Last night I had the extreme pleasure of seeing singer/songwriter Jay Brannan live in concert for the first time and people, I gotta tell you, he was stunningly fantastic! I’ve been a fan of Jay‘s ever since his album came out but before last night, I had never seen him in concert. I heard he was playing The Roxy so I got my ticket and saved the date. Without question, his live performance was one of my fave acoustic shows of all time.

Before Jay took the stage, I got to see Our Lady J perform a warm-up set and she closed her performance with a stunning rendition of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt — complete with a back-up CHOIR! It was so cool. You may recall I got to see Our Lady J perform a cabaret show back in 2009 so it was a nice surprise to see her as the opening act last night. Then it was time for Jay Brannan. The confessional nature of his songs reminded me of Tori Amos and his stark performance style reminded me of Ani DiFranco … but he is clearly his own man. There is a poignancy in his performance that is hard to resist. His songs are so emotionally raw, it’s impossible not to feel the emotions he is conveying in his music. To be honest, I was only expecting a good show … I was not prepared for the intense talent that he showed last night. Jay mentioned that he is recording a new album and even performed for the first time ever a new song called Greatest Hits:

Jay promised that he will be back later in the year, hopefully with his new album ready for release. If you get the chance to see Jay Brannan in concert, you MUST go. He is truly a talented performer and songwriter. Trust me, he’s amazing.

Tonight, I’ll be putting on my emo shoes to gaze at cuz I’m heading out to the Troubadour to see Dashboard Confessional in concert. Erik got me into them, I’ve never seen them live so … away I go :D