oblige. The four rockers who make up Lizzie’s support - Bristol-based band How Nice - mosh at the front to ‘The Enemy’. Disparate sonic philosophies become one on the fine line between stage and pit. A seal of approval is stamped with steel-toed boots onto that liminal space.
In her interview with us she says she’s always seen herself as being unusually lucky. On her latest release, ‘Jellyfish’, she asks the crowd to sing the chorus with her; three times, for good luck. It feels talismanic; like ritual. We feel lucky too, somehow: we’ve caught Esau just before the grand uptick of her career.
For her final song, ‘Cool’, Esau is pulled into the crowd. When I talk to her after the show, she explains that when a gig is as live as this one, she’d rather be with us than on the stage. It’s a testament to the environment she creates; Esau wants the chance to watch herself with our eyes. Although she’ll never get the chance, you can. Try her world on for size.