Review: Courtney Act live at the Beresford Hotel.

On  20 July, the Beresford Hotel and its highly popular Sunday night was delightfully dazzled by internationally home-grown drag queen Courtney Act for a welcome home party.

Courtney Act has been an iconic figure in the Sydney gay community and scene. Although I only reached the ripe age of 18 two years ago, she has been lingering in the backdrop, seeping her way into seemingly hetero Australian culture, appearing on Australian Idol for its first season (which I do shockingly remember!). She's been legendary in her efforts at promoting Mardi Gras Sydney and promoting gay events such as at the numerous gay clubs in Sydney over the years.

Her big shot came when she was in the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, achieving success by finishing in the top 3 alongside Adore Delano and Bianca Del Rio.

Sunday would be the first time I would see Courtney Act live even though I had been "in the scene" for two years. The audience was delighted with other drag queen performances to prep us up for the big one. The music was a mixture of tribal house, electrified classics and modern favourites, which got me extremely anxious to see the queen in action.

Courtney came out, for what was classified as a promotion of the globalisation of Sydney Mardi Gras. She generously sang 3 songs - All the Lovers by Kylie Minogue, Mean Gays by herself, and A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie (which Courtney's version at Mardi Gras Party 2014 absolutely slayed).

I was so amazed and shocked by how great her performances were and how unique she is as a drag queen, her singing ability is top-notch. Everyone in the audience was greatly proud of her, especially how she never lets go of her roots, even going on so far to tell us how her song Mean Gays was actually somewhat inspired by the people she knew in Potts Point.

 

After the show, Courtney greeted her fans, taking photos and doing signatures, which my friend and I (left) were luckily enough to get a quick photo and have a mini conversation with her. She exuberated nothing but utter kindness and she was certainly not a bitch. I know a lot of people that feel that Courtney came off a bit bitchy in the show, but I feel this is certainly misrepresentation as she was so nice to us after the show calling us cute and engaging in conversation with us.

Thank you Courtney for meeting us, an amazing show, and doing Australia proud not only on RuPaul's Drag Race but for all your numerous efforts of support for the Australian gay community over the years.