THE first time I heard George Ezra it was like a direct blow to the soul; and that was before I went along to the Fiddlers for the second of his home town gigs and heard him sing live.

There’s been a real buzz about George; having been longlisted for ‘Voice of 2014’ (he went on to finish fifth), his gig at London’s Electric Ballroom sold out within a week – and his first free download release, Budapest, has been streamed more than 10million times on Spotify and Five million on You Tube. But enough of the figures.

George is a very self-effacing lad, and the gathering in the Fiddlers was more like a family gathering than a hugely-anticipated sold-out gig.

Starting with a couple of new tracks from his album, which is going to be released later this month, George bantered happily with his fans before launching into the tracks from his EP, which included Coat of Armour and YouTube favourites ‘Cassy’O and Budapest. His timing is perfect, his vocals pitch perfect and his ability to switch rhythm and tempo means that the audience never gets bored.

But he saved the best for last, and as Geoge belted out the first lines of ‘Did you hear the rain’ the audience stood in silent awe; I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel the goosebumps.

It would be easy to compare him to Johnny Cash. Or even Elvis. But I won’t, because George Ezra has a voice that is all his own and good luck to him, because whatever ‘it’ is, this young Bristolian has ‘it’ in spades.