George Ezra fizzes with fun as pop's Mr Nice Guy brings his uplifting lyrics to Cork

"I'm about to play my biggest shows to date in Ireland. The last time I played there I left the stage with a spring in my step and a tear in my eye. Outrageous atmos guaranteed," so tweeted George Ezra about 6 hours before landing on stage yesterday.

I'm about to play my biggest shows to date in Ireland. The last time I played there I left the stage with a spring in my step and a tear in my eye 🇮🇪Outrageous atmos guaranteed. See you soon in Cork, Dublin and Belfast ☘️ pic.twitter.com/TuoI4BQiWp

— george E Z R A (@george_ezra) June 20, 2019

After Georgie boy's Isle of Wight gig last Sunday, where he stayed on a stool the whole evening after rolling his ankle jogging, it's gratifying to see him bound on stage. Spring restored, hair coiffed and smile at 100 Watts.

Going by the crowd's good form, pop's Mr Nice Guy could be in a full body cast, as long as that silky baritone is in good working order.

As all us Pretty Shining People mill around Musgrave Park for the first of his three Irish sold-out gigs, (Cork first, natch) there's a palpable feel-good factor (as well as factor 30 as the sun makes a surprise guest appearance) wafting along with us.

Kate Reading and her mum, Hilary, from Bishopstown, are super excited to see George in the flesh. It's a testament to the blond bard's universal appeal that both mammy and daughter are fully-fledged fans.

"The tickets were really hard to get, it sold out so quickly, we're thrilled to be here," says Hilary.

"This is a present for my tenth birthday," explains Kate, who learned to play Budapest on the guitar. Her school, St Catherine's, did a version of Shotgun as Gaeilge and seeing the real deal live is what she's looking forward to most.

Supporting our blonde bombshell of bliss are North London duo, KAWALA and garage/ indie rock band, The Vaccines. The latter and Ezra will play Glastonbury next Friday.

Ezra bathes us in his exuberant, effervescent music, from the opening number, Don’t Matter Now, to Barcelona to Hold My Girl and the crowd favourite Budapest.

He fizzes with fun, with his impossible voice and his uplifting lyrics, that seem, on this balmy Cork June night, to be written just so we can sing them back to him.

But we’re all waiting for that musical earworm that is Shotgun (you’re singing it in your head right now, aren’t you?) It’s become one of those nostalgic anthems that will define a certain time, our time.

All of us here, from the little kids to elder lemons, we’ll hear it years from now and it will catapult us back to a bright night, when a beautiful boy with pillowy lips sang to us about his travels and his travails... and Tamara.

Lucky, lucky Tamara.