Last night a friend and I were lucky enough to catch Jay Brannan's solo accoustic show at the El Mocambo. He's out on his "Fat is a Feeling Not a Shape" tour, and with a catchy title like that you can your little bottom that I was there. I've been a Jay fan since seeing him have a three-way in Shortbus (amazing movie by the way... be warned, though, my Canadian friends - you'll have to rethink your entire childhood watching MuchMusic when you see the things that Sook Yin does with a huge black... well, I don't want to ruin it. But you've been warned!). He's got the voice of an angel and the looks of one to boot... and of course he's gay. Of course.
The concert was an interesting departure from my normal music scene, which I was rather grateful for. I think the last 5 or so concerts I've been to have all been Jason Mraz shows (hello, my name is Melissa and I'm a Jason Mraz fanatic) so it was nice for a change to be one of the few ladies in the audience and to not have anyone pull my hair or push me out of the way or call me a bitch for getting in the way of their picture. It was also nice to get there 15 minutes before the concert and to mill about without having to wait in line (the last show I went to I had friends in line as of midnight the night before. Like I said: fanatic). It reminded me how relaxed concert-going can be. It also reminded me how much I hate going to concerts with teenage girls - also at the aforementioned last concert my friend had a 16 year old dive between her legs so that she could get in front of us and take a better picture of Jason. It was awesome.
The show itself was lovely: Jay's music is earnest and vulnerable, emotional and sharp, and incredibly fun to sing along with. It was my first time seeing him in person and I was excited to see how his songs would translate live. I was not disappointed - he was witty and funny and just as gorgeous as I wanted him to be in the flesh. He also hit my song list trifecta by playing Soda Shop, Relax Your Neck, and Body's a Temple (my favourite Jay song). The crowd was loving him - quiet at the right moments (like when Jay teared up singing a song about an ex-boyfriend) yet vocal about having Jay take off his shirt... and pants (that may or may not have been me that screamed that out?). He was even generous enough to come out after the show and meet the crowd - he gets a little gold star in the "not a douchebag" box of my Singer-Songwriter Checklist for that one.
Aside from the concert itself, the other highlight of the night for me had to be the friends I met at the show- a big shout out to Jay & Steven (Stephen? We didn't get around to spelling. We were too busy finding out how much we had in common). They promised they'd come around and say hi and steal my pictures from the show.
Speaking of - linskies to my new flickr page and some shots of the concert. I used my old point-and-shoot camera so the quality is a little sad... I just couldn't risk bringing the big guns in and having to leave it in the car if it wasn't allowed in. I also have video of Soda Shop (plus the 10 minute diatribe about how Toronto/Baffin Island is hard to navigate) and Relax Your Neck. I'm only linking in Relax Your Neck until I can figure out how to use my video editing software to cut down the Soda Shop video. I'm pretty sure it's 15 minutes long. Whoops?
Next up on my concert list: Ray Lamontagne (I'm sending out good ticket vibes into the universe as this show is currently sold out and I will die if I can't see him) and 3 more Jason Mraz shows (1 in Toronto and 2 while I'm in Cali - you didn't think I'd go all the way to the West Coast and not see Jason, did you??). You can be sure I'll report back re: any friends giving birth to a surly 16 year old in the middle of any of these shows.
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1 comment:
ahhhhhhh i love ceth with a 'c'!
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