Love and Lustre

Hey everyone – Justin Bond is back in town. Hooray!

I took my first visit to his show Lustre at the Soho Theatre on Saturday. It was kind of killing me that it opened on Thursday and I had already missed two, so I arrived a full hour early to be on stalking duty and assemble my entourage at the head of the queue to be sure of a front row placement.

I wasn’t disappointed and found myself smack bang in the middle where I could feast my eyes unhindered on his curious range of, erm, revealing costumes - from a gown made of ribbons to a mesh wrap adorned with battered balloons that had a rather uncomfortable looking nipple poking through.

The show is a celebration of all things trans – kind of a pre-Christmas grotto for the gender dysphoric. It opens with subtle lighting and a chant as Justin and the very lovely Our Lady J take to the stage. I can’t remember what the first track was but I’m going back six more times so eventually it’ll register. I do know there were no Bambi Lake numbers (boo!) but there was the Benjamin Smoke stuff that I love so that made me very happy.

Along with gazing adoringly at Justin, I also got to swoon as Lady J sang her Pink Prada Purse song that I first heard at Queer Up North. I really must take a moment here to rhapsodize about Our Lady J – not only is she unfeasibly beautiful but also quite unreasonably talented. I mean come on – give us a break from having to be impressed would you? We’re only human!

I urge you to buy a copy of her EP – Live at the Knitting Factory – on the way out of the theatre. It includes a track called Picture of a Man, which is worthy of the praise I usually reserve only for Antony and the Johnsons when it comes to producing flawlessly perfect and wonderfully moving pieces of music - her voice just makes me MELT. Our Lady J should be made a huge international star IMMEDIATELY … although I kind of like it better that she’s just our little secret.

Elsewhere on the bill was another New Yorker, Novice Theory, who plays accordion and sings from up on the balcony. He will be appearing every evening and also has an EP for sale. I haven’t bought it yet but I have been listening to tracks on My Space and they are amazing – simple and stark but incredibly well-written. I look forward to hearing more.

The guest act on Saturday (and there will be a different one each night of the run) was Bourgeois and Maurice, who you will remember appeared at my short lived club night Mister Sister. They sang a song about stalking (did they know I was coming?) and picked on Toby to be the object of their affection. We all found this horribly amusing except, as you might imagine, for Toby, who lives in constant fear of audience participation – ha ha.

The show is on until 1 November so there’s really no excuse to miss it. I’ll be there on Tuesdays and Saturdays if you want the chance to sit near me – if you don’t AVOID!