Live - Jay Brannan - Oxford Art Factory - 30/10/08

Reviews, By gnosis, 3rd November, 2008

Jay Brannan almost didn’t make it to Australia for his debut performance as he wasn’t aware of the visa rules required to get in. Through sheer luck, he managed to fill out the required forms and make it through Australian customs without having to make a cameo appearance on Border Security.

It was a rainy and humid Thursday night for Jay Brannan’s Australian debut at the Oxford Art Factory. It was 10pm and the crowd had grown quite restless within the humid, oven-like venue. As Jay took to the stage, with only his guitar in hand, he warned us that he’d picked up a bug in France that had the potential to take his voice but as a true professional, he soldiered through.

Jay said he was on “country lag” and kept wanting to speak to us in French, his last point on the tour before Australia. And encouraged by a few of the more vocal members of the audience, Jay attempted his best Aussie impression.

Jay launched into Can’t Have It All, the sombre first song of his debut self-released album, Goddamned. Between singing this song and Housewife, Jay admitted to the crowd “I don’t sing happy songs”.

While Jay bantered with the increasingly sleazy vocal few in the crowd, it was unclear whether they were there for the music or just to see the Jay we saw in Shortbus, as one in the crowd asked for his naked rendition of Star Spangled Banner from the film. Jay asked if everyone in Australia was like that before someone in the crowd pointed out Jay was in the “gay ghetto”. Jay complained that he can never escape “you people”.

The mere mention of his role in Shortbus sent the crowd into loud applause. Jay talked about how he’d been living promoting Shortbus for the past six years before he played his track featured in the movie, Soda Shop.

Before playing the heart-breaking song Half-Boyfriend, Jay revealed that he hadn’t had a boyfriend for six and a half years. And while I’m sure there would have been many takers in the crowd that night, it brought home the lonely lifestyle that an artist on tour can often lead.

Towards the end of the evening, Jay cracked out a song combining a number of covers including Straight Outta Compton, Rhianna’s Umbrella and even Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl.

Jay appeared to be awestruck at the number of people who showed up to see his very first gig in Australia because he said he had no friends here. The audience loudly disagreed. He talked about his attempts to clear up the bug he picked up and the impressive standard of health-care in Australia compared to the US.

For Jay to perform his anti-religion song and title track for his album Goddamned, while under the weather was no mean feat but he pulled it off spectacularly. Jay was about to end the night on that note but while taking a final bow he was asked by a member of the audience to do an encore performance of his oral sex song, Relax Your Neck, which he wrote with comic queen Margaret Cho. The song set the crowd into hysterics and it was an upbeat end to the evening.

True to his down-to-earth nature, Jay hung up his guitar and took time out to hang around in the bar after the show to meet the fans and get photographs taken with them. While his first show was his only show in Australia, we hope it’s the first of many more to come.

Check out our gallery of shots from the night here.